Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) – the world’s largest international youth ballet competition – presents its signature spectacular dance gala performance, “STARS OF TODAY MEET THE STARS OF TOMORROW” this Thursday, April 16, 7 PM at at the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center . Hosted by recently retired American Ballet Theatre (ABT) prima ballerina Misty Copeland and honoring YAGP alumna and former ABT dancer, Melanie Hamrick, and LoveShackFancy Founder and Creative Director, Rebecca Hessel Cohen, celebrated ballet stars and the winners of the YAGP international youth ballet competition share the stage in an unforgettable evening of dance. Melanie Hamrick will also present her original work She’s a Rainbow, with music by The Rolling Stones, performed by ABT's Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in San Pedro, California, Misty Copeland began her ballet studies at the late age of thirteen. At fifteen, she won first place in the Music Center Spotlight Awards. She studied at the San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on full scholarship and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000. Misty joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000, joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001, and in August 2007 became the company’s second African American female Soloist and the first in two decades. In June 2015, Misty was promoted to principal dancer, making her the first African American woman to ever be promoted to the position in the company’s 75-year history.
In 2008, Misty was honored with the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, a two-year fellowship awarded to young artists who exhibit extraordinary talent providing them additional resources in order to attain their full potential. Performing a variety of classical and contemporary roles, one of Misty’s most important roles was performing the title role in Firebird, created in 2012 with new choreography by much sought after choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. In December 2014, Misty performed the lead role of “Clara” in American Ballet Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker, also choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. In the fall of 2014, she made history as the first black woman to perform the lead role of “Odette/Odile” in American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake during the company’s inaugural tour to Australia. Misty reprised the role during ABT’s Metropolitan Opera House spring season in June 2015, as well as debuted as “Juliet” in Romeo & Juliet.
Misty made her first awards season guest performances in 2019 with Taylor Swift at the American Music Awards and at the 2020 Grammy Awards alongside Camilla Cabella, Common, Ben Platt, and dancers from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, as well as the televised Prince Grammy Tribute performing with award-winning recording artist H.E.R.. She most recently danced at the 2026 Academy Awards as part of the Sinners live onstage musical performance. Misty made her Broadway debut in On The Town in 2015 and her major motion picture debut in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms in 2018. She is also featured in an episode of MasterClass, the online series. Misty started her production company, Life In Motion Productions, focused on bringing representative stories of artists past, present, and future, and normalizing the arts experience. Her first independently produced project, Flower, premiered at the Tribeca Festival in 2023 and is a silent arts activism film using dance to help raise awareness about intergenerational equity.
Misty is the New York Times best-selling author of the memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, co-written with award-winning journalist and author Charisse Jones, published March 2014; Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You; Black Ballerinas; and the picture book Bunheads and next in the series, Bunheads, Act 2: The Dance of Courage (released September 2025). She is also author of the award-winning children’s picture book, Firebird, in collaboration with award-winning illustrator and author Christopher Myers, published September 2014. Misty’s book, The Wind At My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson, in tribute to her late mentor and friend, pioneering ballerina Raven Wilkinson, was published November 2022.
Misty has been featured in numerous publications and television programs, including "CBS Sunday Morning," "60 Minutes," "The Today Show," "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," MSNBC’s "Melissa Harris Perry," Vogue, Essence, Ebony, and People Magazine.
Her endorsements, past and present, include American Express, COACH, and Diet Dr. Pepper. In 2014, Under Armour launched Misty as one of the faces of their “I Will What I Want” campaign with a commercial that went viral, gaining over 9,000,000 views to date.
Misty’s passion is giving back. An avid philanthropist and an ambassador of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, of which she is also an alum, she has worked with many charitable organizations and is dedicated to giving of her time to work with and mentor young girls and boys. In 2014, President Obama appointed Misty to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. In 2022, Misty launched The Misty Copeland Foundation, with its first signature program BE BOLD, which aims to bring greater diversity, equity and inclusion to dance, especially ballet. In 2023, she launched the women’s line of Greatness Wins, an athletic wear business she co-founded with Derek Jeter and Chris Riccobono.
In 2021, Misty was the recipient of the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor and in 2023, she received the Trailblazer Icon Award at The Grio Awards, was named to The Root 100 list, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from New York University. Prior honors include an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford in November 2014 for her contributions to classical ballet and helping to diversify the art form; induction into the Boys & Girls Club National Hall of Fame in May 2012; the “Breakthrough Award” from the Council of Urban Professionals in April 2012; named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in June 2013; the Young, Gifted & Black honor at the 2013 Black Girls Rock! Awards; Glamour’s Women of the Year; and Time 100 Most Influential People.