Misty Copeland performs on stage during the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards.
Kevin Winter / Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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Kevin Winter / Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Misty Copeland performs on stage during the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards.
Kevin Winter / Getty Images for The Recording Academy
During her ballet career, Misty Copeland worked to break the racial barrier in the world of dance.
She’s doing it again – this time with an after-school dance program for children of color.
The Bold Initiative will “make ballet more accessible, affordable and fun,” according to the program’s website. This will be an affordable 12-week extracurricular in New York City for children ages 8-10.
The program will offer lessons in ballet, music, and health basics as well as tutoring and mentoring. It will take place at Boys & Girls Club centers and similar community-based children’s services.
Copeland personally dedicates part of its success to a free ballet class provided by the Boys & Girls Club. She went on to become the first black woman to be designated as a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater company.
During her time at ABT, she has publicly spoken out against the racism of some dance critics, who questioned her body type as being too “massive” or “big boobs”. .
Copeland told NPR’s Steve Inskeep in 2014: “I think it’s just something that I’ll probably never get rid of.
“But my mission, my voice, my story, my message, isn’t for them. And I think it’s more important to think about the people I’m influencing and helping to see. the broader picture of what beauty is.”
Copeland has also written several books that explore the experiences of dancers of color – including her own. A memoir about Copeland’s friendship with Raven Wilkinson, her mentor and the first African-American ballerina to tour America, will premiere in November.
Copeland also told The New York Times She is planning to return to the stage next year after taking a hiatus in December 2019.
