The Art of Dance

Dancer Misty Copeland opens up about what it feels like to make history, as she channels artist Edgar Degas’s most famous ballet works to celebrate an ongoing exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. By Stephen Mooallem Photographs by Ken Browar & Deborah Ory

- Ken Browar & Deborah Ory

Ballet dancers, Misty Copeland tells me, like to be in control. It’s something about ballet itself— the painstaking quest to achieve the appearance of a kind of effortless athleticism, fluidity, and grace—that makes it hard to let go. “I think all dancers are control freaks a bit,” she explains. “We just want to be in control of ourselves and our bodies. That’s just what the ballet structure, I think, kind of puts inside of you. If I’m put in a situation where I am not really sure what’s going to happen, it can be overwhelming. I get a bit anxious.”

Copeland recreates Degas’s The Star Revolutionary spirit. Dress, Valentino. Headdress and corsages, Wilhelm. Ribbon, Mokuba. Fashion editor: Michelle Jank

Copeland says that’s part of the reason she found posing for the images that accompany this story—which were inspired by Edgar Degas’s paintings and sculptures of dancers at the Paris Opéra Ballet—a challenge. “It was interesting to be on a shoot and to not have the freedom to just create like I normally do with my body,” she says. “Trying to recreate what Degas did was really difficult. It was amazing just to notice all of the small details but also how he still allows you to feel like there’s movement. That’s what I think is so beautiful and difficult about dance too. You’re trying to strive for this perfection, but you still want people to get that illusion that your line never ends and that you never stop moving.”