{"id":19661,"date":"2025-10-23T15:13:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/19661\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:13:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:13:29","slug":"ballet-star-misty-copelands-dance-roots-in-san-pedro-continue-to-inspire-daily-breeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/19661\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballet star Misty Copeland\u2019s dance roots in San Pedro continue to inspire \u2013 Daily Breeze"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cindy Bradley remembers the first time she saw Misty Copeland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The shy 13-year-old was sitting in the bleachers at the San Pedro Boys and Girls Clubs<\/a>, watching as Bradley taught some beginning ballet moves.<\/p>\n

Bradley approached her, asking if she\u2019d like to join. It took some time to persuade her.<\/p>\n

While Copeland, a student at Dana Junior High in San Pedro, didn\u2019t have any dance training, she took to it naturally, Bradley said, mastering a forward toe pointe quickly and effortlessly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of those moves, Bradley said Wednesday, Oct. 22, in a telephone interview, that is key to a future in ballet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those steps \u2014 if it can be done perfectly \u2014 you can move into any other step easily,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

From there, the rest was history for Copeland, who became one of the biggest names on the ballet stage. And on Wednesday, Copeland hung up her pointe shoes and retired after 25 years with the American Ballet Theatre. She joined the company as a teenager, eventually becoming the first Black female principal dancer in its 75-year history.<\/p>\n

Bradley brought Copeland to the San Pedro ballet studio and school she operated with her husband, and Copeland quickly found her niche.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all knew there was something special about her,\u201d said Becky Campbell, who, along with Copeland, was part of a tight-knit ballet class of eight that bonded tightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all grew up together,\u201d said Campbell, who now lives in Atlanta and whose oldest daughter is also now in ballet classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the maturity to imagine what a star she was going to be, but Cindy saw the vision,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n

Bradley recalled watching Copeland, who was 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed 65 pounds, when she was just beginning.<\/p>\n

Sitting at her feet as she instructed her in those early dance moves, Bradley said, \u201cShe looked 10 feet tall to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew she was going to be something very special,\u201d said Bradley.<\/p>\n

And through the years, Copeland became a modern-day legend in the port town where she got her start.<\/p>\n

A mural in her honor<\/a> graces the ballet studio building on Pacific Avenue, and her occasional hometown visits draw crowds of fans<\/a>, including the young girls who aspire to follow in her footsteps.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a hometown hero,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n

\"AA large mural of ballet dancer Misty Copeland was unveiled to an audience of supporters and community members at the San Pedro City Ballet in San Pedro on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (Photo by Raphael Richardson, Contributing Photographer)<\/p>\n

Mike Lansing, director of the San Pedro Boys and Girls Clubs at the time, recalled how the dance program got started when the Dana drill team, which Misty was a member of, was looking for a place to practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a dance program, and these girls were pretty talented,\u201d said Lansing, who is now retired. \u201cSo I reached out to Cindy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was at that beginning ballet class where Bradley noticed Copeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cCindy told me she\u2019d spotted her up in the bleachers, and it took her a few weeks\u201d of persuasion, Lansing said. \u201cShe wouldn\u2019t come down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copeland, he said, has had an impact on San Pedro \u2014 but more than that, she\u2019s\u00a0had a worldwide mission and influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gave her her start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cindy Bradley remembers the first time she saw Misty Copeland. The shy 13-year-old was sitting in the bleachers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8,179,3172,23,131,133,132,47,137,100,1439,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-19661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-news","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-harbor-area","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-long-beach","14":"tag-long-beach-headlines","15":"tag-long-beach-news","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-county","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-san-pedro","20":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}