Misty Copeland

• Soloist
Copeland was appointed soloist in August 2007, which was announced in July 2007. Standing at 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m), she is one of the youngest ABT soloists, and she has been a standout among her peers. In the early fall 2007 New York City Center season, in which avant-garde ballets works were performed, she presented a Balanchine Ballo Della Regina role. Her solo in this work was highly regarded although, as one of Balanchine's later works, Ballo Della Regina is not regarded as one of his best productions. Her performances of Twyla Tharp works in the same City Center season were recognized, and she was described as more sophisticated and contemporary as a soloist than she had been as a corps dancer. As a corps member she had been recognized for prior performances of Tharp's work. Her summer 2008 Metropolitan Opera House season performances in Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty were well received.
In 2008, Copeland won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, which funds study with master teachers and trainers outside of the American Ballet Theatre. The two-year fellowships are in recognition of "young artists of extraordinary talent with the goal of providing them with additional resources in order to fully realise their potential". During the 2008–09 season, she received publicity for roles in Twyla Tharp's Baker's Dozen and Paul Taylor's Company B.
In March 2009, Copeland spent two days in Los Angeles filming a music video with Prince, for the first single from his 2009 studio album Lotusflower, which was a cover of the "Crimson and Clover". Prince caught her by surprise with a next-day invitation to participate in unchoreographed movements. She described his instructions as "Be you, feel the music, just move" and upon request for instruction "Keep doing what you’re doing". During the summer, her Annenberg Fellowship resulted in training for her performance in Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux adaptation of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake "Pas de Deux". She also began taking acting lessons. That fall, she performed in the ABT's first trip to Beijing November 12 –15. The six-performance engagement was the first by an American ballet company at the new National Center for the Performing Arts.