Misty’s Moment

On October 22, Misty Copeland took her final bow at the David H. Koch Theater, in New York City’s Lincoln Center. In the cheering audience that evening was the ballerina’s 3-year-old son, Jackson. “He got to see me dance for the very first time,” Copeland told TFK Kid Reporter Ethan Yu. “The first, and the last that I’ll be with the American Ballet Theatre.”

LET’S TALK TFK Kid Reporter Ethan Yu meets with Misty Copeland in New York City in November.

Young dancers everywhere aspire to join the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the world’s top ballet companies. After 25 years at ABT, Copeland has retired from its spotlight. She spoke with TIME for Kids about her historic career and what’s next.

BIG NIGHT Copeland poses on the red carpet before her final ABT performance, on October 22.

Dancing Her Dream

Most ballet dancers start young, but Copeland didn’t take her first lesson until she was 13. Four years later, in 2000, she was invited to join a special training program at ABT. Copeland moved from California to New York City. The program led her to a spot in the company’s ensemble × ensemble a group of supporting performers (noun) .

At the time, Copeland was the only Black woman in a company of 80 dancers. For years, she danced in smaller roles at ABT. After a serious leg injury in 2012, she worked hard to bounce back. Then, in 2015, she was promoted: Copeland became the first Black female principal × principal leading (adjective) dancer in ABT’s 75-year history.

As a principal dancer, Copeland starred in ABT productions. She toured with the company all over the world, “to Australia and Dubai and China and Japan,” she says. “All of these incredible places that, as a young person, I never imagined I would get to go.”

STAR ON THE STAGE Copeland performs in the ballet Don Quixote at ABT in 2017.

Copeland is proud to have set an example that you don’t have to fit a certain mold to succeed. “You can create your own path,” she told TFK in 2016. “You can be who you are. You don’t have to look like the person next to you. I think that’s important for kids to understand.”

Her Next Steps

Copeland announced her retirement from ABT in June. “It’s been 25 years . . . and I think it’s time,” she told the Associated Press. “It’s time for me to move to the next stage.”

UPLIFTING Misty Copeland dances Sinatra Suite with Herman Cornejo as part of her farewell performance.

Now that Copeland has left ABT, she’s focused on the future. She plans to continue her work advocating × advocate to promote or speak up for a cause (verb) for the arts. Through the Misty Copeland Foundation, she gives kids a chance to discover dance, like she did. “I love working with children,” she says. “It’s so important that we’re investing in the next generation of people who are going to be in charge.”

Copeland also wants to keep creating. “I have a production company,” she says. “I’m a producer, and I have a lot of really cool projects in the works right now.” She also loves to write and has written best-selling books (see “Dancing on the Page”). Writing and ballet aren’t so different, she says. They’re “both ways of telling stories, ways of expressing yourself.”

And Copeland says her dancing days aren’t fully behind her. “I do want to continue dancing,” she says. “It’s something that I’m constantly preaching—the value and importance of moving our bodies all the time, no matter what age you are.”

SAY GOODBYE Copeland, here with dancer Debbie Allen, says her last ABT performance was “overwhelming and emotional, but happy.”

Dancing on the Page

A new book in Copeland’s picture-book series came out in September. Bunheads, Act 2: The Dance of Courage shares the story of dancers learning to perform the ballet Don Quixote.

“I never imagined that I would be an author,” Copeland told TFK. “When I was around the age of 7, I started journaling. It was something I really enjoyed. I was very introverted and shy as a young girl. I hadn’t discovered dance. So my way of expressing myself was through writing.”