Teen Ballerina Caught In Grown-UPS' Tug Of War

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. - Misty Copeland is a natural at ballet, with an innate presence and skill for which most ballerinas sacrifice their lives. Until three years ago, Misty didn't even know it.

Her drill-team adviser saw it first. So off went Misty, at age 13, to a free ballet class at the Boys & Girls Club of San Pedro, where instructor Cynthia Bradley saw it, too.

Bradley and her husband, Patrick, began training Misty at their private dance studio in this upscale coastal enclave. During the week, Misty lived with the Bradleys. She spent weekends at home with her mother. She was called a prodigy. She got a lot of attention and offers from prestigious dance companies. She was on her way, it seemed, to becoming a star.

Then the fighting started. Misty's mother, Sylvia DelaCerna, said the Bradleys were trying to steal her daughter. The Bradleys said DelaCerna didn't properly care for Misty or her talent.

In the middle was a teenager who loved dancing and wanted to please. In August, when it all got just too wrenching, she ran away. She filed emancipation papers that would have her declared an adult for most business purposes. Her mother called the police.

Lawyers were hired, including the renowned feminist Gloria Allred. News conferences were held.

Misty, now 16, has returned home and withdrawn her request for emancipation. Her mother has dropped her request for a restraining order against the Bradleys. Things have quieted down, and those who have followed the story have gained an insight into the pressures and angst that bear upon an aspiring ballerina.

Time will tell whether Misty makes it. Cynthia Bradley fears that Misty's mother, divorced with six children, won't be able to offer her the proper training.

One thing is true amid all this turmoil: When it comes to dancing, Misty Copeland is special.

"You just have to see it," said her mother. "It takes your breath away."

In the ruthlessly competitive world of ballet, some girls begin training before kindergarten. In March, Misty won the Spotlight Award in ballet as the best young dancer in Los Angeles.

"Technique is taught, but there are things that just can't be taught, and Misty is an artist," said Barbara Haig, coordinator of the awards, whose winners often go on to premier companies including the Joffrey and American Ballet Theater.

While with the Bradleys, Misty fielded workshop offers from the San Francisco Ballet, which she accepted, and the Joffrey. Public television station KCET featured Misty in a special on the Spotlight Award's 10-year anniversary.

"She's just a natural dancer," Haig said. "She dances with real joy."

Cynthia Bradley has not spoken with Misty since the girl returned home. "We saw each other in court, and I hugged her," she said. "We miss her terribly. She is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. I dream about her."

The Bradleys have been accused of using Misty for financial gain, but they say they wouldn't seek a formal management agreement - and a 20 percent cut of her earnings - until she is 18.

DelaCerna, 41, says the Bradleys encouraged Misty to seek emancipation. "I always felt like Cindy didn't want Misty to be at home," she said. "The Bradleys wanted her to dance and to have a career. I felt like she was slipping away, in part because the family didn't have that time together."

Misty ran away for three days after her mother said she could no longer live with the Bradleys. "She was afraid she wouldn't be able to dance anymore," Cynthia Bradley said, adding that Misty stayed with a girlfriend.

Attorney Steve Bartell brought Misty to the police station after her mother reported her missing. Bartell, who began emancipation proceedings on Misty's behalf, said the girl "was caught between a rock and a hard place. . . . She was afraid that if she went back to her mother, she'd never dance again."

DelaCerna said she sat down with Misty at the police station and "told her that we loved her and we cared about her. I told her that I was always going to make sure that she danced."

So Misty went home. She now takes lessons elsewhere, with another teacher.

When asked why she likes to dance, Misty said: "I just like hearing the audience applaud. It makes me feel good."

She misses the Bradleys, she said, and she hopes to train with them again. "But I'm happy where I am now," she says, wishing only that the media attention would go away.

Misty's dream is to dance with the American Ballet Theater. Dancing, she said on the KCET special, "is my whole life. That's all I do. I like making the audience happy, because then I feel happy."