Misty Copeland visits Charlotte Ballet Academy

America’s most ballyhooed ballerina came to Charlotte Ballet Academy Tuesday. Misty Copeland, a principal with American Ballet Theatre in New York, had a closed-door master class with about 80 Charlotte Ballet Academy students ages 11 to 18.

Afterward, she did a Q&A for those students and about 70 more: 30 from Charlotte Ballet’s Reach program for economically disadvantaged dancers, 20 from its Pre-Professional Division and 20 from Northwest School of the Arts.

Academy director Ayisha McMillan Cravotta had long wanted to bring Copeland in for a class; because the ballerina had an event in Columbia earlier Tuesday, she dropped by Charlotte afterward. She has one other local connection: She performed in the 2014 Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Patricia McBride.

Lawrence Toppman

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Misty Copeland visits Charlotte Ballet Academy."