What happens when a group of black young ballerinas meet their idol, who happens to be the first black female principal of the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theater?
That was the setup Friday on Steve Harvey’s talk show when he invited famed ballerina Misty Copeland to meet a group of young ballerinas from the Mayfair Performance Company on Chicago’s south side. The girls had told Harvey about their adoration for Copeland before he brought her out.
“You know one day, if you study this long enough,” he told them. “One day you could meet her. One day you could be her. Wouldn’t that be exciting?”
He then asked the ballet dancers to turn around ― and walked out Copeland.
Their reaction, lots of crying and hugging, was both inspiring and a little heartbreaking. Because as Copeland put it, “it’s not common and it should be…to see beautiful brown women do ballet.”
The girls then went on to perform a beautiful number for their idol! Watch it below: