THE NEXT ACT

Playing the powerful lead in the Australian Ballet’s production of Sylvia this month is a fitting role for acclaimed dancer Misty Copeland, who has always used her own voice to empower women. By Jen Nurick.

Playing the powerful lead in the Australian Ballet’s production of Sylvia this month is a fitting role for acclaimed dancer Misty Copeland.

MISTY COPELAND IS on her way to the airport when she answers the phone, speaking to Vogue from the back seat of a taxi in Manhattan. She returned that morning from a holiday in Africa and is already on her way to catch another flight.

While others would have hit a wall by now, balancing three time zones and the post-holiday blues, Copeland is unfazed. A back-to-back schedule is business as usual for the 37-year-old Missouri native, who will have just two weeks of rehearsals when she visits Australia in November to perform in the Australian Ballet’s production of Sylvia. It will be her second time performing with the company, having first starred as Aurora in artistic director David McAllister’s production of The Sleeping Beauty in 2017.

“It was such an amazing experience and I love the company,” says Copeland of her last visit. “Sylvia is a ballet that I’ve performed for most of my career with the American Ballet Theatre, but I’ve never done the lead. There are very few ballets in the classical repertoire where there is a woman who is so strong in terms of her character. Sylvia is such a powerful character to see – especially for young girls.”

The atypical heroine is a natural alignment for nonconforming Copeland, who has built her ballet career by being an exception to the rule. Where most hopeful dancers enrol in ballet class at age three, Copeland was 13 years old when she took her first class.

“I had only four years of training under my belt before I became a professional with the American Ballet Theatre,” she explains. “I can’t go by the rules because that’s just not how my life has been.”

Her ascent in the prestigious company was both accelerated and historic. Copeland was named American Ballet Theatre’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000 and joined the company in September that year. Then, in 2007, she became the second-ever African American female to be promoted to soloist and the first in 20 years. This was followed in 2015 by Copeland becoming the first-ever African American female principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history – an unprecedented reality not lost on her given she was also 32 at the time. “That’s insane,” she admits in reflection. “If you’re not a principal dancer in your 20s, it’s [usually] not going to happen.”

Yet in spite of the countless odds stacked against her (inside the classical canon, motifs of submissive women dependent on male saviours predominate, and outside of it, a lack of racial and body-positive diversity persists), Copeland has successfully blazed her own trail and outlived the traditionally brief career of a professional dancer. “I know it’s not always fair – especially as a black woman, as a black dancer – and so I can’t think like: ‘Oh, it’s just not fair,’” she says. “It’s like: ‘Well, this is what it is and I’m just going to keep fighting, keep proving myself.’”

Copeland has parlayed this attitude into other projects from writing to film, in order to cultivate a diverse audience that transcends the

classic confines of the ballet world, and the esteemed walls of the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Plaza in New York, where the American Ballet Theatre’s annual eight-week spring season unfolds.

Her career has been thoughtful and curated. “It’s not a coincidence things fall into my lap,” she says. “[It is about] making sure that it aligns with who I am, the message I’m putting out and what I stand for.”

In 2014, Copeland was cast as one of the faces in sportswear brand Under Armour’s ‘I Will What I Want’ campaign. (Later, she would design the Misty Copeland Signature Collection in collaboration with the company.) In the same year, publishers released her book, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, the New York Times bestselling memoir she co-wrote with African-American journalist Charisse Jones.

Both touchpoints nurtured her growing star power and digital clout (she has 1.7 million Instagram followers), and soon after she was named one of Time’s most influential people. Later, she was immortalised by Mattel when she got her own Barbie. And most recently, Copeland forayed into film, with a role in Disney’s 2018 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms with Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren.

But again, it’s hardly happenstance. “All of it was to be able to use those platforms to push the conversation on the lack of diversity, to bring classical dance to a broader audience, especially in America,” she says. “To put it on TV, on the big screen … that’s all been part of the plan.”

In an industry where one injury can derail an entire career, Copeland has built on a multi-channel momentum that highlights the onus on performers in the public eye today to have a strong digital presence.

Today’s ballet dancers are digital entities, too. “I’m mostly drawn to Instagram [because] it’s such an incredible platform for dance,” she says. “To have the visual for people who may not have ever seen a ballet or weren’t interested, means they can get a peek into the rehearsal or the studio … a process that’s often not shown.” In turn, anyone who can’t afford tickets to a ballet gains proximity to Copeland. “I think that’s a good thing for the art form; for people to see we’re human,” she says.

Whether starring in a Broadway musical – Copeland made her debut in On the Town in 2015 – or trying her hand at public speaking (“As a child, the thought of speaking would literally make me want to vomit”), she’s been able to hone new skills and amplify causes close to her heart. “Venturing into these worlds, I think is only going to make me a smarter, stronger person and hopefully bring opportunities to the dance world and to dancers,” she says.

Her career as dancer and advocate has developed symbiotically. “I wear [the badge of mentorship] proudly and I think it’s important especially because I am put out there and represent ballet and dancers of colour,” she says, hopeful that the next generation will follow suit.

In step with recent shake-ups to the status quo in a post-#MeToo world, Copeland is aware that the ballet world is culpable when it comes to discrimination, and believes inspiring change rests in the hands of its dancers. “We’re just now slightly breaking through and seeing a glimmer of light,” she says of an industry-wide move towards inclusivity, noting the reception of English biracial ballerina Francesca Hayward, who is set to star in Tom Hooper’s 2019 Cats remake, as a step in the right direction.

When it comes to achieving greater representation, Copeland maintains conversation is key. “I know people say: ‘Oh, it’s happening so we don’t have to talk about it,’” she says, in reference to developing diversification in ballet, “but this is the time to talk about it.” In the wake of #MeToo, Copeland reflects that the movement has helped generate discussion within the industry. “I think it’s time we have more women who are artistic directors and executive directors,” she says, which is why she took matters into her own hands, founding her production company Life In Motion Productions in 2014.

Like her other endeavours, Copeland’s production company reflects her ability to pivot in her career and keep on her toes, even if not in her pointe shoes.

“I think the moment you become comfortable and complacent, you can’t grow and you lose the passion and the hunger,” she says. “If I’m too comfortable, it’s probably not the right project.”

As she approaches the future with this perspective in mind, Copeland is embracing what she identifies as a year of transition. The first step has been letting go of the ballets she’s performed in the past with confidence rather than regret. “I want to take advantage of this time … not just dancing, but focussing on other things I’m doing,” she says, alluding to her desire to explore other ventures beyond the ballet world.

She’s determined to have some fun off-stage, too. Recalling her last visit to Australia, Copeland explains that despite her packed schedule she “went to the hotel for an hour and then straight to a Drake concert”. This time round, the keen cook is hoping to enjoy the local food scene.

As for motivation, Copeland doesn’t dance around her answer. “I’m at a point now where I want to do things that inspire me and make me happy.” Sylvia is on at the Sydney Opera House from November 8 to 23. Go to www.australianballet.com.au.

“The moment you become comfortable and complacent, you can’t grow and you lose the passion and the hunger”