♪♪ Copeland: As a ballerina, tradition and history is so vital to what we do to continuing on the legacies of so many dancers of the past, and something that's so important to me as a Black woman and as one of a few Black principal ballerinas with a major ballet company, is to be able to document our history and our contributions to this art form.

Raven Wilkinson was my mentor at a later age in my career.

I was a soloist with American Ballet Theatre, and her impact as, really, the first Black woman to come into an elite ballet company in the 1950s, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and to be a soloist and to do -- perform principal roles was a huge deal at that time, and the impact that she had on the ballet community is something that needs to be acknowledged, as well as the impact she had on my life and my career.

I don't think I would be in this position, I don't think I would be a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre if it weren't for her guidance, her love, her support, and her example.

So this book is a love letter to her, and it's also a bit of her background in history for people who didn't know that she even existed.

I know I received an opportunity.

I know a lot of people who didn't, who are of my race and who are not of my race.

So if I had a chance to dance at all, and then being Black and having a chance to dance, that was really something extraordinary.

Copeland: The book that I wrote last year, "Black Ballerinas," really, this is a continuation of that.

Raven was profiled in the book, along with -- I believe it was 27 other Black ballerinas throughout history, both past, present, and -- and future.

There's so much of our history as Black women, in particular in the ballet field, that are not a part of ballet history books.

And so I feel like it's our duty, my duty as a Black dancer, to start that tradition, that documentation, and start our own history books and really show that we have been a part of this world and deserve to have a legacy within the ballet community.

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