Misty Copeland Says Before Prince, She "Wasn't Confident as a Performer"
For decades, little kids have been playing with Barbie dolls to play out fantasies of all the things they could be: a doctor, a computer engineer, a soccer coach, a rockstar, you name it. Now, they can aspire to be Misty Copeland, who last year became the first African-American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
Copeland’s doll is wearing the red costume she wore in Firebird, the first role she did as a principal (and one she’s reprising in performances on May 18 and 19 as part of the ABT’s annual spring season at the Metropolitan Opera). The doll is part of Barbie’s “Sheroes” program, which has debuted dolls of Ava DuVernay, Zendaya, and Emmy Rossum prior. It’s another step from the company to include more diversity–a movement that most recently sparked the introduction of Barbie dolls in all body types.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Misty tells ELLE.com of her Barbie. “I think Barbie has always empowered women and pushed the boundaries of setting this example and idea for what’s possible and not limiting ourselves to what we think we can be. She’s been everything. Now she’s a black ballerina with muscles and curves.” It was important to her to have the Barbie reflect her own shape, especially since she’s spoken openly about body image issues she faced as a rising ballerina. “A healthy body image and just owning and being comfortable with who I am is so much a part of what I stand for,” she says. Ahead, find eight more little-known Copeland facts that we learned from our sit-down with the ballerina.
1. She became a confident performer thanks to Prince
“[Prince] taught me just to take chances and be vulnerable and he just showed me what it means to be a true, passionate performer. He was just very giving of himself and he celebrated people that he respected and wanted to help and give an opportunity and he did that for me at a time when I wasn’t confident as a performer. A lot of people didn’t know who I was and he gave me this platform to show people what ballet was. In the beginning [when he told me to just improv on tour], that was what was so empowering. I never experienced someone who just believed in me and was just like, ‘You’re a professional, go out there and just do you.’ That was just not how things work in the ballet world. You know? There’s so much structure around it and things were done a certain way, so it gave me a sense of freedom that I never experienced before.
It’s the most amazing thing when I meet people and they say 'Oh, I’m a huge fan of yours and I follow your career because I saw you perform with Prince.’ And that was why I started working with him, was to be able to give ballet this amazing platform but then to work with him for three or four years, I just blossomed into this artist I didn’t know I was capable of becoming. He was amazing and I will miss him and hold on to all the memories that we shared.”
2. She’s a big Mariah Carey fan
“Mariah Carey was definitely one of those people that I listened to, was influenced by, inspired by, and I started creating movement before I knew what ballet was or had any experience, I was choreographing, creating to her music, and again that’s like representation, seeing a biracial woman, I connected with her on some level, not consciously I think, but she was one in the beginning. But, again Raven Wilkinson and Paloma Herrera who retired last season was such a huge inspiration for me once I learned what ballet was. If I can choose a [Mariah Carey] song, I don’t know what album it is, but it’s called ”Looking In,“ I don’t think it was ever on the radio or anything. I don’t know I felt like I was so deep when I was 14 and I would just listen to this song and I felt like I connected to it so much. It was just to piano music and she’s just very emotional and 'looking in.’”
3. She may perform for thousands now, but was a big introvert as a kid
“In my childhood, I spent so much time alone. I just was very different from all of my siblings and I enjoyed just being by myself. I felt like I was such a loner and I just liked being by myself to create and Barbie was so much a part of that.”
4. She learned how to sew when she was 7 years old
“I was not exposed to fashion in any way in this little town in California, San Pedro, but I learned to sew when I was 7 and I used to make Barbie clothes. I remember I made her a sleeping bag and it folded into a pillow for her. It was so, so weird. I was the little worker girl. My brothers would come to me like 'Can you hem my pants?’ 'Can you sew a button?’ I feel like I was always aware of tailoring, especially being so petite. When I started dancing I used to alter all of my leotards. I would take in the back, take in the straps so it would fit me just right.”
5. She first realized how important representing Black women was when watching the documentary 'Ballets Russes’
“I can’t really think of a time that [representation] wasn’t something that I thought about. The first time that it really affected me was when I saw the Ballets Russes documentary and learned of who Raven Wilkinson was. That was the first time that it all kind of came at once and showed me how powerful it is to see yourself though someone else. It was just like this wake up call, like, this is my voice, that’s what I need to get across to people that we need more diversity. We need the next generation to be able to look at us and say 'That’s possible for me.’ That was probably the big moment for me that was like 'Yes, representation matters.’”
6. She never gets starstruck
“I’ve never been so invested in celebrities. Maybe that’s why I feel so removed from it when people say…I don’t know, maybe if I saw Stevie Wonder or Aretha Franklin or someone that I really respected, like meeting Prince. Someone that you just respect so much as an artist and for what they’re giving to the world, but I think the simple fact of being a celebrity just to be a celebrity that doesn’t affect my immediate existence or life in any way.”
7. But…she’s part of the Beyhive
“It would be really cool to see Beyoncé [at the Met Gala]. I think she’s an amazing woman and so strong and just embraced her ever-evolving image and who she is as a woman and an artist and a mother, and that’s really cool to watch. Lemonade was pretty awesome.”
8. She thinks becoming a principal dancer is just the beginning
“I feel like I haven’t even really, really, started to understand what [being a principal dancer] means. When you’ve reached this moment of success what do you do then? I have so much to do. I don’t think as an artist you ever stop growing or having to work. Every day there’s a new struggle, there’s a new obstacle, some things are easier, some things are harder. So the work just never ends. We’re not like machines where we program like 'Okay I’ve reached this, lock that in, now I’m going to work on this.’ There’s always such a give and take and finding that balance so I’m just excited to step back and just really enjoy these moments because it’s not a long career and I just want to be as present as possible and stay healthy and focused.”
The Misty Copeland Barbie doll is available today for $29.95 on barbiecollection.com.
