The initiative brings ballet programs to public schools in the hope of introducing dance to groups that are traditionally underrepresented onstage. It was the first time I started to understand my purpose."Ĭopeland has since been an eager advocate for dance education, forging a partnership between ABT and the Boys & Girls Club of America to launch Project Plié. "Up until that point, I'd never met another artist who understood how I wanted to use my power as a black artist. "He was a big part of my growth," she says. “So I love wearing low-back leotards and dresses.” Raf Stahelin Style by Akari Endo-GautĬopeland experienced this years before in her own life, when she collaborated with Prince, who invited her to star in his "Crimson & Clover" video. “My back is my favorite body part,” Copeland says. Seeing someone who looks like you could change your path." One year later Copeland returned to ABT, and in June 2015, just before her promotion to principal, she became the first black woman to dance the lead in Swan Lake, which The New York Times calls "the most epic role in world ballet." Of such achievements, she says, "I feel like I'm representing not just the little brown girls but all African-American dancers who came before me who were never promoted because of the color of their skin. To heal, she turned to floor barre, which adapts ballet exercises for the mat and allowed her to maintain her technique without the strain of gravity. She had just broken out with her much-discussed lead role in Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird in 2012 when she got injured, forcing her to take a hiatus from dance. We're putting in the same amount of work we have the same muscles."Īfter learning to love her body, though, Copeland faced another physical setback: a midtibia stress fracture that threatened to end her career. "I'm not trying to change classical ballet," Copeland says. It's earned her a new generation of megafans-and more than 10 million views on YouTube. The Under Armour ad shows her pirouetting vigorously, no tutu in sight, as a young girl's voice reads various criticisms that Copeland has heard throughout her career ("You have the wrong body for ballet," "You lack the right torso length"). Copeland is graceful, but she owns the stage with both her presence and her physicality. In so doing, she has helped usher in the era of the ballerina-athlete, a powerful rebuke to the old-school ideal of fragile, undernourished-and inevitably white-swans. She also developed a deep respect for her own physical strength. These days, Copeland says, "I eat what I enjoy, just not too much of it." "You can't change your body to become something it isn't," she notes. The changes didn't cause Copeland to "lengthen," per se, but they did help her dance so well that ABT stopped asking her to. "There was such a difference in my energy level," she says. She started eating mostly fish and veggies, limiting empty calories, and doing some cardio workouts in addition to ballet. Learning to take care of her body was a long process that Copeland committed to once she noticed how much her diet affected how she felt and performed. ("It was one of those 'How did I get here?' moments.") In June 2015, when ABT promoted Copeland, making her its first black female principal dancer-the highest designation for a ballerina-the media interest was so intense that the company hosted an impromptu press conference. That's her leaping with a sweaty brow and athletic intensity in Under Armour's ad campaign, willing what she wants that's her with President Obama in a Time magazine video, discussing the challenges and opportunities they share as African Americans breaking boundaries in their respective fields. But Copeland has also transcended the stage, engaging in her own unique dance with pop culture. Couple that with her impossible story, riveting physicality, and muscular frame-a deviation from the classical stereotype-and you see how she has inspired a generation of dancers who, like her, may not resemble traditional ballerinas. This month she'll reprise the iconic lead role in ABT's The Nutcracker, drawing throngs of young women to the theater to see the company's first African-American Clara. Indeed, Copeland has become ballet's most celebrated, and active, ambassador.
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