INDIANAPOLIS — The city was buzzing Wednesday evening with many young girls witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime experience with ballet icon Misty Copeland at the Madame Walker Legacy Theater.
Copeland was Indianapolis Public Library's featured speaker at the 45th Annual Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture.
WRTV’s Amber Grigley was there as Copeland signed autographs with the hope of inspiring these young girls to dream big.
Amber asked Hannah Baird, “How much do you love Misty Copeland?” Baird said, “Like this much," stretching her arms as wide as she could.
A gift of a lifetime for the Madam Walker Legacy Center auditorium filled with young girls to share a moment with their icon.
"She's really nice and when I saw her, I got butterflies in my stomach. Immediately,” said Baird.
“It made me feel like I got to be really special and it's a chance of a lifetime,” Aurora Thill said.
Misty Copeland made history as the first African American woman to become a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).
"Never did it cross my mind that I could one day be on a stage and be an example, be a representation of a community — black, brown people, and young people,” Copeland said.
"What advice would you give the next generation of dancers,” asked a young dancer in the Q&A session with Copeland.
“I think what I want the next generation to see, and young girls to see, is that there's so much beauty in this art form,” Copeland said.
Hannah and Chloe Baird got a chance to have a one-on-one session with Copeland.
"She said do you want to take a picture with me?" Chole said.
Hannah was tasked with an assignment at school to write an essay about someone whom she found as an inspiration.
“We did three people, and I already knew it was going to be Misty Copeland. I said, uh duh," Hannah said.
Some of IPS dance instructors brought their students to the lecture.
“Hopefully, it will inspire everyone to open their eyes a little bit more and see that we can all dance. There's enough space for all of us to be able to be accepted and be seen and heard through our art form,” Nicholas Owens, Director of Dance at Shortridge High School, said.
“What I like most about Misty is that she kept going,” Thill said.
Misty said through the Misty Copeland Foundation she's on a mission to bring more resources to diversify ballet allowing girls of every community to have an opportunity to dance.
