(bright music) - [Soledad] Misty Copeland will tell you she feels most alive on stage.

- [Misty] I was introduced to ballet at 13.

And it was just this instant connection.

I felt like I belonged, and that I had a voice.

- [Soledad] She can soar through the air, commands a stage in a single turn, and becomes a swan so effortlessly you forget she's not one.

But she's never danced around the issues.

- At the core of the ballet technique, it's not racist.

It doesn't exclude, it's for everyone.

It's the people that have been involved that have kind of muddied all of this.

- [Soledad] She's the first Black woman principal dancer at American Ballet Theater.

And she knew being the first meant making room for others.

- Hi!

- Why is this part so important to you?

- I feel like if I didn't, it was kinda like, what was all of this for?

- [Soledad] After five years off stage, and a body shaped by motherhood and injury.

- Ugh.

- That's the shin.

- Hard.

- That's the shin.

- [Soledad] Misty Copeland is stepping back into the spotlight.

Not just to dance, but to define her legacy.

- This isn't the end of dancing for me.

- [Soledad] This is a story about power and poise.

This is Misty Copeland, and "She Was First."

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program provided by Felicia Taylor, a journalist who dedicated much of her life's work to honoring and celebrating the accomplishments of women.

(bright music) - I love Lincoln Center so much.

- Yeah.

- It is so beautiful!

- [Misty] This is everything.

This is my home.

I get emotional just being here, bringing my- - [Soledad] This is really kind of where it all started for you.

- It is.

Yeah, it's emotional.

The first time I stepped on this stage, I was 19.

- Wow.

- In 2001, when I first joined the company.

And I just, I mean, I remember that first time, like, so vividly.

- [Soledad] Misty Copeland's path to becoming a principal ballerina started miles and worlds away from Lincoln Center.

- I was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

And then we got on a bus from Kansas City, Missouri, and drove to Los Angeles.

Yeah, I was two years old.

And that was the start of the chaos of my childhood.

So my mother married again when we got to Los Angeles, and they ended up having my sister, Lindsey, making us five.

They divorced, she married again by the time I was seven, to her fourth husband, where she then had my sixth sibling.

There was just not a lot of stability.

There was abuse, there was alcohol in the house from the men that were in and out of our lives.

And by the time I was seven years old, I became a member of the Boys and Girls Club, and that was a saving grace.

(gentle music) It became a home.

I mean, I didn't really know what a home I think was, in terms of just having consistent adults in my life, having guidance and mentors.

And the Boys and Girls Club really became that.

- So when you went to the Boys and Girls Club, did you start in ballet?

Did you have an interest in ballet?

- [Misty] Yeah.

- Even as a little kid?

- No, no, I didn't know what ballet was, and I'd never heard classical music.

But before the ballet class at 13, I decided to audition for the dance team at my middle school.

(upbeat music) I was so shy and so introverted, and I really didn't have friends.

And from somewhere deep inside of me, I realized, I think this is something that I will be good at.

And so I decided to audition for the captain position of this dance team.

(Misty laughing) - [Soledad] That is so Misty Copeland!

- I know!

- So I'm shy and nervous, but I think I should be captain of my dance team.

And in middle school, which is like the worst era of your life!

- It makes no sense.

It really makes no sense.

And I try and like understand where that confidence came from.

But there was just something about movement that I, again, I was so drawn to, and it became a safe space, and it became a way of communicating, and a way of processing.

And I'd had no dance experience.

I'd never taken a dance class.

And I auditioned and I made captain.

So I'm the smallest on the team.

I'm the one yelling at all the girls.

And the coach came to me, I don't know, a week or two in, and she said, "You have so much natural ability.

I think you should take this ballet class that's being offered at the Boys and Girls Club."

And I was like, "It doesn't really sound interesting to me."

Like I'm getting to dance to Mariah Carey and George Michael, and like, I was literally forced into taking this ballet class.

(gentle music) And the teacher, Cindy Bradley, she said, "I've never seen a talent like yours.

I think you're a prodigy.

And I think this is something you could do as a profession."

I couldn't comprehend what prodigy meant, any of that.

- What did you think when she said that?

- I just thought she was talking, you know?

I'd never had anyone show any interest like this in me.

The more I did it, the more I fell in love with it.

And then she brought me into her school on full scholarship, and that was when it really clicked.

(gentle music) Hi!

Hi!

- Listen, as we all do.

(Misty laughing) Lord Jesus, help me.

I got Misty Copeland watching me today.

- So I'd like to introduce you to someone very special.

Come on down.

Come on down.

- Hi, everyone.

Hi, thank you for having us here today.

We're so excited to watch, and maybe join you in a little bit.

- I can't dance at all!

No, no, I'm nervous!

Oh, no, no, no!

I didn't agree to dance at all.

Are you guys all dancers?

- [Children] Yes.

- Wow.

And are you all ballerinas?

- [Children] Yeah.

- I do mom dancing, which is this.

- Oh, oh, oh!

- It's not very good, but it keeps you going.

(children yelling) - [Instructor] It's so lovely to see you all!

How's everyone doing today?

- [Children] Good!

- Good.

The second question is, how does dancing make you feel?

- My name is Clyburn, and dancing makes me feel happy.

- My name is Lada, and dancing makes me feel joyful and calm.

- My name is London and dancing makes me feel free and calm.

Like you could dream that you're in the nature all alone.

- My name is Misty and dancing makes me feel calm, but also very alive.

- [Soledad] Unlike the girls in this class, Misty didn't put on her first pair of ballet shoes until she was 13, which is considered a late start, by any standard.

However, what she lacked in timing, she made up for with talent, drive, and a need to escape a world that felt anything but graceful.

- Being in the studio and being on stage was the most safe I'd ever felt in my life.

I wasn't thinking about some man coming in and hitting me or my siblings, or verbal abuse.

I wasn't thinking about where I was gonna sleep that night, and if there was any food on the table.

I was like, "This is amazing."

I'm in this studio where there's no outside noise, there's beautiful music playing.

I get to express myself through movement.

(gentle music) - [Soledad] By then, were you thinking, "I could do this as a job?"

- Literally, I mean, weeks from my first ballet class, that was the deal, that was the goal.

If I was going to commit to this, and Cindy was going to invest in me.

The goal was from day one, American Ballet Theater.

- [Soledad] Just four years after taking her very first ballet class, Misty landed a spot at American Ballet Theater, one of the top ballet companies in the world.

If I could pick an industry where it feels to me, not super forgiving, not super friendly, not super embracing, and also, everybody kinda looks the same, right?

You got a bun, you're tall, you're willowy, you're White, you weigh 97 pounds.

How was that?

- Even though I was coming in, and I was the only Black woman at ABT for the first decade of my career, and it was very lonely, and it was very hard.

But I grew up living in and out of motels, seeing drive-by shootings up close, like right there in front of me.

I can take on the ballet world, you know?

Like I'm one of six children in a single parent home.

I got this.

These obstacles aren't enough to make me want to stop.

- [Soledad] Misty Copeland had the technique, but what she didn't have, at least in the eyes of the ballet establishment, was the right look.

Breaking through meant confronting the unspoken rules about who belonged.

- [Misty] I remember Cindy reading me a book from George Balanchine, who was the founder of New York City Ballet.

In his mind, the ideal ballerina, had the skin of a freshly peeled apple, long limbs, long feet, a small head, long arms, short torso.

I mean all these things that I was, and I remember Cindy reading it to me and saying, "This is you."

- [Soledad] Minus the apple part.

- Minus the apple part.

That's what got me to American Ballet Theater.

Then I get there, and all of a sudden, your Black body isn't right for ballet.

- People thought you were big?

- Oh, that's been the whole narrative!

My whole career, is you're too fat, you're too busty, you're too muscular, you're all these things.

And people meet me in person, and a lot of times they're disappointed.

Every woman struggles with their body at some point in their life.

And especially as a dancer, I've been approached about what I eat, what other forms of exercise I do outside of ballet class.

My willingness to be open and hear people out, and to be able to express myself in the experiences I was having with my artistic director going in and having real conversations about what it is to be a Black woman, the roles I wanted, and why I thought I wasn't getting them, and opening his eyes to things he was completely blind to, he's not even thinking about.

Or, "Oh, you think that's why?"

"No, I know that's why, because I've heard so-and-so say this about the color of my skin.

I've heard this person say, I shouldn't be cast in 'Swan Lake' while they're filming it because I'll ruin the aesthetic of the corps de ballet."

- So how does that not make you want to haul off and punch somebody?

'Cause I mean, I'm being facetious, but how did you not just say, "Forget it?"

- Yes.

- [Soledad] I'm out.

- I was offered a soloist contract from Arthur Mitchell, the New York City Ballet's first Black principal dancer.

And he founded the Dance Theater of Harlem.

And to have him invite me in and to be surrounded by people who look like me and have him say like, "You can come home."

- [Soledad] Come to Harlem!

- Come to Harlem.

- [Soledad] We have lots of Black people.

- There won't even be an issue.

That's not what I want.

That's not what I've wanted since I was 13.

I fell in love with American Ballet Theater.

I fell in love with their history.

I fell in love with the repertoire that they perform.

And why should I change my goals, because I'm being told I don't belong here, I'm being pushed out?

I remember the first time I stood on the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House.

I was 19 years old, still struggling to find my place in ABT's corps de ballet.

I traced the Marley floor with my pointe shoes, and imagined myself on the stage, not as a member of the corps, but as a principal dancer.

It felt right.

It felt like a promise someday, somehow, it was going to happen for me.

- [Soledad] In 2007, she was promoted to soloist, becoming the second Black woman in ABT's history to hold that title.

Then in 2012, a breakthrough.

Misty took center stage, dancing the lead in "Firebird."

She was the first Black woman at American Ballet Theater ever given that role.

In her memoir, Misty described opening night.

- [Misty] Outside the largest crowd I have ever seen waits.

Prominent members of the African American community, and trailblazers in the world of dance who have seldom received their due are here tonight.

- [Soledad] As Misty Copeland's star rose, so did her impact.

For the Black community, her presence meant more than pirouettes.

For many, she was the first ballerina they saw on stage who looked like them, and proved ballet belonged to everyone.

- Please welcome Glamour Woman of the Year, Misty Copeland.

- She was a global sensation.

From "Sesame Street," to magazine covers, and talk shows.

She became a household name.

And had crowds waiting at the stage doors like a rockstar.

And she's been invited to perform alongside the biggest stars, including Taylor Swift, and Prince.

The way the story goes, Prince tracked you down.

- I was taking ballet class on the weekend, and my phone started lighting up.

So I was like, "Excuse me, I'm gonna step out."

I mean, I never would do something like that.

I'm gonna leave in the middle of barre.

- You guys carry on while I talk to Prince, the star.

The star, the iconic Prince.

- [Misty] That's ridiculous.

- I'll be right back.

- He said, "I'm a huge fan of yours."

He told me this whole story how he couldn't find me for a year, so he hired another dancer.

They filmed the whole video and he was like, "I'm not happy.

We can't do this video without you."

So come to LA, and dance in my music video.

I improvised the whole thing.

And it was, I think, the most growth I experienced as an artist, like in a short amount of time.

- Why?

That's interesting.

Because he was pushing you out of your comfort zone?

- [Misty] Yeah.

- Oh.

- He had so much belief in my creativity.

And I don't wanna say that it's not that way in ballet, but so much is done and prepared for you.

There's not a ton of room, wiggle room, for your own interpretation.

- No one says, "Listen, we're doing 'Swan Lake,' but you do whatever you want."

- [Misty] You do you.

(both laughing) - [Soledad] But it was "Swan Lake" that solidified her place in ballet history.

As the first Black woman to dance the lead role at American Ballet Theater, she redefined what a classical ballerina could be.

- [Misty] Raven Wilkinson, who was the first Black ballerina to dance in a major prestigious ballet company, here in America, she ended up leaving America because the KKK was threatening her life.

- I was told they could never have a Black Swan Queen.

There I sit in the audience, and I see Misty accomplishing this.

Yes, it can be accomplished, it can be done.

- [Misty] To be able to have Raven come onto the stage and present me with flowers after my performance, when as a Black woman, she never was given the opportunity to perform on that stage.

(audience applauding) And it was like a passing of baton.

- [Soledad] Now Misty is lighting the way for the next generation.

(gentle music) - [Misty] This is the way she would like to welcome her teaching house.

- [Soledad] Okay.

- And it really helps us to see kind of where they're at, yeah, coming into the space.

And then like how they evolve throughout the class.

If we see any change in their mood, or when they come in, yeah.

'Cause sometimes they come in and they're like, "I don't wanna be touched," or whatever it is.

It's bigger than ballet, and it's not giving up on these young children because of certain situations or circumstances that they're in.

My entire training years, it was so tumultuous.

Cindy ended up inviting me to live with her and her family to catch up on the training, 'cause 13 is later to start.

- Yeah, that's like old in ballet years.

- Yeah.

So I moved in with her and her husband and her three-year-old son.

We shared a room, we had bunk beds, and it was hard for my mom, to have someone else kind of step in, and be in that parenting role.

And I mean, it ended in a really nasty custody battle, I guess you could call it.

(gentle music) But it was a pretty traumatic time in my life.

(gentle music) And I'm just so proud to be able to teach ballet in a way that's welcoming.

It can be rigorous, and it is a discipline, but it doesn't have to be abusive, it doesn't have to be exclusive.

And so that's the environment that we are creating.

- Five and a six and a seven and a eight.

We plie.

And two, and up, a two and plie.

- [Soledad] When did you start Be Bold?

- It's been almost three years.

I never imagined I would find something as fulfilling, as being on stage and performing is.

And this is the work that, to me, is going to change the way ballet is taught.

Where they see teaching artists who look like them.

They have live music in every class.

It's the access and opportunity to training.

- Did your experience at the Boys and Girls Club kind of set this up ultimately?

- My experience at the Boys and Girls Club 100% shaped what I wanted to do.

And this is it.

- [Soledad] Why does it matter to sort of expose kids to just more different kinds of arts and music and dance?

- Because you never know how someone will respond.

And again, what that entry point will be, that will trigger something, and opening up something that I never thought was possible.

You never know what that's going to be.

(bright music) This is something that they can take with them outside of the theater that we're in, the auditorium.

That's something that can be connected to their everyday lives.

The skills and the tools that they'll learn by being a part of it.

- [Instructor] Go left, and right, in first position.

And around.

- The life that I've been given because of ballet and the woman that I've become, I can speak in front of thousands of people.

I was mute as a child.

Those are the beautiful traits and attributes that I've gained by being a part of this.

- An historic day in the world of ballet.

Misty Copeland has been promoted to the highest rank of the American Ballet Theater.

She is now the first Black female principal dancer in the company's 75-year history.

- [Soledad] In 2015, after 14 years of hard work and resilience, Misty Copeland was named principal dancer at American Ballet Theater, the highest rank a ballerina can hold.

She's the first Black woman to ever hold that title.

- She really has been one of one for so long, but she's paving the way for so many people that look like her.

- [Speaker] Whether you paid attention to dance or not, it caught you, and brought attention to the art form.

- [Soledad] Misty Copeland is a force.

She's been on the cover of Time magazine, and she's the author of several bestselling books.

- I love writing for young people.

Just giving them different ways to connect and different ways to celebrate themselves and their voices and that their experiences aren't unique to them.

I have a message, I have a goal.

It's to bring dance to as many people as possible.

It's to make it feel inclusive.

Now what mediums can I use to do that?

That's books, it's through Barbies, it's through film and television.

It's about access and opportunity with everything that I do.

- [Soledad] But in 2020, as the world paused due to the pandemic, so did Misty.

ABT canceled its 2021 season, and a temporary pause turned into a five-year break, as Misty focused on building her family.

- I don't wanna be on the stage unless I really feel like it's with intention.

I had for the very first time and now my 25-year career, I had that moment where I needed to step back.

- All right, here we are.

How you feel today?

- Okay.

- [Soledad] Misty Copeland is now back in the studio.

No longer a rising star, she's a legend in motion.

Preparing her mind and her body for a final return to ABT.

- Arabesque.

- It feels like it's still not locked in like I'm used to.

- Smooth, too.

- Yeah, it just hurts.

(Misty laughing) - Can we just make sure you capture that things hurt?

- No, ballet hurts, but it hurts more when you stop for five years, and you try and start back at 42!

It's been five years since I've been on the stage and performing, and I'm back in training.

And it's gonna be a completely different experience.

I mean, I'm a different person.

I've had a child now.

I've done so many different things creatively, and so it's really exciting to be on the stage with this new kind of outlook and perspective.

- In your own time.

Yes!

Good.

All okay there.

Thank you, Astrid.

How'd that feel?

- Ugh.

- That's the shin.

- Hard.

- That's the shin?

Good, okay.

I mean, not good, but I'm aware of that.

- Yes, yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah, there's no way around the push off.

- [Dancer] No.

What about turning that?

That way, you don't have, - There's no way around the push off on that leg.

- [Dancer] I see.

- It's like... - [Dancer] Right, good, good.

But how's this side?

Yes!

- [Misty] Great.

- [Dancer] Excellent.

So we've gotta find a way, making sure that as smoothly as you come up is as smoothly as you go down.

- Ah!

- [Dancer] Yes, okay, so, right.

So how do we avoid the hop down?

Okay, all good, all good.

No need to- - It's like I have to stay pulled up, but I'm just falling off.

- Okay.

- You know?

- Did you ever have a moment where you were trying to figure out, who am I outside of dance?

I mean, you've been gone for five years.

That's a minute.

- Oh, that's an interesting question.

No, I think the answer's no.

I feel like I've, dance and ballet is a part of me.

It's still literally a part of my everyday life because everything that I'm doing is connected to it.

Whether it's the books I'm working on, whether it's the foundation or the production company, it's all related to that.

(gentle music) - [Soledad] Misty Copeland may be taking her final bow with American Ballet Theater, but her presence on stage and off has already reshaped what's possible in ballet.

- [Misty] There are principal dancers of color now at the Paris Opera Ballet, at Royal Ballet, in companies throughout the States.

And so there has been a shift in terms of the dancers we're seeing on the stage.

(gentle music) - What is calling you back to the stage?

- I'm having my final performance with American Ballet Theater.

And I just think that I need to have that.

Again, that kind of beautiful thank you.

Reverence, as we say in ballet.

For the audiences that have supported me in the most incredible way throughout my career.

It's a thank you to this incredible technique and art form that made me the person that I am, that gave me the life that I have.

(gentle music) And I have to bow to this amazing opportunity that I've been given.

(audience cheering) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program provided by Felicia Taylor, a journalist who dedicated much of her life's work to honoring and celebrating the accomplishments of women.

(bright music)