NOTE: This lecture has reached capacity. As a courtesy, the Graduate School will offer standby seating on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 6:45 pm in the Meany Center for the Performing Arts. If you are registered for this lecture, please plan on arriving by 7:15 pm to claim your seats. Any seats not taken by that time will be offered to our guests in the standby line.
________________________________________________________
In 2015, Misty Copeland became the first African American female principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history. Hear from this artist, author, entrepreneur and humanitarian about how she broke barriers and her work to inspire young people everywhere.

About Misty Copeland
Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in San Pedro, California, Misty Copeland began her ballet studies at the age of 13 at the San Pedro City Ballet. At the age of 15 she won first place in the Music Center Spotlight Awards. She then began her studies at the Lauridsen Ballet Center. Copeland has studied at the San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on full scholarship and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000.

Copeland joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000, then joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001. She was appointed a Soloist in August 2007 and a Principal Dancer in August 2015.

Copeland received the 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2013. In 2014, President Obama appointed Copeland to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. She is the winner of a 2014 Dance Magazine Award. Copeland is the author of the best-selling memoir “Life in Motion” and the children’s book “Firebird.” In 2015, she was named to the Time 100 list and honored by Glamour Magazine as one of its Women of the Year. Ms. Copeland’s performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Valentino D. Carlotti.