Pioneering black ballet dancer wants to keep destroying stereotypes and changing attitudes
In her first visit to Hong Kong, Misty Copeland talks about how she became the first black performer to be made principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre – and how in another life she could have been a chef
US ballet star Misty Copeland looks up at a giant image of herself, the advert framing her muscular body as she balances on one leg, the other stretched skywards. “I haven’t seen all the images for this campaign,” she says about her collaboration with US sports apparel brand, Under Armour. “I like it.”
You would know if she didn’t. Copeland, who in 2015 became the first black woman promoted to principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre in the company’s 75-year history, is known not just for shattering stereotypes, but also for speaking her mind.
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“I once did a photo shoot for a magazine and they altered my body so I spoke up, said I didn’t want to look that way. I told them that I’m very happy with how I look and that I worked hard to look this way, so how dare you change me.”
It’s 4pm and Copeland has arrived at a packed APM mall in Kwun Tong, Saturday shoppers going about their business oblivious that there is a dancing dynamo in their midst. It’s her first visit to the city – other trips with the ballet were cancelled due to injuries – and she is making sure she satisfies her love for shopping and food.
“I’ve been here four days and the weather’s great. It’s snowing at home in New York, so I’m loving this. There are so many people and so many malls,” she says as she plonks herself down on a beautiful but totally inappropriate swivel stool in Under Armour’s fourth-floor outlet.
The previous night she performed in the American Ballet Theatre’s production of Whipped Cream, a dark fable about a boy who overeats at a sweet shop. Choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky with rich layers added by set and costume designer Mark Ryden, the production was a highlight of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.