After being accepted into the prestigious Star Fire Academy, young twelve year old dancer Josie must learn to believe in herself and her art to protect herself against dark forces at bay. Josie relies on the magical Firebird and her fellow Star Fire peers and mentors to make her passion thrive.
Black Girl Nerds had the honor and privilege to interview the author of Firebird Waltz, the first Black woman to be promoted to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater: Misty Copeland.
This interview has been edited for time and clarity.
Black Girl Nerds: What is it about the image of The Firebird that moves you so much as it persists from your picture book of the same name to the Star Fire Academy Series?
Misty Copeland: The Firebird is a Russian folk tale that became a ballet that has been really meaningful to me throughout my career. So that’s why it’s evolved into these different stories I have written. Such a powerful symbol of transformation, resilience, imagination; becoming something bigger than you maybe thought you could be has always really connected with me in my journey in ballet. I’ve just always thought, not just dancers, but artists in general, are superheroes.
BGN: I love how the book subverts the trope of toxic competition in art schools, and how these young students genuinely support one another. Is this reflective of your experience as a young dancer or something you wish you had as a young dancer?
MC: Thank you so much for asking this question, and for recognizing that in the story, because it was very intentional, and it is very intentional in everything that I do. I think that we do the arts and ballet such a disservice by repeating this trope. It catches on in pop culture, and then people don’t know any other narrative.
That’s not the experience of so many people that come into this world, or why they enter into this world. Competition is a reality in ballet and in the arts, but I think there’s a way to experience it in a healthy way. I experienced that growing up, and throughout my professional career. I’ve had people around me who have been supportive, whether it’s mentors, the teachers, and coaches, but also my peers and the people around me.
And those relationships were incredibly important. So I wanted to take the opportunity, with the Star Fire Academy, to show young people that are excellent and ambitious, but that don’t all have to come, for someone else’s experience at their expense. There’s room for different voices and bodies and perspectives, and that’s what makes the arts so incredible and so beautiful.
