{"id":17180,"date":"2024-04-02T11:15:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T15:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=17180"},"modified":"2024-04-02T11:15:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T15:15:31","slug":"misty-copeland-discusses-generational-trauma-felt-by-black-ballet-dancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2024\/04\/misty-copeland-discusses-generational-trauma-felt-by-black-ballet-dancers.html","title":{"rendered":"Misty Copeland Discusses ‘Generational Trauma’ Felt By Black Ballet Dancers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"misty<\/a>
lev radin\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Misty Copeland has gotten used to having the spotlight on her at center stage. In 2015, she sprang into the highest echelons of dance when she became the first African American woman to be a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, one of the most prestigious and well-renowned dance companies in the world.<\/p>\n

Copeland told CNN\u2019s Chris Wallace in a new episode of Max\u2019s \u201cWho\u2019s Talking to Chris Wallace?\u201d \u201cI spent the first decade of my professional career with American Ballet Theatre, the only Black woman in the company, a company of almost 100 dancers.\u201d Being the first is a challenging but familiar position for Copeland, who\u2019s often spent her dance career as one of the only Black dancers in the room or on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve experienced, you know, difficulties being a Black woman when you stand out, especially in the\u00a0corps de ballet\u00a0when it\u2019s supposed to look uniform, and everyone kind of in the same tones wearing pink tights, which represent the color of your skin. And that wasn\u2019t always the case.\u201d There were also instances of discrimination that could have easily turned Copeland away from dance altogether. Copeland told Wallace, \u201cThere were times that I was not cast in certain roles because I would stand out too much and kind of ruin the aesthetic, especially if it were a performance that was being filmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, in the fall of 2014, almost a year before she would become a principal dancer, Copeland would make history as the first Black ballerina to perform the lead role of \u201cOdette\/Odile\u201d\u00a0in American Ballet Theatre\u2019s\u00a0\u201cSwan Lake.\u201d It\u2019s a prized role coveted by dancers in one of the world\u2019s most popular classical ballets. But, Copeland said, as a Black ballerina, her casting also stirred mixed emotions.<\/p>\n