--- description: Principal dancer title: Misty Copeland image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Misty Copeland  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jul 9, 2015 3:01 PM CUT  by [Alice Park](/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jul 9, 2015 3:01 PM CUT Muscular, Curvy, Dark-Skinned. These are not the features the country’s leading ballet company has typically seen in its top dancers. That is, until Misty Copeland jeté’d her way in. Copeland, a TIME 100 honoree, is many things ballerinas are not and was told repeatedly that she didn’t have the right body for ballet. But on June 30, the 32-year-old broke that decades-old stereotype and became the first female African American to be named a principal, ballet’s highest rank, at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). The Missouri native didn’t take her first ballet class until she was 13, while living in a motel with her single mother and five siblings. Within months, she was dancing en pointe, and she later earned a summer scholarship to an ABT program. She soon leaped onto other stages, starring in a Prince video and an ad campaign for Under Armour. And in August she’ll appear on Broadway, in On the Town. –ALICE PARK ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3951184/misty-copeland/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3951184/misty-copeland/"},"headline":"Misty Copeland","datePublished":"2015-07-09T15:01:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:06:15.313Z","description":"Principal dancer","url":"https://time.com/3951184/misty-copeland/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3951184/misty-copeland/","name":"Misty Copeland"}}]}] ```