Ballet is considered the envy of all the arts, and with its graceful, beautiful, pale, and petite dancers, it is superiority at its finest. But with all of this, a question has risen. Where are all the black ballerinas? Breaking the barriers and stereotypes, ballerina Misty Copeland has been the first African American principal ballerina in a major world ballet company. Even through Misty’s hard childhood, and the obstacles, stereotypes, and barriers she had to break to get to her position, she’s accomplished so much and inspired so many. Misty Copeland’s childhood was different that that of a “normal” child's. Copeland was born on September tenth, 1982 and when she was only three, her mother packed up her and her…show more content… First off, stereotypes saying that black ballerinas are not graceful, are too broad and muscular, do not have a good point, have too big of a bust, and their posture isn't correct is a reason no company would take a chance on her or any other ballerinas of color. In letters back from company applications stated that in fact her point wasn't fantastic, her posture slouched, and she could've improved her grace. For many years, Copeland did everything in her power to improve, but even after she was accepted into her company, the difficulties didn't stop. In her early days at ABT, she realized she was the only dancer of a different race. The thought pulled at her, and she started to lose hope. She even started to gain weight and overeat because of stress and grief. Her manager noticed and formed a group of strong, accomplished women of color to help Misty get through her tough times. It was at that time that she started to realize that she was not only dancing for herself, she was dancing for the ethnic community and all of the “little brown girls.” She was dancing for a difference. Every day Misty worked harder and harder to achieve her
