Sara Mearns. Sara Ann Mearns born 19 January 1986 is an American ballerina who is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. She was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where she began dance training at the age of three with Ann Brodie at the Calvert-Brodie School of Dance, also in Columbia. At the age of 13, Sara trained with Patricia McBride at Dance Place, the School of North Carolina Dance Theatre, in Charlotte. She continued her studies at age 14 with Stanislav Issaev at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville. She entered the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet, full time in the fall of 2001. In the fall of 2003 Sara became an apprentice with New York City Ballet.
Ballet performer known for being the principal dancer in the New York City Ballet. She was nominated for a Benois de la Dance award in 2012 and for a Bessie Award in 2014. After suffering a back injury in 2012, she became an advocate for promoting injury prevention in dance. She and Cole Haan collaborated to design ballet flats. Now, after 5 years she has completely recovered do to physical therapy and strengthening her back. Sara is now one of the best principal dancers with the New York City Ballet and is continuing her career like nothing ever happened.
Dancer Misty Copeland was born as the fourth of six siblings on September 10, 1982 in Kansas City, Missouri. Misty's mother Sylvia Delacerna had several marriages and boyfriends, with the family packing up and moving under harried conditions at times. Copeland and her siblings eventually settled in the coastal community of San Pedro in California. Copeland would perform dance routines at home to the songs of another icon, Mariah Carey, and eventually was chosen to be the captain of her drill team at her middle school. The teacher who ran the team thought Copeland should take ballet classes at the Boys and Girls Club she already attended. Copeland eventually did so under the direction of Cynthia Bradley, who realized that Misty was a prodigy, able to see and perform choreographed movement immediately and dance on pointe after a very short period of ballet training. While her dancing life was blossoming, Copeland's home life was difficult, with Delacerna leaving her husband and the family later moving into a motel. Delacerna and Bradley ultimately decided to allow the 13-year-old dancer to move in with her teacher's family. Copeland was then able to continue her training while also entering the public spotlight as a promising up-and-coming performer. After having attended a summer intensive program on scholarship at San Francisco Ballet, Misty's mother demanded that she return home. With accompanying coverage from local media, a battle between Bradley and Delacerna, with Copeland, at 15 years old, looking into legal emancipation from her biological parent. The request was ultimately dropped, however, with Copeland getting a police escort and returning to live with her mother. Yet, Misty refused to let go of her career. After taking classes at Lauridsen Ballet Centre, she did another summer intensive in 1999, this time at the renowned American Ballet Theatre. She joined ABT's studio company in September 2000, and then became part of its corps de ballet the following year. In 2007, Copeland accomplished being the first African American soloist in ABT in 75 years. Now to this day, Misty has surpassed her expectations by becoming the highest rank of a dancer as a principal with the American Ballet Theatre. She has been sponsored by Under Armor and has so far written two books, one for children and one for adults. Over the years she has inspired all young dancers to follow and achieve their dreams despite the circumstances.
