Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in San Pedro, California, Misty Copeland understands her role as a trailblazer in the classical dance world. She is the first Black female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
Ballerina Misty Copeland has the distinction of being one of the few African-American soloists in the world of ballet. In her newly released memoir “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina” (Touchstone Hardcover, $24.99), Copeland chronicles her tumultuous childhood, a late start in dance (she was 13) and joining the American Ballet Theatre’s corps de ballet as a teenager.
In her debut novel, “Bunheads,” Sophie Flack writes with an insider’s knowledge about the world of ballet. A former ballerina with the New York City Ballet, the 28-year-old artist, author and college student writes of an environment where surreal beauty comes at the expense of personal freedom. Flack, who retired from dance in 2009, resides in Manhattan with her puppy, Zeus, and boyfriend Josh Charles (“The Good Wife”).