Misty Copeland is without doubt one of the many stars chosen to hitch the coveted 2026 Met Gala host committee. And past getting a behind-the-scenes look into the largest night time in vogue, the ballerina not too long ago revealed the deeper significance of this appointment in a dialog with USA Immediately.
The humanities are such an essential a part of my life, and having a relationship with the Met Museum, it was actually significant to me,” Copeland advised the outlet. “To me, it’s not nearly this get together that everybody needs to be at, however like, what’s it that we’re actually saying? How is it impacting our society and our communities?”
She continued: “My son, like, lives at The Met. It’s an essential a part of our on a regular basis existence, and what it means for him to stroll into an area just like the Met Museum and really feel like he may see himself mirrored within the artwork. It’s actually highly effective that they got here to me in early levels to see it take form, and simply by way of my very own experiences by way of what it means to have a various physique inside the artwork kind. It simply is sensible, and I’m proud to be part of this 12 months.”
Copeland and fellow committee members A’Ja Wilson, Teyana Taylor, and others will assist the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork and the Costume Institute host stars at its annual fundraiser. Themed “costume artwork,” Vogue additionally tapped Beyoncé, Venus Williams, and Nicole Kidman to function co-chairs. Although the group has not revealed the costume code for the night’s occasion, Copeland make clear the 2026 exhibit’s theme, which reportedly “explores depictions of the dressed physique throughout The Met’s huge assortment, pairing clothes with artworks to disclose the inherent relationship between clothes and the physique.”
“Sure, [the theme is] costume artwork, however actually specializing in our bodies and the vary of our bodies all through historical past and the way that’s influenced artwork, the artwork that you just see, particularly with girls as properly,” she famous.
She added, “My relationship with vogue has undoubtedly advanced all through my profession as an expert ballerina. I feel realizing that we’re placing in a lot of the coaching and work inside our our bodies. So I actually take into account our our bodies like the primary costume that we put on, and we expertise. However the costume is such an enormous a part of the storytelling,” she shared in a video spotlighting the parallels between vogue and dance. “In vogue, you may inform tales, and it may possibly replicate your persona, your temper, all of this stuff with out even having to say a phrase. And I feel that’s one thing that drew me to bounce, as a result of I used to be expressing myself with out having to verbalize it. So that they’re very intently linked.”
By the years, Copeland additionally revealed how her relationship along with her personal physique has modified. Since concluding her tenure on the American Ballet Theater, the dancer and writer revealed that she has been motionless following a current hip substitute surgical procedure.
“It’s all part of getting older and being an athlete. It’s a very good lesson to expertise one thing like this. It’s a part of accepting the great thing about having a physique and the way robust and highly effective it’s, and what we are able to come again from,” she shared. “I’m not retired in any manner from something. The one factor is that I’ve left American Ballet Theatre (ABT). Despite the fact that I’m not dancing at ABT proper now, I nonetheless have the identical mindset by way of prioritizing wellness general and what that appears like.”
As she recovers from surgical procedure, Copeland stays concerned within the arts and dance neighborhood by serving on the boards of Lincoln Heart and of The Shed. Equally, she’s persevering with her work to make ballet an accessible and inclusive house for dancers of all backgrounds by way of her eponymous basis, which at present hosts three dance applications in Harlem and the Bronx.
