Misty Copeland

As Misty Copeland's mother, I am greatly troubled by the misrepresentation of my family in your article "Solo in the City," by Allison Adato (Dec. 5). Misty is a loving yet strong young woman. She makes her own decisions with the caring guidance of our family and close friends. She is not the weak and easily manipulated person the article portrays. Misty is, and has been, in charge of her own destiny. She has invested in her future by returning home to finish high school before accepting a contract offer and career with the American Ballet Theatre.

As Misty Copeland's mother, I am greatly troubled by the misrepresentation of my family in your article "Solo in the City," by Allison Adato (Dec. 5). Misty is a loving yet strong young woman. She makes her own decisions with the caring guidance of our family and close friends. She is not the weak and easily manipulated person the article portrays. Misty is, and has been, in charge of her own destiny. She has invested in her future by returning home to finish high school before accepting a contract offer and career with the American Ballet Theatre.

Tonight the girl has styled her hair like Juliet. Two braids are drawn away from her face like curtain ties, fastened in back over a cascade of waves. Outfitted in a silver tube top, a narrow skirt and this summer's adolescent imperative of clunky black sandals, she takes in the mahogany balconies of the Metropolitan Opera House and clutches at a program for the visiting Kirov Ballet. It is her first time at Lincoln Center, and she is here to see "Giselle."

Tonight the girl has styled her hair like Juliet. Two braids are drawn away from her face like curtain ties, fastened in back over a cascade of waves. Outfitted in a silver tube top, a narrow skirt and this summer's adolescent imperative of clunky black sandals, she takes in the mahogany balconies of the Metropolitan Opera House and clutches at a program for the visiting Kirov Ballet. It is her first time at Lincoln Center, and she is here to see "Giselle."

A hearing in the custody dispute of 15-year-old Gardena ballerina Misty Copeland was rescheduled for Monday in Torrance Superior Court. Earlier this month, Misty's mother, Sylvia DelaCerna, had filed for temporary restraining orders against a San Pedro couple who run a dance studio and took Misty into their home as a ballet student for nearly three years.

Misty Copeland's size 6 feet are her compass. They guide the young ballerina's lithe limbs across the stage where she does triple pirouettes on pointe and plies with the grace of a seasoned dancer. Misty, however, is a novice with only eight months ballet training.

"Imagine a fish out of water," instructs choreographer Alexei Ratmansky to the American Ballet Theatre dancers portraying the 13 captive maidens in his new production of Stravinsky's "The Firebird. " Mesmerized by Kaschei, the evil sorcerer, they flop around as he zaps them with his wicked energy. Speaking in a hushed voice with a soft Russian accent, Ratmansky, working in one of ABT's no-frills Manhattan studios, conjures up traffic patterns for the corps de ballet, who promptly obey directions.

The personal squabbling over the career of a ballet prodigy continued Monday when the mother of 15-year-old Misty Copeland dropped a request for a temporary restraining order against the girl's two instructors, but said she still wanted the couple to stay away from her daughter. Also complicating Misty's future were emancipation proceedings she had initiated against her mother, Sylvia DelaCerna.

Perched on a chair in a Gardena dance studio after yet another grueling six-hour workout, 15-year-old Misty Copeland looks simply ethereal, like one of those hand-painted porcelain figurines of a young ballerina. Her accomplishments are just as breathtaking.

High school singer Katrina Roth walked into the quiet of the Pasadena Public Library last year to audition for the Spotlight Awards. She was nervous. Her throat was dry--not good for a contender in the classical voice category. She sang "Batti, batti, oh bel Masetto"--a Mozart aria from the opera "Don Giovanni." And she lost. Undaunted, the freshman attended the Spotlight Awards ceremony at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to hear the two singers selected ahead of her.

A hearing in the custody dispute of 15-year-old Gardena ballerina Misty Copeland was rescheduled for Monday in Torrance Superior Court. Earlier this month, Misty's mother, Sylvia DelaCerna, had filed for temporary restraining orders against a San Pedro couple who run a dance studio and took Misty into their home as a ballet student for nearly three years.

Misty Copeland's size 6 feet are her compass. They guide the young ballerina's lithe limbs across the stage where she does triple pirouettes on pointe and plies with the grace of a seasoned dancer. Misty, however, is a novice with only eight months ballet training.

POINTED toes versus flexed feet: On Tuesday, American Ballet Theatre opened a seven-performance engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with three works contrasting these classical and anticlassical movement impulses. Looking strong and often stylish, the company delivered choreographies created from 1928 to 2001 with relish for the interplay of tradition and innovation that gives each piece its distinction, whatever its subject.

Standing at the barre in a dance studio with her back perfectly straight, head gently tilted and slender fingers caressing air, 17-year-old Ashley Anderson already looks much like the seasoned ballerina she hopes to become. The Northridge teen will move one step closer to her dream of a career as a professional dancer when she boards a jet tonight bound for New York City.