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History was made in the ballet world this week when soloist Misty Copeland was promoted to principal dancer, thereby becoming the first black female principal in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theatre.

Copeland, now 32 years old, has been dancing with the American Ballet Theatre for over 14 years, nearly eight as a soloist. Most recently, she starred as Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake” at the Met, a role dance critic Alastair Macaulay called “the most epic role in world ballet.”

Copeland’s name is known far beyond the traditional confines of the ballet world, in part due to her emphatic openness regarding the problematic relationship between race and ballet. As Elizabeth Blair explained on NPR: “It’s hard for any ballet dancer to succeed, regardless of race, but a black dancer is up against a centuries-old aesthetic — the idea, for example, that the swan must be feather-weight and snow white, and so does her prince.” tangie

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!!!!!MistyCopeland1Misty Copeland principal dancer American Ballet Theatre

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Click link below for story, video and slideshow:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/30/misty-copeland-principal-dancer_n_7697872.html

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