Earlier this week, Misty Copeland, the first Black woman to be named principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, announced her retirement. Copeland’s 2015 promotion to the dance company’s highest-ranking position drove a phenomenon called “the Misty Effect,” which saw a marked increase in Black and brown people’s participation in ballet all over the world. That included St. Louis.
Erica Hill, who founded the Florissant dance studio Pointe of Surrender in 2010, remembers how much it meant to see Copeland ascend to such a prominent place in the world of dance.
“It opened up a sense of hope, of a higher standard of excellence, a higher space of reaching for this goal. All I could think about is introducing young dancers to [that] hope,” Hill said. “It really shifted my life and view of my scope of purpose.”
Hill said she saw the Misty Effect in the ambitions of her students.
“[There] was a hopeful buzz like, ‘Oh my goodness, I identify with this. I can see myself in this role. I want to work harder. I want to take more classes.’ It was, from parents and students, such a refreshing love for dance and passion after studying and training,” she said. “We began to see classes of advanced dancers on pointe. It really accelerated us in the space of ballet.”
While ballet is foundational at Pointe of Surrender, Hill’s company teaches various kinds of dance with one goal: to provide people — especially children who face financial or geographic barriers to learning and practicing dance — with a safe place to experience the healing that comes from expressing oneself through movement. They’re barriers Hill understands on a personal level.
“Thankfully, there was a way made through my parents and people at the organization of Katherine Dunham that made way for me to experience dance. I'm always thankful for that grace and for that extra helping hand that helped me to grab hold of my purpose,” Hill said. “So I'm very intentional in seeing other dancers wherever they are — whether in our studio or outside in the community — really reaching out beyond what is comfortable [and] serving the community as a whole, wherever they are.”
In 2018, Hill launched the nonprofit Pointe of Surrender Healing Humanity to further the company’s work of expanding access to dance to even more St. Louisans. In addition to grant-supported partnerships that bring lessons in ballet, lyrical, jazz and hip-hop to students in the Hazelwood, Riverview Gardens and Ferguson-Florissant School Districts, the nonprofit provides scholarships that make it possible for anyone who wants to learn how to dance to pursue that wish. “Our motto is that we won't turn a dancer away,” she said.
While the announcement of Copeland’s retirement took Hill by surprise, Hill said she is appreciative of Copeland’s work leading by example.
“I was a little taken back, but at the same time, I felt a sense of fulfillment in her journey because she has impacted so many generations — youth and adults all over the world. She has fulfilled such a purpose in that role,” Hill said.
Hill’s own sense of purpose comes from conviction that her work must create real-life opportunities for others. “We are opening the door for generations to come,” she said. “It allows many others to understand, ‘Hey, I can do it as well.’”
Hill added: “Sometimes we have dancers coming in and — believe it or not — some of them haven't heard of Misty Copeland and other brown and Black ballet dancers. So when we present pictures or stories or books about what Misty has accomplished, it opens their world up in such a way to say, ‘I can have a career in this, I can be an artist.’”
Related event:
What: Pointe of Surrender 2025 Recital - Grace
Where: Florissant Performing Arts Center, 1 James J. Eagan Drive, Florissant, MO 63033
When: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. June 22
To hear the full conversation, including the place mentors and their discernment play in cultivating talent — and local organizational partnerships that have supported Pointe of Surrender’s community-based work — listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
