Bad- Ass Ballerinas

Ballet isn't just about tutus and pink pointe shoes. Here are some of the artform's most inspiring women, who have earned the right to call themselves ballerinas.

1. Michaela DePrince

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Michaela DePrince (age 21) was born Mabinty Bangura in Sierra Leone, West Africa and lost both of her parents during the Civil War. She was abused and starved at the orphanage and called "Devil's Child" due to vitiligo, a chronic skin condition. She was adopted by a Jewish couple from the United States and was awarded a scholarship to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. She was featured in the ballet documentary First Position in 2011. She danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem as the youngest member of the company before joining the Dutch National Ballet as an éleve, where she danced the role of Clara in this year's The Nutcracker. She is the only dancer of African origin in the Dutch Ballet. Her inspiring story is told in her book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.

2. Wendy Whelan

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Wendy Whelan (age 48) was diagnosed at age 12 with scoliosis, but didn't let that stop her. In 1981, while studying at the Louisville Ballet Academy, she received a scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York City, and later joined the New York City Ballet. She became a member of the company's corps de ballet in 1986, was promoted to soloist in 1989, and was promoted again to principal dancer in 1991. She officially retired from NYCB in October of 2014, after dancing as a professional with the company for 30 years.

3. Maria Tallchief

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Maria Tallchief (January 24, 1925 – April 11, 2013), born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief and called Ki He Kah Stah Tsa in her native Osage language, is considered America's first major prima ballerina and was the first Native American to become a prima. Her career included dancing for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she met her future husband George Balanchine. She later joined the New York City Ballet and was one of the company's first principal dancers. She established herself as a prima ballerina after her 1949 performance in The Firebird. She's been credited with bringing ballet to the American mainstream with her performance as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. She was later inducted in to the National Women's Hall of Fame. The Osage Nation honored her with the title "Princess Wa-Xthe-Thomba".

4. Misty Copeland

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Misty Copeland (age 33) didn't start dancing until she was 13 years old at a Boy's and Girl's Club. Her mother, Sylvia DelaCerna, was a dancer and a cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs. Copeland grew up in a lower income family in California and was raised by her mother. After age 2, she didn't see her father again for twenty years. At 19 years old, 6 years after her first dance class, she became a member of the corps de ballet of the American Ballet Theatre in 2001. She was one of the youngest soloists appointed at the company in 2007. On June 30, 2015, Copeland was promoted to principal dancer, becoming the first African American woman to hold the position in the 75 year history of ABT. Throughout her career, she was faced with discrimination due to her race and body type. Her story is told in her autobiography, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.

5. Mathilde Kschessinska

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Mathilde Kschessinska (31 August 1872 – 6 December 1971) was a principal dancer for the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. Her father and brother were also ballet dancers in the Mariinsky Theatre. Her talent grabbed the attention of a young grand duke (the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the father of Anastasia), and she became his mistress. She was the second person ever to achieve the rank of prima ballerina assoluta, the highest honor in ballet. She would later coach the legendary Anna Pavlova. She married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia, becoming Her Serene Highness Princess Romanova-Krasinskaya. She moved to France after the Russian Revolution, and opened up her own ballet school. She became the teacher of many other famous ballet dancers including Dame Margot Fonteyn, Dame Alicia Markova, André Eglevsky, Tatiana Riabouchinska, Tamara Toumanova and Maurice Béjart. She performed for the last time at the age of 64 for a charity event with The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in London.