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Ballerina Misty Copeland not only madeone of her personal dreams come true, but also made history this week when shewas promoted to principal dancer of the American Ballet Theater, making her thefirst African American woman ever to hold the position.
The 32-year-old re-posted a clip to her579,000 Instagram followers taken at the announcement on Tuesday where she isvisibly emotional after being told of her groundbreaking promotion in theballet world. She followed up by re-tweeting and thanking fans like Oprah andTaye Diggs and then greeted fans waiting outside the Met in New York thankingthem for being there.
The beauty, who joined the company inApril 2001 and was promoted to soloist in August 2007, has spoken openly abouther struggles to rise to the top of the dancing world and the backlash shefaced because of her skin color. “My fears are that it could beanother two decades before another black woman is in the position that I holdwith an elite ballet company,” she wrote in her memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, published last year. “That if I don’trise to principal, people will feel I have failed them.”
Misty was named the first ever African American principal dancer for ABT Photo: Instagram/@mistyonpointe
Misty has drawn large crowds during her rise to the top and hadfans lined up outside her stage door when she made her debut as the firstAfrican American to take on the starring role in ABT's production of SwanLake.
Misty was the first ever African American woman to play the lead in Swan LakePhoto: Instagram/@mistyonpointe
Prior toher history-making announcement, Misty was already breaking the mold byappearing in a DietDr. Pepper commercial and dancing atop a piano for Prince's 2010 tour. She alsoappeared in the hugely popular Under Armour commercial, the first ballerina everto do so, which racked up more than 4 million views in a week. She was evennamed one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2015.
Photo: Instagram/@mistryonpointe