Dancer Misty Copeland on New Memoir “The Wind at My Back”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: Turning now to the world of dance, with our next guest who continues to break barriers, Misty Copeland made history as the first African American female principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theater. And she is now detailing her journey to the historic role and her relationship with the women who paved the way. It’s in her new book, “The Wind at My Back.” And she joins Michel Martin to discuss these achievements and of course, her future in ballet as well.

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MICHEL MARTIN, CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks, Christiane. And, Misty Copeland, thank you so much for talking with us.

MISTY COPELAND, AUTHOR, “THE WIND AT MY BACK”: Thank you so much for having me.

MARTIN: Now, I know you are a prima ballerina, but your story could be an opera. I know that — people who have seen you in all your glory on stage or people who have seen you in your magnificent finery at a Red Carpet would never know the story that brought you to this place. It’s just a remarkable story growing up in a really unstable fashion, largely raised by a single mom. One of six siblings. You actually started ballet at an age when many kids have already been on point for years. I mean, you know, some kids start as early as three, and you didn’t even start ballet until you were 13. How did that happen and how did you fall in love with ballet?

COPELAND: My mother moved to California when I was just two years old with me and my siblings from Kansas City, Missouri where I was born. And it — there was just constant moving. I was in different schools and I became this very introverted shell of a person. Not really not really having found my way of expressing myself and communicating because it was not verbally. I was really uncomfortable just speaking. And it was around the time that my mother had recently remarried her fourth husband. And we had a settle in San Pedro, California I had become a member of the Boys and Girls Club of San Pedro, me and my sibling. It was a place where my mother could have us go and there was like a staple place for us to be after school. You know, years being at the Boys and Girls Club, they never had dance there. And it was at 13 years old that the local ballet teacher in San Pedro came into the Boys and Girls Club looking for more diverse students to give scholarships to and bring into her school, and I happen to be one of them. So, I was pushed into taking this free ballet class on a basketball court at my Boys and Girls Club, wearing gym clothes. You know, I was not an all in the proper attire. And it wasn’t until — you know, I took that first class. My teacher immediately identified that I was a prodigy. That word meant nothing to me. It didn’t really hold any weight but it took a lot of coaxing to get me to the studio. Once I was in the studio was when I fell in love with it. There was something about the rigor, the consistency, the stability, all the things I was craving in my life, ballet gave me, this grace and beauty, it was an escape and it was a way of expression that suited me and worked for me, and the rest is history.

MARTIN: I think it’s Maya Angelou who said, you can’t be what you can see. And at that point, you would not have seen anyone, really, who looked like you. But can you identify the moment in which you said to yourself, this is something that I can do, this is something that I love?

COPELAND: You know, what’s so interesting is that I immediately felt that with ballet. I think that it was because of the support that I had. I had a teacher who was not a woman of color. She was a white Jewish woman but had such a clear understanding of what it meant for me to be in the ballet world as a black girl. She protected me in a lot of ways from the racism that was happening around me and kind of guarded me from hearing and knowing what was going on. So, I really had this incredible freedom to just be a student and not think about the things that most dancers of color are thinking about in this space of this very European white world. It wasn’t until I became a professional ballet dancer that it all hit me.

MARTIN: So, I am wondering when it is that you first got the message that there were people who did not believe that you belonged there? How was that message first communicated to you?

COPELAND: I had an opportunity to go as a guest artist when I was 15 years old to South Dakota and dance with this small ballet company as the lead in “The Nutcracker.” And I had learned this role gone — flew there with only a couple of days before my first performance. And I was told that I had to pretend that I didn’t know the choreography and that I was just there to audition for the lead. And it was very confusing for me. Everyone was really worried that bringing this black girl to this white school to dance the lead would’ve caused such an uproar that they wanted to feel out whether or not they were going to accept me and kind of make it look as though I was auditioning. That was the first time that I had experienced that type of response within the ballet community. But once I became a professional, these microaggressions and things that I would read in reviews or just from dancers in the company, board members, I would hear from staff members at American Ballet Theater that I shouldn’t be performing in the Ballet Blanc, the white ballets. These are in some of the most famous ballets, the second act is when the entire company, the court of ballet and the lead dancers are all very uniformed. They wore white tutus and all have similar complexions. And I was told that I would ruin the aesthetic, I would ruin the line by being a brown body amongst these white dancers in the Ballet Blanc genre.

MARTIN: I recognize that you’ve heard this for so many years that this is just part of what you had to deal with, but I think for people outside of the world of ballet, I think many people would find that just absolutely ridiculous and absurd. Why would people think that? Is it because sort of a European — a very specific European aesthetic was so embedded in the ballet world that people didn’t question it?

COPELAND: Yes. Right. You know, it is now art form as well and we have to make adjustments because when you are performing in America, you know, in order for the ballet to continue to stay relevant, to continue to grow we have to see diversity on the stage and behind the scenes and in board rooms in order for people to want to invest in it and want it to continue on. So, you know, we have ways to go. And this has been my mission since I, you know, became a professional is educating black and brown community about what ballet is and the beauty of it and then, creating a space where they feel safe and that they can thrive within this space.

MARTIN: One of the things though that I found interesting about your book is that it so encapsulates the experience of being the first and the only, not just in the world of ballet but in so many other fields. You were 10 years at the American Ballet Theater and you were the only black women in the company. And I wondered what — were you aware of it at the time? Did you feel this extra sense of having to persevere even in difficult times because — did you feel the weight of all those eyes on you as the first and the only for so long?

COPELAND: I would say I didn’t feel that until the year that I was promoted to principal dancer. It was 15 years that I was a dancer in the company before I reached the rank of principal dancer. And in that time, I just felt — I understood my responsibility and it never felt like pretty or weight. I was just proud to be in this position and I understood that I might not see another black woman come through this company in my lifetime. So, I’m going to take every opportunity. I’m going to push through. But it wasn’t until I — you know, all eyes were on me in terms of the media and my story getting out there beyond the ballet bubble and really crossing over into pop culture. But the narrative change in that last year before I was promoted, you know, were — was like, is Misty getting these opportunities because she is black? If she gets promoted — or if she doesn’t execute these technical feats in these roles that she is given the opportunity to dance, does she deserve to be a principal dancer? And that doesn’t happen. There is no white dancer has experiences that. You know, when — I’m approaching rules for the first time, and I have the “New York Times,” they’re reviewing me and people writing but my performances, it became really overwhelming to me, and that was the first time that I really started to feel the pressure of what it meant to be in that position.

MARTIN: One of the things I learned from your book is literally two days after you watched one of the roles of your career in Firebird, you had withdrawn because you were grievously injured. You had — was it six stress fractures in your tibia? You knew how seriously injured you were, but you went on anyway. Why?

COPELAND: You know, I understood that I had to be my own advocate. Because, you know, within the company being the only — I didn’t have people — I didn’t have the opportunity to keep making mistakes and get another opportunity. I understood that getting this chance to perform the role of the Firebird, this iconic role in a full-length classical, work as a black woman at 29 years old, which is like ancient in ballet age, that if I didn’t go on stage and I backed out because of an injury there wasn’t going to be a second chance. And so, I knew that even if I just gone onstage one-time it could completely change the perception of black women in ballet, it could give an opportunity to a young person who saw me on the stage and could see a future for themselves, whether or not it was ballet or whatever it is they wanted to do where — in a space where they are told they can’t, I knew it was going to make an impact. So, I — you know, it was seeing the line wrapped around the met, you know, of black and brown people that are supporting me that got me through that performance. Once that adrenaline hit and I knew who was in the audience, the pain went away. But, of course, it all came rushing back as soon as the performance was over and I knew that it might be the last performance I ever performed if I don’t — didn’t go see a doctor.

MARTIN: This is where, I think, the role of history and mentors comes in because one of the few people who did know how seriously injured you were was your mentor, Raven Wilkinson. And, you know, I have to say, her story along with yours is unbelievable. How did you learn of her?

COPELAND: Yes. Raven’s journey has been incredible, and she was really the first black woman to reach the rank of soloist. But I learned of her watching a documentary on the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. I was already a soloist at ABT. And sadly, I was not at all familiar with who she was. I watch this long documentary. And towards the very end, this elegant, beautiful black woman appeared on the screen and started speaking about her time in the company, and I literally was just stopped in my tracks. I could not believe that I didn’t know about her story in this famous company. It made me angry that I didn’t know that history, my history as a black woman, as a black person in ballet. But it also made me feel like I had so much more to fight for, that I had a duty and responsibility to carry on, you know, her journey, the opportunities she didn’t get because of the color of her skin. She joined the Ballet Russe in 1955 as the first black woman, the only black woman to dance in that company. She rose quickly to the rank of soloist. And as you said, you know, she experienced a lot of racism when the company would tour through the south. And her life was being threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, and, you know, it was really putting the whole company at risk. And so, eventually, the — her and the artistic director made the decision that it was time for her to leave. Raven ended up moving to Amsterdam and dancing with the Dutch National Ballet for about 10 years and having a really full and rich career. But this is the journey of so many black artists of her time, especially, that would have to go to Europe in order to have a career, or to have success. And Raven moved back to the States after her time in Amsterdam and could not get a job in any other class school company. And so, much has not changed today. You know, I think of Michaela DePrince, who literally has done what Raven has done, as a black dancer. She had to move to Amsterdam and joined the Dutch National Ballet because a company here in America would not hire her until more recently. But this — you know, it’s just important for me to share Raven’s story, it’s important for people to know her name and all of the black ballerinas who have allowed for me to be in this position.

MARTIN: In part, this book is an homage to her. You want the world to know her story but you also take pains to list the names, to call out the names of all of these black ballerinas who have preceded you and also, those who continue to perform. Clearly, that’s important to you. Why is that so important to you?

COPELAND: Yes. You know, it’s so much a part of what drew me to ballet was being a part of something bigger than me, being a part of an incredible history and lineage and tradition. And then, finding out that black people have had a huge impact on the ballet community and culture for so long. It is so important for us to know our history as black people, you know, that we are so often turned away or told that we don’t belong in certain spaces or that it’s not for us because you don’t know your history or you don’t see yourself reflected. And our stories are often erased and/or not documented. And that’s been the case with so many black dancers and black women in particular. And so, I feel that it’s my responsibility with the reach I have, with the platforms that I have for people to hear me and see me, for them to know that, yes, I’m the first black principal ballerina at ABT, but I am by no means the first black ballerina and the first black dancer. And I wouldn’t be here without all of the work of so many black dancers that have come before me.

MARTIN: And before we let you go, there’s another milestone or glass ceiling, I’m not quite sure what to call it, that you are trying to cross, and that is returning to ballet after becoming a mother. So, you have a beautiful little boy now to enrich your life and your husband’s life. I mean, what is next? I mean, how do you see your career at this point? Do you plan to go back to the stage?

COPELAND: It is difficult, to be a working woman, a woman that wants to have a family and then, still be able to focus on her career. And it’s extremely difficult as an athlete. I mean, you look at Serena Williams and, you know, returning to tennis and the difficulties of that and, you know, to focus on your body. But ballerinas have been doing this for generations and generations, having babies, going back onstage, but we don’t see all the work and what it takes to — the dedication and commitment. And so, my plan is to be back on stage by the fall, winter of 2023. I think I will always dance in some capacity and I will forever be a part of the ballet community, you know, whether it is through speaking, writing books, just advocating for black dancers in ballet through my foundation, the Misty Copeland Foundation, I will forever remain a part of ballet in some way.

MARTIN: Misty Copeland, thank you so much for talking with us.

COPELAND: Thank you so much for having me.