--- title: How Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland Shattered Barriers description: The acclaimed dancer opens up about her journey to the top of ballet canonical: https://time.com/5401055/how-ballet-dancer-misty-copeland-shattered-barriers/ author: Sean Gregory article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-21T14:00:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:55:00.226Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: How Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland Shattered Barriers og:description: The acclaimed dancer opens up about her journey to the top of ballet og:url: https://time.com/5401055/how-ballet-dancer-misty-copeland-shattered-barriers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ed3030a153fae2a/6988c11abc6cfca7133e0bb1/misty-copeland-body-eating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3537 og:image:height: 1990 og:image:alt: American Ballet Theatre Annual Holiday Benefit - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland Shattered Barriers twitter:description: The acclaimed dancer opens up about her journey to the top of ballet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ed3030a153fae2a/6988c11abc6cfca7133e0bb1/misty-copeland-body-eating.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland Shattered Barriers > Sponsored content. 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How Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland Shattered Barriers_  by [Sean Gregory](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory Senior Correspondent Sep 21, 2018 2:00 PM UTC How Ballet Dancer Misty Copeland Shattered Barriers  by [Sean Gregory](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/)  ## Sean Gregory Senior Correspondent Sep 21, 2018 2:00 PM UTC When Misty Copeland first joined the American Ballet Theater, one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world, at age 17, she couldn’t help but feel like an outsider. “We don’t know in history that black women, from the beginning of time in ballet, have been told to lighten their skin, and to shade their nose in a certain way to look white,” Copeland told an audience at WeWork 500 7th Avenue in New York City on Sept. 17\. “A big part of my youth at American Ballet Theater was hearing those words.” Copeland, however, more than proved that she belonged. In 2015, she became the first African-American woman to be named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater. That same year, she was named to the TIME 100, TIME’s [annual list](http://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/) of the world’s most influential people. Since then, Copeland has inked endorsement deals with [Under Armour](https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/misty-copeland-collection/g/3262?cid=PS%7CUS%7CBR%7Cggl%7Call%7C%2Bunder+%2Barmor+%2Bmisty%7Call%7Call%7Ctrain%7Cbroad%7Cdg%7Cp36558447469&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-%5F7o%5F8bK3QIVio3ICh0gOwRSEAAYASAAEgIM2%5FD%5FBwE&gclsrc=aw.ds), Estee Lauder, Dannon and other companies. Her road to the top of ballet was an unusual one. “I had a very chaotic upbringing,” she said. One of six children raised by a single mother, Copeland says she was living in a motel when she took her first ballet lesson, at 13, at a Boys & Girls Club in San Pedro, Calif. Many ballerinas begin training soon after they start walking. But a late start didn’t stop Copeland. By the time she joined the American Ballet Theater, Copeland stood out both because of her graceful performances, and inescapably, her race. “My first three of four years in the company, it was the first time it hit me that I was alone,” Copeland said. “That I’m the only black woman. It was the first time race was brought to my attention. It was shocking.” For example, Copeland says at one point she was told she couldn’t perform in the second act of _Swan Lake_, the popular ballet first performed in late 19th-century Russia, because of her skin color. Some people were whispering that she shouldn’t be in _Swan Lake_ at all, Copeland says. As principal dancer, Copeland has taken a special interest in mentoring dancers of color and diversifying ballet. She has responded to letters from aspiring dancers and remained connected to the Boys & Girls Club. In 2016, Mattel [released a Barbie doll](https://mashable.com/2016/05/02/misty-copeland-barbie/#2fURZa7WYgqO) in Copeland’s likeness. Copeland made sure no skin tone was lightened. No one shaded her nose. “That was extremely important to me,” she said. “It’s so empowering for young girls to grow up with a brown Barbie that’s a ballerina.” Copeland’s talk, which was moderated by TIME correspondent Haley Sweetland Edwards, was the third event in the [TIME 100 x WeWork Speaker Series](http://time.com/5300121/time-wework-partner-speaker-series/). ## Transcript Thank you all for being here tonight and thank you most of all to Misty for being here. Those of you who are not dancers in the audience, becoming a dancer or getting into ballet at age 13 is considered ancient for a lot of these high Very, very high achieving ballerinas. But that was when you first started dancing. Yeah, I started choreographing I would say around the age of seven. Probably when I started teaching myself to do back walkovers and stuff. And I had a very chaotic upbringing and childhood, and My mom was married, I don't even know, four or five times? And there's six of us. We were living in a motel when I took my first ballet class, but it was around the age of seven that I started creating movement, and Mariah Carey, it was only Mariah Carey. [ LAUGH ] You mentioned being this little brown girl who shows up in New York City At ABT, this incredibly prestigious company. And as a non- dancer, I can't understand how your body type would be considered not ideal. But I guess you were considered too athletic, or too something, and you were under Pressure to feel like you should wear makeup to lighten your skin tone. What was that like as a teenager, to come to this city and feel like you were not right? At that point, I feel like there were just this slew of black women that came into my life- Mm- hm. That were incredible in allowing me to believe that Though there's no one around me in my world that looks like me, I still can succeed with their support, and that I was introduced to so many women, black women that were the first in their fields and it was really important I think for me to see that. We don't know that history that black women for From the beginning of time in ballet have been told to lighten their skin, to shade their nose in a certain way so that they look white. And that was a big part of my youth at American Ballet Theater was hearing those words. I could look around me at ABT and see white women who had my body, or were bigger, or were more athletic, had bigger breasts, and so it was like, this isn't making any sense to me. And I felt like this is just the language that's been allowed to be used in the ballet world, because it's a subjective art form. It's about your aesthetic, and it's so easy just to tell someone, well you do have the right body. When. When in reality, their saying you don't have the right skin color. Matel was making a doll of you after you were named principle dancer. You were insistent that that doll reflect what you actually look like. Yeah. That the calves, actually looked like calves, and that they didn't lighten your skin tone, and they didn't change your noses. Yeah. [ LAUGHS ] That was extremely important to me. It's so empowering for young girls to grow up with a brown Barbie that's a ballerina. And so I wanted to not be just put my name on it, but it's Barbie in a firebird costume. I mean even when there are kind of it's too late to go back and fix her body like the mold like this is what's it's gonna be. And I was like, you better pad her bra Because [ LAUGH ] her chest doesn't look like mine. I would say maybe my first three or four years in the company it was the first time that it really hit me that I was alone. Like I'm the only black woman. And it was in a way that I didn't expect for it to and- And it was the first time that race was really brought to my, like I know that it was talked about behind closed doors when I was a young girl, but it was actually being said in front of me and it was just shocking. I have been told Just that I wasn't allowed to be in the second act of Swan Lake when they did the filming of it. I was told even not to my face but from different ballet mistresses that I shouldn't be allowed to be in Swan Lake period. That's when it has been so important that I've had the people in my life that I do and Raven Wilkinson has been one of those women, even before I knew her, that was so impactful. She was the first black woman to dance in an all- white company, really, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, in the 1950s. And I saw a documentary on the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and I was in my early twenties. And I saw this Black woman come on to the screen and it literally was like- I had no idea that there was a black ballerena at that level in that time. And it was like my whole world was changed. Wow. It was my first time I saw myself in another dancer. And that I could relate to her. And it was just like our history is not told. But it exists as black people in the ballet world. 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