Tonya (Tanya) Mosley

This is Fresh Air.

I'm Tanya Mosley.

When Misty Copeland stepped onto the stage at Lincoln Center, golden confetti rained down as she took her final bow with American Ballet Theater.

After years away from performing, she returned to dance Juliet one last time and spin through Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite, closing a chapter that began over two decades ago.

It was a farewell to a company where she made history as the first Black woman promoted to principal dancer in ABT's history.

By ballet standards, Copland came to the art form late, at 13 years old.

It was the culmination of a journey that began not in a traditional ballet academy, but in a boys' and girls' club gym, where a shy teenager first discovered what her body could say through movement.

Copland rose through ABT's ranks to dance the roles that define classical ballet.

Odette Odile in Swan Lake, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and the title role in Firebird.

But her impact extends far beyond technique and tradition.

As a best-selling author, film producer, and founder of the Misty Copeland Foundation, her goal is to build pathways for children who've never seen themselves reflected on the ballet stage.

Now as Copeland steps away from ABT, she's turning her focus from performance to transformation, working to remake an art form that has for centuries defined beauty through exclusion.

Misty Copeland, welcome back to Fresh Air.

And it's a pleasure to have you as you enter this new chapter in your life.

You never wanted a farewell performance, but you got one.

I mean, there's a 15-minute standing ovation.

How are you feeling now that it's over?

Because this was quite a ramp up.

I mean, you had been gone for five years.

How long were you practicing to prepare yourself for this actual performance?