A Doll For/From Misty

The Misty milestones keep on coming. Yesterday the new Misty Copeland Barbie Doll, part of Mattel’s Sheroes Collection, was announced.

On “Good Morning America,” the ABT principal talked about setting an example. She also talked about her feelings about the passing of Prince, who chose her to grace his stage well before she was a national heroine. (Want to know how Misty felt when she got the call from Prince? Read our 2010 cover story here.) Will we some day see a gown for the Misty doll inspired by Prince? If so, it might look something like the one below.

Misty wearing the dress designed for Prince’s “Crimson and Clover” video, photo by Matt Karas

Currently the Misty doll wears a costume similar to the one designed by Galina Solovyeva for Ratmansky’s Firebird (2010) for American Ballet Theatre. My guess is that when Misty performs an excerpt of this ballet on ABT’s May 16th gala at the Metropolitan Opera, many new fans will be in attendance. (See calendar here.)

When she’s not at the barre or on the stage—or doing many other things, like guest editing our current issue—Misty helps to guide young dancers. She’s an icon to them. Who was Misty’s icon? In our May issue, she says that after meeting Ballet Russe dancer Raven Wilkinson, who is also African American, “I’ve been inspired to help pave the way for the next generation of dancers.”

Find Misty in the Barbie Collection here.