you came to new york from california, and i wonder how much of a shock it was to get to the american ballet theatre see that you were the only black dancer. imean... mm. ..you must have known ballet was white. very white. did you know it was that white? that you would come here and be the only one? i'm not sure how aware i was. my teacher, cindy bradley, is an incredible woman and she was very conscious of the fact that i'm a black woman, that i was a black girl, and that i needed to be as focused on getting the training that i needed to get in order to get to where we wanted me to go, which was to dance professionally for american ballet theatre or another professional company. when i moved to new york city, it definitely was a shock. i don't think that i was prepared enough in knowing how to navigate the space where i would get support from, because it's not something that's really built in to the professional surroundings and atmosphere in a ballet company. they expect you to come in and be an adult and at 17 years old and someone who was very kind of guarded and isolated, i was not at all prepa

copeland made history as the first black woman to become a principal dancer at the prestigious american ballet theatre. we had the absolute thrill of meeting her onstage at lincoln center in new york. hi! hi. i'm katty. thank you so... it's so...! oh, my god. i'm so happy. so lovely to meet you. does everybody who meets you who used to do ballet stand automatically in first position? 0h! is that like a giveaway? and so you have. so i have. and i've been doing it... you know what's weird, preparing for... i find myself all day standing in first position again. it's been so many years. makes you stand up straight. it's so good for you. no, i... thank you for doing this. i'm so thrilled. i'm happy, so am i. i actually when i was about 13, i applied to the royal ballet school in london and i didn't get in, which was just as well, because i'd have been way in the back stage of the corps de ballet, kind of ideally out of the set. but i've wanted to meet you for so long... oh, wow. ..so that's great. so, when you come onto a stage, misty... ..having not danced since 2019... mm—hm. ..how are we feeling? how's

copeland made history as the first black woman to become a principal dancer at the prestigious american ballet theatre. i'm so happy. so lovely to meet you. does everybody who meets you who used to do ballet stand automatically in first position? 0h! is that like a giveaway? and so you have. so i have. and i've been doing it... you know what's weird, preparing for... i find myself all day standing in first position again. it's been so many years. makes you stand up straight. it's so good for you. no, i... thank you for doing this. i'm so thrilled. i'm happy, so am i. i actually when i was about 13, i applied to the royal ballet school in london and i didn't get in, which was just as well,

copeland made history as the first black woman to become a principal dancer at the prestigious american ballet theatre