Misty Copeland Recalls Center Triumph in New Autobiography

Misty Copeland and Roman Zhurbin in The Firebird.
Photo by Gene Schiavone.

Misty Copeland, soloist with American Ballet Theatre and one of the brightest young stars in the dance world, recently released her autobiography. Copeland was raised and studied dance in San Pedro. On page 242, she writes, “Before kicking off our season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, we debuted The Firebird on the road. Our first performances were at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, California. It was a homecoming....” The chapter goes on to quote Jean Lenihan’s LA Times blogged review: ”Ratmansky’s revised storyline and forward-backward movement idiom finally emerged clearly with second cast leads Misty Copeland and Herman Cornejo, a hypnotizing pair.... With them, the audience’s standing ovation was absolutely spontaneous.” 

Misty Copeland and Herman Cornejo in The Firebird.
Photo by Gene Schiavone.

The book is titled Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, and was written with Charisse Jones. 

The Center will present another ABT world premiere March 3 – 8, 2015. This will be the company’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty. And for the 2015 holidays, the Center will present ABT’s The Nutcracker for the first time outside of New York.