Misty Copeland

Misty Danielle Copeland (born September 10, 1982) is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history.

Copeland was considered a prodigy who rose to stardom despite not starting ballet until the age of 13. Two years later, in 1998, her ballet teachers, who were serving as her custodial guardians, and her mother, fought a custody battle over her. Meanwhile, Copeland, who was already an award-winning dancer, was fielding professional offers. The legal issues involved filings for emancipation by Copeland and restraining orders by her mother. Both sides dropped legal proceedings, and Copeland moved home to begin studying under a new teacher, who was a former ABT member.

In 1997, Copeland won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award as the best dancer in Southern California. After two summer workshops with ABT, she became a member of ABT's Studio Company in 2000 and its corps de ballet in 2001, and became an ABT soloist in 2007. As a soloist from 2007 to mid-2015, she was described as having matured into a more contemporary and sophisticated dancer.

In addition to her dance career, Copeland has become a public speaker, celebrity spokesperson and stage performer. She has written two autobiographical books and narrated a documentary about her career challenges, A Ballerina's Tale. In 2015, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine, appearing on its cover. She performed on Broadway in On the Town, toured as a featured dancer for Prince and appeared on the reality television shows A Day in the Life and So You Think You Can Dance. She has endorsed products and companies such as T-Mobile, Coach, Inc., Dr Pepper, Seiko, The Dannon Company and Under Armour.

## Early life

Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but raised in the San Pedro community of Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Sylvia DelaCerna and Doug Copeland. Her father is of German and African American descent, while her mother is of Italian and African American ancestry and was adopted by African American parents. She is the youngest of four children from her mother's second marriage and has two younger half-siblings, one each from her mother's third and fourth marriages. Copeland did not see her father between the ages of two and twenty-two. Her mother, a former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader, had studied dance. She is a trained medical assistant, but worked mostly in sales.

Between the ages of three and seven, Copeland lived in Bellflower, California, with her mother and her mother's third husband, Harold Brown, a Santa Fe Railroad sales executive. The family moved to San Pedro, where Sylvia eventually married her fourth husband, radiologist Robert DelaCerna and where Misty attended Point Fermin Elementary School. When she was seven, Copeland saw the film Nadia on television and its subject Nadia Comăneci became her new role model. Copeland never studied ballet or gymnastics formally until her teenage years, but in her youth she enjoyed choreographing flips and dance moves to Mariah Carey songs. Following in the footsteps of her older sister Erica, Copeland became captain of the Dana Middle School drill team, where her natural grace came to the attention of its classically trained coach, Elizabeth Cantine.

By 1994, Copeland's mother had separated from Robert. After living with various friends and boyfriends, DelaCerna moved with her children into two small rooms at the Sunset Inn in Gardena, California. In early 1996, Cantine convinced Copeland to attend a ballet class at her local Boys & Girls Club. Cynthia Bradley, a friend of Cantine's, taught a free ballet class at the club once a week. Copeland attended several classes as a spectator before participating. DelaCerna allowed Copeland to go to the club after school until the workday ended. Bradley invited Copeland to attend class at her small ballet school, San Pedro Dance Center. Copeland initially declined the offer, however, because her mother did not have a car, was working 12–14 hours a day, and her oldest sister Erica was working two jobs. Copeland began her ballet studies at the age of 13 at the San Pedro Dance Center when Cynthia Bradley began picking her up from school. After three months of study, Copeland was en pointe.

Her mother told Copeland that she would have to give up ballet, but Bradley wanted Copeland to continue and offered to host her. DelaCerna agreed to this, and Copeland moved in with Bradley and her family. Eventually, Copeland and DelaCerna signed a management contract and a life-story contract with Bradley. Copeland spent the weekdays with the Bradleys near the coast and the weekends at home with her mother, a two-hour bus ride away. Copeland would spend most of her next three years with the Bradleys. By the age of fourteen, Copeland was the winner of a national ballet contest and won her first solo role. The Bradleys introduced Copeland to books and videos about ballet. When she saw Paloma Herrera, a principal ballerina with ABT, perform at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Copeland began to idolize her as much as she did Mariah Carey. The media first noticed her when she drew 2,000 patrons per show as she performed as Clara in The Nutcracker at the San Pedro High School after only eight months of study. She played a larger role as Kitri in Don Quixote at the San Pedro Dance Center and then performed with the L.A. Academy of Fine Arts in a featured role in The Chocolate Nutcracker, an African American version of the tale, narrated by Debbie Allen. The latter was presented at UCLA's Royce Hall. Copeland's role was modified especially for her, and included ethnic dances.

During this period, Copeland received far more personal attention from the Bradley family than her mother could give each of her six children. Raised in a lapsed Christian household, when Copeland lived with the Bradley family, she attended their synagogue and celebrated Shabbat with them, enjoying their family's closeness. In addition to Bradley's intensive ballet training, her husband, a modern-dance teacher, served as Copeland's pas-de-deux instructor and partner. The summer before her fifteenth birthday, Bradley began to homeschool Copeland for 10th grade to free up more time for dance. At fifteen years old, Copeland won first place in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards at the Chandler Pavilion in March 1998. Copeland said it was the first time she ever battled nervousness. The winners received scholarships between \$500 and \$2500. Copeland's victory in the 10th annual contest among gifted high school students in Southern California secured her recognition by the Los Angeles Times as the best young dancer in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Copeland attended the summer workshop at the San Francisco Ballet School in 1998. She and Bradley selected the workshop over offers from the Joffrey Ballet, ABT and Dance Theater of Harlem, among others. Of the programs she auditioned for, only New York City Ballet declined to make her an offer. San Francisco Ballet, ABT and New York City Ballet are regarded as the three preeminent classical ballet companies in the US. During the six-week workshop at San Francisco, Copeland was placed in the most advanced classes and was under a full-tuition plus expenses scholarship. At the end of the workshop, she received one of the few offers to continue as a full-time student at the school. She declined the offer because of the encouragement from her mother to return home, the prospect of continuing personal training from the Bradley family and dreams of a subsequent summer with American Ballet Theatre.

## Custody battle

Copeland returned to her mother's home, where the two frequently argued. Her mother had long resented the Bradleys' influence and soon decided that Copeland would cease study with the Bradleys. Copeland was distraught with fear that she would not be able to dance. She had heard the term emancipation while in San Francisco; the procedure was common among young performers to secure their financial and residential independence. The Bradleys introduced Copeland to Steven Bartell, a lawyer who explained the emancipation petition process. The Bradleys encouraged her to be absent from home when the emancipation petition was delivered to her mother. Copeland ran away from home for three days and stayed with a dance friend, while Bartell filed the emancipation papers. After her mother reported Copeland missing, she was told about the emancipation petition. Three days after running away, Copeland was returned to her mother by the police. DelaCerna engaged lawyer Gloria Allred and applied for a series of restraining orders, which included the Bradleys' five-year-old son, who had been Copeland's roommate, and Bartell. The order was partly intended to preclude contact between the Bradleys and Copeland, but it did not have proper legal basis, since there had been no stalking and no harassment.

The custody controversy was highly publicized in the press (especially Los Angeles Times and Extra), starting in August and September 1998. Parts of the press coverage spilled over into op-ed articles. The case was heard in Torrance, in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. DelaCerna claimed that the Bradleys had brainwashed Copeland into filing suit for emancipation from her mother, Allred claimed that the Bradleys had turned Copeland against her mother by belittling DelaCerna's intelligence. The Bradleys noted that the management contract gave them authority over her career, but they stated that they would wait until Copeland became eighteen before seeking twenty percent of Copeland's earnings.

After DelaCerna stated that she would always make sure Copeland could dance, both the emancipation papers and restraining orders were dropped. Copeland, who claimed she did not understand the term emancipation, withdrew the petition after informing the judge that such charges no longer represented her wishes. Still, DelaCerna wanted the Bradleys out of her daughter's life. Copeland re-enrolled at San Pedro High School for her junior year (1998–99), on pace to graduate with her original class of 2000. DelaCerna sought Cantine's advice on finding a new ballet school. Copeland began ballet study at Lauridsen Ballet Centre in Torrance with former ABT dancer Diane Lauridsen, although her dancing was now restricted to afternoons in deference to her schooling. Late in 1998, all parties appeared on Leeza Gibbons' talk show, Leeza, where Copeland sat silently as the adults "bickered shamelessly". As a student, Copeland had a 3.8/4.0 GPA through her junior year of high school. In 2000, DelaCerna stated that Copeland's earnings from ballet were set aside in a savings account and only used as needed.

## American Ballet Theatre

### Early ABT career

Copeland auditioned for several dance programs in 1999, and each made her an offer to enroll in its summer program. She performed with ABT as part of its 1999 and 2000 Summer Intensive programs. By the end of the first summer, she was asked to join the ABT Studio Company. Her mother insisted that she finish high school, and so Copeland returned to California for her senior year, even though ABT arranged to pay for her performances, housing accommodations and academic arrangements. She studied at the Summer Intensive Program on full scholarship for both summers and was declared ABT's National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000. In the 2000 Summer Intensive Program, she danced the role of Kitri in Don Quixote. Copeland's strongest memory from the summer is working with choreographer Twyla Tharp on Push Comes to Shove". Of the 150 dancers in the 2000 Summer Intensive Program, she was one of six selected to join the junior dance troupe.

In September 2000, she joined the ABT Studio Company, which is ABT's second company, and became a member of its Corps de ballet in 2001. As part of the Studio Company, she performed the Pas de Deux in Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty. Eight months after joining the company, she was sidelined for nearly a year by a lumbar stress fracture. When Copeland joined the company, she weighed 108 pounds (49.0 kg) (she is 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall). At age 19, her puberty had been delayed, a situation common in ballet dancers. After the lumbar fracture, her doctor told her that inducing puberty would help to strengthen her bones, and he prescribed birth control pills. Copeland recalls that in one month she gained 10 pounds, and her small breasts swelled to double D-cup size: "Leotards had to be altered for me ... to cover my cleavage, for instance. I hated this sign that I was different from the others. ... I became so self-conscious that, for the first time in my life, I couldn't dance strong. I was too busy trying to hide my breasts." Management noticed and called her in to talk about her body. The professional pressure to conform to conventional ballet aesthetics resulted in body image struggles and a binge eating disorder. Copeland says that, over the next year, new friendships outside of ABT, including with Victoria Rowell and her boyfriend, Olu Evans, helped her to regain confidence in her body. She explained, "My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, not something I needed to lose to become one. I started dancing with confidence and joy, and soon the staff at ABT began giving me positive feedback again. And I think I changed everyone's mind about what a perfect dancer is supposed to look like." During her years in the corps, as the only black woman in the company, Copeland also felt the burden of her ethnicity in many ways and contemplated a variety of career choices. Recognizing that Copeland's isolation and self-doubt were standing in the way of her talent, ABT's artistic director, Kevin McKenzie, asked writer and arts figure Susan Fales-Hill, then vice-chair of ABT's Board of Directors, to mentor Copeland. Fales-Hill introduced Copeland to black women trailblazers who encouraged Copeland and helped her to gain perspective.

Early career reviews mentioned Copeland as more radiant than higher ranking dancers, and she was named to the 2003 class of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch". In 2003, she was favorably reviewed for her roles as a member of the corps in La Bayadère and William Forsythe's workwithinwork. Recognition continued in 2004 for roles in ballets such as Raymonda, workwithinwork, Amazed in Burning Dreams, Sechs Tänze, Pillar of Fire, "Pretty Good Year", "VIII" and "Sinfonietta, where she "stood out in the pas de trois – whether she was gliding across the floor or in a full lift, she created the illusion of smoothness". She also danced the Hungarian Princess in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The 2004 season is regarded as her breakthrough season. She was included in the 2004 picture book by former ABT dancer Rosalie O'Connor titled Getting Closer: A Dancer's Perspective. Also in 2004, she met her biological father for the first time and regretted that she had not done so sooner.

In 2005, her most notable performance was in George Balanchine's Tarantella. she also danced the Lead Polovtsian Girl in "Polovtsian Dances" from Prince Igor. In 2006, she was acknowledged for her meticulous classical performance style in Giselle and created a role in Jorma Elo's Glow–Stop. Elo said: "Misty has the capability to absorb something extremely fast and then reproduce it exactly, and she gives such clarity to the material. If I were to make my own company, she would be the first one I would call." That year, she also returned to Southern California to perform at Orange County Performing Arts Center and danced one of the cygnets and reprised her role as the Hungarian Princess in Swan Lake in New York. In both 2006 and 2007, Copeland danced the role of Blossom in James Kudelka's Cinderella. Copeland's "old-style" performance continued to earn her praise in 2007. In 2007, she danced the Fairy of Valor in The Sleeping Beauty. Other roles that Copeland played before she was appointed a soloist by ABT included Twyla Tharp roles in In the Upper Room and Sinatra Suite as well as a role in Mark Morris's Gong. A Dance Magazine feature stated that Copeland's "sublime rapport with her partners in ... Sinatra Suite has earned her the honor of dancing with the company's male superstars".

### Soloist

Copeland was appointed a soloist at ABT in August 2007, one of the youngest ABT dancers promoted to soloist. Although she was described by early accounts as the first African American woman promoted to soloist for ABT, Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball were soloists with ABT in the 1980s. Male soloist Keith Lee also preceded her. As of 2008, Copeland was the only African-American woman in the dance company during her entire ABT career. The only male African American in the company during her career, Danny Tidwell, left in 2005. In an international ballet community with a lack of diversity, she was so unusual as an African American ballerina that she endured cultural isolation. She has been described in the press as the Jackie Robinson of classical ballet.

Copeland was a standout among her peers. In her first season as a soloist at New York City Center, in which avant-garde ballets works were performed, she received good notices in The New York Times for a Balanchine Ballo della Regina role. Also in 2007, she created a leading role in C. to C. (Close to Chuck), choreographed by Jorma Elo to A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close, Études 2, 9 & 10, by Philip Glass. Her performances of Tharp's works in the same season were recognized, and she was described as more sophisticated and contemporary as a soloist than she had been as a corps dancer. Her summer 2008 Metropolitan Opera House (the Met) season performances in Don Quixote and Sleeping Beauty were also well received.

During the 2008–09 season, Copeland was praised for performances in Twyla Tharp's Baker's Dozen and Paul Taylor's Company B. During the 2009 Spring ABT season at the Met, Copeland performed Gulnare in Le Corsaire and leading roles in Taylor's Airs and Balanchine's Pas de Deux from Swan Lake. Her 2008–09 Annenberg Fellowship included training for the Pas de Deux. Late that year, she performed in ABT's first trip to Beijing at the new National Center for the Performing Arts. In 2009, Copeland created a role in Aszure Barton's One of Three.

In 2010, after recovering from a stress fracture, Copeland performed in Birthday Offering at the Met and at the Guggenheim Museum danced to David Lang's music. She also created the Spanish Dance in ABT artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky's new version of The Nutcracker, premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In early 2011, she was well received at the Kennedy Center as the Milkmaid in Ratmansky's The Bright Stream, a remake of a banned comic ballet. In Black History Month in 2011, Copeland was selected by Essence as one of its 37 Boundary-breaking black women in entertainment. That same month, she toured with Company B, performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. In May, she created a role in Ratmansky's Dumbarton, danced to Stravinsky's chamber concerto, Dumbarton Oaks. Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times found the piece too intimate for the cavernous Met, but he noted: "Misty Copeland gives sudden hints of need and emotional bleakness in a duet ... too much is going on to explain itself at one viewing; but at once I know I'm emotionally and structurally gripped." Her Summer 2011 ABT solos included the peasant pas de deux in Giselle and, in Ratmansky's The Bright Stream at the Met in June, her reprise of the Milkmaid was called "luminous, teasingly sensual". She reprised the Bright Stream role again in July at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles with a performance described as "sly". As a flower girl, she was described as glittering in Don Quixote. In August, she performed at the Vail International Dance Festival in the Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado. In November, she danced in Taylor's Black Tuesday.

In 2012, Copeland began achieving solo roles in full-length standard repertory ballets rather than works that were mostly relatively modern pieces. A 2012 feature in Dance Magazine stated that Copeland's "classical repertoire ... has deepened in artistry with each season. In the peasant pas de deux from Giselle, she is buoyant and refreshingly lyrical, and her plush jumps in Swan Lake's pas de trois are a joy. As the Fairy of Valor in Sleeping Beauty, she tempers the harsh stabbing fingers and dagger-like pas de chats by uplifting her body with grandeur and, yes, valor." She starred in The Firebird, with choreography by Ratmansky at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. It premiered on March 29, 2012. The performance was hailed by Laura Bleiberg in the Los Angeles Times as one of the year's best dance performances. That year, Copeland was recognized by The Council of Urban Professionals as their Breakthrough Leadership Award winner. She also danced the role of Gamzatti in La Bayadère at the Met to praise from Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times, who noted her "adult complexity and worldly allure". The Firebird was again performed at the Met in June 2012, with Copeland set to alternate in the lead. It was Copeland's first leading role at ABT. Backstage described it as her "most prestigious part" to date. After only one New York performance in the role, Copeland withdrew from the entire ABT season due to six stress fractures in her tibia. She was sidelined for seven months after her October surgery.

Upon her return to the stage, she danced the Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote in May 2013. Nelson George began filming a documentary leverage the chance to present her comeback. Copeland reprised her role as Gulnare in June 2013 in the pirate-themed Le Corsaire. She also played an Odalisque in the same ballet. Later in the year, she danced in Tharp's choreography of Bach Partita for Violin No. 2 in D minor for solo violin, and as Columbine in ABT's revival of Ratmansky's Nutcracker at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

In May 2014, Copeland performed the lead role of Swanilda in Coppélia at the Met. According to Los Angeles Times writer Jevon Phillips, she is the first African American woman to dance the role. The same month, she was praised in the dual role of Queen of the Dryads and Mercedes in Don Quixote by Brian Seibert of The New York Times, although Jerry Hochman of Critical Dance felt that she was not as impressive in the former role as in the latter. Later in May, the Met staged a program of one-act ballets consisting of Theme and Variations, Duo Concertant and Gaîté Parisienne, featuring Copeland in all three. Siebert praised her work in Balanchine's Duo Concertant, to Igor Stravinsky's eponymous score for violin and piano performed by Benjamin Bowman and Emily Wong. Of her Flower Girl in Gaîté Parisienne, Apollinaire Scherr of The Financial Times wrote that she "tips like a brimming watering can into the bouquets her wooers hold out to her". Copeland was a "flawless" demi-soloist in Theme and Variations, according to Colleen Boresta of Critical Dance.

In June 2014 at the Met, she danced the Fairy Autumn in the Frederick Ashton Cinderella, cited for her energetic exuberance in the role by Hochman, who missed the "varied texture and nuance that made it significantly more interesting" in the hands of ABT's Christine Shevchenko. That month, she played Lescaut's Mistress in Manon in which role Marjorie Liebert of BroadwayWorld.com described her as "seductive and ingratiating". Also in June, she performed the role of Gamzatti in La Bayadère. Copeland performed the Odette/Odile double role in Swan Lake in September when the company toured in Brisbane, Australia. Her ascension to more prominent roles occurred as three ABT principal dancers (Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent and Xiomara Reyes) entered their final seasons before retirement. In early October, Copeland performed several pieces including a principal role in Tharp's Bach Partita at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. In October, Copeland made her New York debut in one of the six principal roles in Tharp's Bach Partita and created a role in Liam Scarlett's With a Chance of Rain. That December, when ABT revived Ratmansky's Nutcracker at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Copeland played the role of Clara, the Princess. The same month, at the Kennedy Center Honors, she was described as "sublime" in Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux by the New York City CBS News affiliate.

In March 2015, Copeland danced the role of Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. She made her American debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake with The Washington Ballet, opposite Brooklyn Mack as Prince Siegfried, in April at the Eisenhower Theater in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The performance was the company's first presentation of Swan Lake in its 70-year history. In May 2015, she played Cowgirl in Rodeo, Bianca in Othello and Zulma in Giselle. In June 2015, Copeland created the small role of the Fairy Fleur de farine (Wheat flower) in Ratmansky's The Sleeping Beauty. The same month, she made her debut in Romeo and Juliet on short notice a few days before her scheduled debut performance on June 20. Later in June, Copeland made her New York debut in the Odette/Odile double role from Swan Lake that is described by Macauley as "the most epic role in world ballet". Her performance at the Met was regarded as a success. Her performance in the role had been anticipated as "a crowning achievement" in wide-ranging media outlets and by a broad spectrum of fans and supporters. Pioneering dancers Raven Wilkinson and Lauren Anderson were on hand to present her with bouquets on stage. Some viewed this performance as a sign that her promotion to principal was forthcoming.

### Principal dancer

On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African-American woman to be promoted to principal ballerina in ABT's 75-year history. Copeland's achievement was groundbreaking, as there have been very few African-American principal ballerinas at major companies. Debra Austin became a principal at Pennsylvania Ballet in 1982, and Lauren Anderson became a principal at Houston Ballet in 1990, the first black principal ballerinas at major American companies. According to the 2015 documentary about Copeland, A Ballerina's Tale, until Copeland, "there [had] never been a Black female principal dancer at a major international company".

Copeland next accepted the role of Ivy Smith in the Broadway revival of On The Town, which she played for two weeks from August 25 to September 6. Her debut on Broadway was favorably reviewed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media.

That October, in New York, Copeland performed in the revival of Tharp's choreography of the Brahms-Haydn Variations, in Frederick Ashton's Monotones I, and "brought a seductive mix of demureness and sex appeal to 'Rum and Coca-Cola'" in Paul Taylor's Company B. The same month, she created the role of His Loss in AfterEffect by Marcelo Gomes, danced to Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence, at Lincoln Center. When ABT brought Ratmansky's Nutcracker to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in December 2015, Copeland reprised the role of Clara.

In January 2016, Copeland reprised the role of Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center, choreographed by Ratmansky. Her spring 2016 schedule also included leads in ABT productions of The Firebird, La Fille Mal Gardee, Le Corsaire, The Golden Cockerel, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. In 2017, she appeared as a guest artist with La Scala Theatre Ballet when it visited Southern California.

In 2019, Copeland danced Harlequinade opposite Calvin Royal III in the roles of Pirrette and Pierrot, in a rare instance of a black couple dancing together in ballet.

## Other appearances, modeling, writings and ventures

### Other stage, television and film appearances

In March 2009, Copeland filmed a music video with Prince for a cover of "Crimson and Clover", the first single from his 2009 album Lotusflower. Prince asked her to dance along to the song in improvised ballet movements. She described his instructions as "Be you, feel the music, just move", and upon request for further instruction, "Keep doing what you're doing". She also began taking acting lessons in 2009. During the New York City and New Jersey portions of Prince's Welcome 2 America tour, Copeland performed a pas de deux en pointe to his song "The Beautiful Ones", the opening number at the Izod Center and Madison Square Garden. Prince had previously invited her onstage at a concert in Nice, France. In April 2011, she performed alongside Prince on the Lopez Tonight show, dancing to "The Beautiful Ones."

In 2011, she was featured in the Season 1, episode 5 of the Hulu web series A Day in the Life. Copeland was a guest judge for the 11th season of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance. New Line Cinema has optioned her memoir, Life in Motion, for a screen adaptation, and the Oxygen network has expressed interest in producing a reality docuseries about Copeland mentoring a Master Class of aspiring young dancers.

A Ballerina's Tale, a documentary film about Copeland, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015 and was released in theaters in October 2015. It was then aired in February 2016 as part of PBS' Independent Lens series. Dawn Heinecken, a professor of women's studies at the University of Louisville, described the film as "part of a calculated media campaign designed to launch Copeland into mainstream celebrity", but notes that film "directly [challenges] the ideology of white supremacy that undergirds the world of classical ballet."

In May 2015, Copeland was featured on 60 Minutes in a segment with correspondent Bill Whitaker. The following month, she served as a presenter at the 69th Tony Awards. In July 2015, a black and white book, Misty Copeland: Power and Grace, was released by photographer Richard Corman, with an introduction by Cindy Bradley. The book contains photographs of Copeland dancing at sunrise on and around a baby grand piano that washed ashore under the Brooklyn Bridge. Copeland was included in the 2015 International Best Dressed List, published by Vanity Fair. In October 2015, she performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert accompanied by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who played "Courante" from Bach's Cello Suite No. 2.

In February 2016, Copeland and President Barack Obama were interviewed together in the first of a three part video series with Time and Essence magazines on topics of race, gender, achievement and creating opportunity for young people. The same month, she walked the runway at New York Fashion Week to support the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" campaign to increase awareness of the dangers of heart disease for women. She appeared in the March issue of Harper's Bazaar recreating Edgar Degas ballerina poses in a photospread ahead of a Museum of Modern Art exhibition: "Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty". The feature was favorably noted by several media outlets, but Sebastian Smee of The Boston Globe argued that contemporary ballet performers take Degas' ballet-themed work too seriously.

Copeland dances the lead ballerina role in the 2018 Disney film, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, based on the 1816 story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". She also voiced herself on a 2016 episode of the animated TV series Peg + Cat, "The Dance Problem/Follow The Bouncing Ball". In 2017, she appeared as a guest judge on World of Dance. Copeland danced with Craig Hall during Taylor Swift's performance of her song "Lover" at the 2019 American Music Awards.

### Ventures, writing and philanthropy

In 2011, Copeland unveiled a line of dancewear, called M by Misty, that she designed. She has also produced celebrity calendars. In 2022, she co-founded sports apparel label "Greatness Wins".

Copeland released a memoir in 2014, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, co-authored by Charisse Jones. Her 2014 children's picture book, titled Firebird, with illustrator Christopher Myers, has a message of empowerment for young people of color. In 2017, Copeland released the book Ballerina Body, a health and fitness guide. She released a children's book, Bunheads, in 2020, and in 2021 she released Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy. In 2022, Copeland released another memoir, The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson, co-written with Susan Fales-Hill.

Copeland co-founded a fundraiser, Swans for Relief, which compiled videos made in May 2020 by 32 ballerinas from 14 countries, including Copeland, dancing The Dying Swan. The resulting YouTube video raises funds for each dancer's company's COVID-19 relief fund, or other arts/dance-based relief funds, to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dance community.

In 2022, Copeland founded The Misty Copeland Foundation, which provides afterschool programs for children, ages 8 to 10, that combine affordable ballet training, in the communities where they live, alongside health and wellness, musicianship, mentoring and general tutoring components.

### Modeling and endorsements

Copeland was featured in T-Mobile's ads for the BlackBerry in 2010 and an ad for Dr. Pepper in 2013. In 2013, she represented Coach, Inc. and became a spokesperson for Project Plié, a national initiative to broaden the pipeline of leadership within ballet. She also became a brand ambassador for Seiko in 2015. In 2016, Mattel created a Misty Copeland Barbie doll. Later that year, the Dannon Company hired Copeland as a spokesperson for its Oikos brand.

In 2014, Copeland became a sponsored athlete for Under Armour, which paid her more than her ballet career. Her Under Armour women-focused ad campaign was widely publicized, and resulted in her being named an ABC World News Person of the week. The ad campaign was recognized by Adweek as one of The 10 Best Ads of 2014 and as "The year's best campaign targeting women". Copeland, along with Steph Curry and Jordan Spieth, was credited with boosting demand for Under Armour products. In February 2017, Copeland debuted her own collection of activewear for Under Armour. Shortly afterwards, she criticized statements by Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank that praised Donald Trump, stressing that her sponsors should believe in the "importance of diversity and inclusion". Plank responded in an open letter to the Baltimore Sun to state that he supports "a diverse and inclusive America". In July 2017, Under Armour launched a digital ad campaign featuring Copeland, and at the end of that month she became the spokesperson for an Estée Lauder fragrance. W called her Estée Lauder campaign groundbreaking because cosmetics companies have rarely employed spokespersons other than models.

## Honors

In 2008, Copeland won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, which funds study with master teachers and trainers outside of ABT. The two-year fellowships are in recognition of "young artists of extraordinary talent with the goal of providing them with additional resources in order to fully realise their potential". In 2013, she was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In 2014, Copeland was named to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford for her contributions to classical ballet and helping to diversify the art form. Copeland was a Dance Magazine Awards 2014 honoree. After her promotion as principal dancer, Copeland was named one of Glamour's Women of the Year for 2015; one of ESPN's 2015 Impact 25 athletes and influencers who have made the greatest impact for women in sports; by Barbara Walters, one of the 10 "most fascinating" people of 2015, and one of the Time 100. As a result, Copeland appeared on the cover of Time, making her the first dancer on the cover since Bill T. Jones in 1994. In 2016, Copeland won a Shorty Award for Best in Dance in Social Media.

In 2021, the NAACP awarded to Copeland its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal. On May 17, 2023, Copeland received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University.

## Personal life

Copeland enjoys cooking. She and her husband, attorney Olu Evans, live on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The couple disclosed their engagement in a 2015 cover story in Essence magazine. They married in California on July 31, 2016. They have one child, a son, born in 2022.

## See also

- List of dancers

American ballet dancer (born 1982)

American Ballet Theatre principal dancers


Llullaillaco

Llullaillaco () is a dormant stratovolcano at the border of Argentina (Salta Province) and Chile (Antofagasta Region). It lies in the Puna de Atacama, a region of tall volcanic peaks on a high plateau close to the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world. It is the second highest active volcano in the world after Ojos del Salado.

Llullaillaco formed during two different phases in the Pleistocene-Holocene out of dacitic lava flows. The oldest rocks are about 1.5 million years old. About 150,000 years ago, the volcano's southeastern flank collapsed, generating a debris avalanche that reached as far as 25 kilometres (16 mi) from the summit. The youngest dated rocks were erupted 5,600 ± 250 years ago in the summit region, but there are reports of activity from the 19th century.

The mountain's first recorded climb was in 1950, but traces of earlier climbs and a number of archaeological sites were found on the mountain and at its feet; Llullaillaco marks the highest archaeological site in the world. In 1999, the mummified remains of three children, known as the Children of Llullaillaco, were found at its summit. They are presumed to have been human sacrifices. Mice have been observed in the summit region, they are the highest finding of a mammal in the world.

## Name

The name Llullaillaco is derived from the Quechua word llulla meaning "false", "lie" or "deceitful" and yaku or llaco meaning "water". This name probably refers to the meltwater from snow, which flows down the slopes but then is absorbed into the soil; normally mountains are sources for water. It is possible that it instead refers to the precipitation regime, which starting from Llullaillaco becomes dominated by winter precipitation. Another translation in Aymara is "hot water".

## Geography and geology

Volcanism in the Andes is caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate beneath the South America Plate. The Nazca Plate subducts at a speed of 7–9 centimetres per year (2.8–3.5 in/year) and the Antarctic Plate at a speed of 2 centimetres per year (0.79 in/year). Volcanism does not occur along a continuous chain; there are four separate regions named: the Northern Volcanic Zone, the Central Volcanic Zone, the Southern Volcanic Zone, and the Austral Volcanic Zone. The formation of magma results from the release of water and other volatile material from the subducting plate, which is then injected into the above-lying mantle wedge. The volcanic zones are separated by areas where the subducting plate subducts at a flatter angle and volcanism is absent. The Peruvian flat slab between the Northern and the Central Volcanic Zones is associated with the subduction of the Nazca Ridge, the Pampean flat slab between the Central and the Southern Volcanic Zone is associated with the subduction of the Juan Fernandez Ridge, and the Patagonian volcanic gap between the Southern and the Austral Volcanic Zone is associated with the Chile Triple Junction.

About 178 volcanoes are found in the Andes, 60 of which have been active in historical times. In addition, large calderas and monogenetic volcanoes exist in the Andes.

### Local setting

Llullaillaco is part of the Central Volcanic Zone. At least 44 volcanic centres with historical activity and 18 large caldera-forming volcanoes have been identified in the Central Volcanic Zone. Volcanism in the Central Volcanic Zone mostly occurs on the Altiplano and the Cordillera Occidental. A number of volcanoes there reach heights of over 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) above sea level. Large Miocene ignimbrites that cover large surfaces are also part of the regional geology. Llullaillaco is located about 300 kilometres (190 mi) east of the Peru-Chile Trench. The Wadati-Benioff zone lies at 180 kilometres (110 mi) depth.

Llullaillaco is located in the northwestern Argentine Andes, towards the southern end of the Puna. It lies in the Puna de Atacama, a region of very high volcanic peaks on a high plateau close to the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world. The border between Argentina (Salta Province) and Chile crosses the volcano.

The volcano is an imposing mountain, rising by 3,800 metres (12,500 ft) above the Salar de Punta Negra 36 kilometres (22 mi) away. With a summit height of 6,723 metres (22,057 ft), or alternatively 6,739 metres (22,110 ft) or 6,752 metres (22,152 ft), it is the second highest active volcano in the world after Ojos del Salado (6,887 metres (22,595 ft), ). The height of the mountain and the clear air in the region make Llullaillaco visible from Cerro Paranal, 189 kilometres (117 mi) away as measured through Google Maps. The Nevados de Cachi mountains and Ojos del Salado 250 kilometres (160 mi) farther south are visible from Lllullaillaco. The region is dry and located at high altitudes, making work in the area difficult.

17 kilometres (11 mi) farther east of Llullaillaco lies the Miocene Cerro Rosado volcano (5,383 metres (17,661 ft)). It erupted dacitic lava flows on its northeastern and southern flanks during the Pliocene-Quaternary. 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Llullaillaco, and behind Cerro Rosado is the Salar de Llullaillaco (3,750 metres (12,300 ft) ), a salt pan with warm springs at its western and southwestern shores. There are three abandoned borate mines Mina Amalia and the salt mines Mina Luisa and Mina Maria and the recent lithium prospect "Proyecto Mariana" at Salar de Llullaillaco. Mitral mountain (5,015 metres (16,453 ft)) lies southwest of Llullaillaco and is of Miocene age. It features an eroded crater that opens to the northwest. Iris mountain (5,461 metres (17,917 ft)) north of Llullaillaco is constructed of Pliocene rocks. Other volcanoes in the neighbourhood are Dos Naciones, Cerro Silla, and Cerro 5074. Llullaillaco is associated with a local crustal upwarp.

### The volcano

Llullaillaco is a stratovolcano which rises 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above the surrounding terrain. The edifice has an elliptical shape with dimensions of 23 by 17 kilometres (14 mi × 11 mi) and has a volume of about 50 cubic kilometres (12 cu mi)-37 cubic kilometres (8.9 cu mi). It is formed by thick dacitic lava flows erupted during the Quaternary. These flows extend away from the volcano and form its summit. An older unit is formed by ignimbrites and pyroclastic flows. Older lava flows extend west from the volcano and are partly buried by sediments closer to the edifice. These flows reach lengths of 20 kilometres (12 mi) and form about 70% of the surface of the volcano.

The slopes of the volcano are fairly steep, with an altitude drop of 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) over only 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) horizontal distance. The slopes high up are steeper than those at lower altitudes. A crater at 6,100 metres (20,000 ft) altitude was formed early in the development of the Llullaillaco volcano. Erosion has reduced it to a plateau. This crater is filled with snow and ice. The ice shows evidence of recent geothermal heating.

The summit of Llullaillaco is formed by a small cone with about four associated lava domes, which reach lengths of 1–3 kilometres (0.62–1.86 mi) and have abrupt walls. Large dacitic coulees emanate from the summit of the volcano and are young in appearance. One extends north of the volcano and the other one south. Their overall length is 4.5–8 kilometres (2.8–5.0 mi) and their flow fronts are up to 15 metres (49 ft) thick. Morphologically, these flows are reddish-black aa lava flows and feature blocks with sizes of 5 metres (16 ft). The southern lava flow is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) long and was fairly viscous when it was erupted. It almost reaches a road southwest of the volcano. These flows feature levees and ridges. At first they were considered to be Holocene, but argon-argon dating indicates they are of late Pleistocene age. Some traces of glacier activity are found in the summit area.

At least two stages of construction are recognized, Llullaillaco I and Llullaillaco II. The first stage originated from two centres and is now extensively degraded by glaciation and hydrothermal alteration. This applies especially to the 5,561 metres (18,245 ft) high Azufrera Esperanto mountain 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Llullaillaco, where little original volcanic substance is preserved and where erosion has exposed deeply altered white rock. Llullaillaco II on the southern and northeastern flank is better preserved; the toes of the lava flows reach thicknesses of 500 metres (1,600 ft). Its lava flows are less extensive than the ones of Llullaillaco I. Pyroclastic flow deposits with a composition similar to Llullaillaco II are found on the southern slope of the volcano and may have formed before the lava eruptions began.

Volcanism in the Central Volcanic Zone may be affected by deep-seated lineaments, which control where volcanoes and geothermal systems form. Such lineaments extend diagonally across the volcanic arc and are accompanied by volcanic manifestations at substantial distances from the arc. One of these lineaments, the Archibarca, runs beneath Llullaillaco and is also associated with the Escondida copper deposit, Corrida de Cori, Archibarca, Antofalla, and the Galán caldera. Other lineaments include the Calama-El Toro.

Several dry valleys originate on Llullaillaco, including Quebrada de las Zorritas on the north-northeastern slope, Quebrada El Salado and Quebrada Llullaillaco on the northwestern slope, and Quebrada La Barda on the southwestern slope. The Quebrada Llullaillaco drains into the Salar de Punta Negra northwest of the volcano. The volcano is relatively unaffected by water erosion, water is only episodically present on the mountain. On the northwestern flank there is a 0.9 hectares (2.2 acres) lake called the "Lago Llullaillaco" on the mountain; with an elevation of 6,170 metres (20,240 ft) it is one of the highest lakes in the world.

Two abandoned sulfur mines can be found north and south of Llullaillaco. The northern mine is known as Azufrera Esperanto and associated with an area of hydrothermal alteration. A path or road leads up to that mine from northwest.

### Debris avalanche

A major landslide occurred in the volcano's history during the late Pleistocene, probably triggered by volcanic activity. This landslide descended the eastern-southeastern flanks of the volcano into Argentina, first over a steep slope of 20° on the volcano, split around Cerro Rosado and entered the Salina de Llullaillaco 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of the summit, extending up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) into the salar. The toe of the avalanche reaches a thickness of 10 metres (33 ft) above the salar in the avalanche's southern lobe. Part of the avalanche was channelled in a valley between Cerro Rosado and an unnamed volcano farther south. When it reached Cerro Rosado, the avalanche climbed about 400 metres (1,300 ft) and mostly continued to flow southeast into the main avalanche path, with only a small flow continuing northeastwards. Part of the run-up avalanche later collapsed backwards over the main avalanche deposit. Unlike Socompa farther north, a landslide scar is only poorly developed at Llullaillaco despite the large size of the collapse; it was largely filled in later by lava flows and volcaniclastic debris.

This landslide has been subdivided into four facies and features landforms like levees up to 50 metres (160 ft) high, longitudinal ridges and a run-up mark on Cerro Rosado. Such ridges may be associated with uneven underlying terrain. The surface of the slide is covered by lava bombs less than 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long, blocks exceeding 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) width, cobbles, and gravel-like rocks. Close to the collapse scarp on Llullaillaco the largest blocks with sizes of up to 20 metres (66 ft) are found. Overall, the margins of the landslide are very crisp and the surface covered by hummocks.

The landslide deposit covers a surface of about 165 square kilometres (64 sq mi). Its volume has been estimated at 1–2 cubic kilometres (0.24–0.48 cu mi) and the speed at 45–90 metres per second (150–300 ft/s). This speed range is comparable to that of the Colima, Lastarria, and Mount St. Helens debris avalanches. The landslide occurred no later than 156,000 – 148,000 ± 5,000 years ago, it might coincide with the 48,000 year old lava flow. Some volcanic rocks were still hot at the time of the collapse, indicating that volcanic activity occurred immediately before the collapse. A smaller undated avalanche occurred on the northeastern flank.

Such landslides are common at volcanoes, where they are favoured by the steep edifices that form from lava flows being stacked on top of each other. It is not usually known what triggers the collapse, although eruption-associated earthquakes are suspected to play a role. Other volcanoes in the region with sector collapses are: Lastarria, Ollague, San Pedro, Socompa, and Tata Sabaya. The Mellado and Cerro Rosado volcanoes close to Llullaillaco also display evidence of sector collapses.

### Glaciers and periglacial phenomena

In 2006 the General Water Directorate of Chile stated that there were seven separate ice bodies on the mountain. Small glaciers are found above 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) altitude. Other sources contend there are no glaciers on Llullaillaco, which would make it the highest mountain in the world without one; although the existence of an ice slab on the western slope was reported in 1958 between 5,600–6,500 metres (18,400–21,300 ft) elevation and in 1992 there was an ice body which however lacked all evidence of glacial motion. However, Llullaillaco has snow fields tied to permafrost in the ground. 1–1.5 metres (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) high penitentes occur above 5,000 metres (16,404 ft) altitude, especially in more sheltered areas. 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) high penitentes were observed in 1954. Snow covers the terrain above 5,400–5,800 metres (17,700–19,000 ft) altitude. Gullies that are found in the area probably result from meltwater runoff. The snowfields on Llullaillaco supply water to the Salar de Punta Negra. The lack of glaciers is a consequence of the dry climate, as the high insolation and dry air allow all snow to evaporate before it can form glaciers.

The existence of a cirque on the northwestern slope has been postulated. It was once believed that Llullaillaco had experienced three large glaciations, but the "moraines" are actually mudflow deposits. However, during the Pleistocene glaciers reached down to 5,100 metres (16,700 ft) altitude on the northwestern slope. Lava flows have overrun some of the glaciated surfaces and it is possible that lava flows induced the melting of glaciers. A number of glacial landforms elsewhere were destroyed by mudflows during the time of Llullaillaco's last activity. Llullaillaco may not have been glaciated at all during the Pleistocene.

Periglacial phenomena are observed on Llullaillaco, commencing at 4,300 metres (14,100 ft) altitude and reaching their maximum around 5,100–5,400 metres (16,700–17,700 ft) on the Chilean and 5,350–5,700 metres (17,550–18,700 ft) on the Argentine side. There, solifluction and cryoplanation surfaces are developed, including lobe-shaped ground and block ramparts. These landforms have been mapped on the northwestern side of the volcano. Patterned ground is also common. Permafrost is found at higher altitudes. Cryoplanation and solifluction landforms are also observed on Iris and Mitral. Other than on periglacially influenced terrain, the ground at Llullaillaco is formed mostly by lavic rocks and block debris, which are frequently buried by tephra.

### Composition

Llullaillaco has mostly erupted dacites with medium potassium content, with rocks becoming more felsic the younger they are. Rock samples taken from Llullaillaco are mostly porphyritic or vitrophyric, with a glassy or microcrystalline matrix. Phenocrysts are mostly plagioclase, with mafic phenocrysts being dominated by orthopyroxene and smaller amounts of biotite, clinopyroxene, and hornblende. Ilmenite, magnetite, and sulfide minerals are also present, magnetite especially in the more oxidized older lavas. Some phenocrysts show evidence of a complex history. Quartz is rare. Older lavas have developed a red colour and contain oxidized iron in form of hematite. Lavas from Llullaillaco I are grey. The content of SiO
2 is 65–67%.

The rocks belong to the calc-alkaline series. Trace element data are typical for Central Volcanic Zone rocks. High potassium content is typical for shoshonite-like lavas erupted at large distance from the trenches.

The composition may reflect magma differentiation in a solitary magma chamber, but with occasional replenishment with more primitive magma. Magma mixing and plagioclase crystallization occurred in it. A lithospheric structure probably directed magma flows over long time periods along the same pathway. The depth of the magma source probably varied over the history of the volcano. The total magma output at Llullaillaco is about 0.05 cubic kilometres per millennium (0.012 cu mi/ka)-0.02–0.04 cubic kilometres per millennium (0.0048–0.0096 cu mi/ka).

### Geological history

The terrain around Llullaillaco consists of andesite and dacite lavas and pyroclastics of Miocene to Pliocene age. Some Oligocene-Miocene layers are exposed in the Quebrada de las Zorritas. Dates obtained by argon-argon dating range between 11.94 ± 0.13 and 5.48 ± 0.07 million years ago. 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of Llullaillaco do Paleozoic granites and volcanite rocks crop out. Elsewhere these layers are buried by Cenozoic rocks. There are several faults in the region, such as the Imilac-Salina del Fraile lineament whose movement has influenced the activity of Llullaillaco.

Research by J.P. Richards and M. Villeneuve has allowed the determination of the geological history of the region. Had volcanism during the Eocene and Oligocene been centered on the Precordillera, increased subduction of the Nazca Plate during the late Oligocene caused the volcanic arc to broaden to about 250 kilometres (160 mi). 25 million years ago, the "Quechua event" triggered the uplift of the Puna-Altiplano, a highland covering a surface area of 500,000 square kilometres (190,000 sq mi) and reaching an altitude of 3,700 metres (12,100 ft). In the late Miocene-Pliocene a phase of strong ignimbrite volcanism occurred. About 2 million years ago, the "Diaguita deformation" was characterized by a change in the deformation regimen from crustal shortening to strike-slip faulting and of volcanism from voluminous felsic eruptions to isolated stratovolcanoes and back-arc mafic volcanism. A slowdown in the subduction may have caused this change. Nowadays most volcanism occurs at the western edge of the Puna, where volcanoes such as Lascar and Llullaillaco formed.

## Climate and biota

The climate at Llullaillaco is cold and dry. The average temperature is about −13 °C (9 °F), with temperature maximums ranging −8 – −13 °C (18–9 °F) between summer and winter. Ground temperatures however can reach 12.5 °C (54.5 °F) during the day in summer. The temperature of the ground fluctuates strongly during the day.

Llullaillaco in 2004 became the site of the highest weather station in the world. The climate is extremely sunny on account of the lack of a cloud cover, the high altitude, and the close coincidence between summer solstice with the day where Earth is closest to the Sun. Snowfall can occur down to altitudes of 4,000 metres (13,123 ft). Precipitation is episodic to the point that it is difficult to give average values. It is most often associated with either convective or cyclonic activity during summer and winter respectively.

Between 24 and 25° degrees southern latitude the Andean Dry Diagonal crosses the Andes. At this latitude, half of the precipitation falls in summer and the other half in winter. The formation of this dry diagonal is an effect both of the rainshadow effect of the Andes, air subsidence within South Pacific High, and the cold Humboldt Current off the Pacific coast. This is the reason why the Atacama Desert exists. The extremely arid climate at Llullaillaco is also a consequence of these climatic effects.

Vegetation is scarce in the arid climate. Vegetation at Llullaillaco begins at 3,700–3,800 metres (12,100–12,500 ft) altitude with Acantholippia punensis, Atriplex imbricata, and Cristaria andicola. They are joined at 3,900 metres (12,800 ft) altitude by Stipa frigida which can be found up to 4,910 metres (16,110 ft) of altitude. The maximum vegetation density is found around 4,250 metres (13,940 ft) with 12% of the surface and decreases thereafter, probably due to the low temperatures. At this altitude, Adesmia spinosissima, Fabiana bryoides, Mulinum crassifolium, and Parastrephia quadrangularis are found in addition to the previously mentioned plants. Above 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) elevation there is no vegetation. Mice were filmed at 6,205 metres (20,358 ft) in 2013, and an expedition in February 2020 found mice all the way to the summit, where a mouse of the species Phyllotis xanthopygus was captured. This is the highest altitude in the world at which a mammal has been found to live.

Weakly developed fungal and bacterial communities have been found in the soils at Llullaillaco, with better developed algal and cyanobacterial communities found on the penitentes; some soil microbes may depend on volcanic carbon monoxide. Algae, lichens, microbial mats and vascular plants grow around and in Lago Llullaillaco. The environmental conditions in these soils are among the most extreme on the planet, with aridity, strong UV radiation, daily freeze-thaw cycles and a lack of nutrients. Organic material transported on the mountain by winds may be the principal source of food for some of these microorganisms. Air pollution from the Escondida copper mine may reach Llullaillaco and threaten ecosystems there.

Dry valleys and sheltered areas feature grasses. A permanent spring is found in Quebrada de las Zorritas. Deposits in this valley indicate that between 2,436.8 ± 49 and 1,593.1 ± 36 radiocarbon years ago runoff was more intense.

## Archaeology

Llullaillaco was first climbed by Incas centuries ago. In 1999, a team of archeologists, led by Johan Reinhard, found three mummies of children on the top of Llullaillaco. At the time of their death they were six, seven, and fifteen years old. They were ostensibly human sacrifices offered to the gods of the Incan pantheon on mountaintops. In 2003 they were at the Catholic University of Salta, but starting from 2007 they can be found at the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology of Argentina.

The mummies were found buried 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in) beneath an 11 by 6 metres (36 ft × 20 ft) large platform. The existence of ruins in the summit area had been reported during the first modern climb of the volcano in 1950. Because of the findings, the summit area of the volcano in 2001 was classified as a Lugar Histórico Nacional by the government of Argentina.

Other archeological objects found along with the mummies included: headdresses with feathers, pottery, statues made out of gold and silver and textiles. A total of 145 objects were found together with the mummies. The hairs found with the mummies and as offerings accompanying the mummies have been subject of research to establish the background of the victims.

At least three paths lead up to Llullaillaco. Two of them meet at a tambo or inn at an altitude of 5,200 metres (17,100 ft), while the third passes through a cementerio (cemetery) where 16 bodies were found in 1972 before reaching the tambo. From the tambo another path leads up the mountain, past two further archeological sites to 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) of altitude. This path is an Inca ceremonial path with an initial width of 2–1.5 metres (6 ft 7 in – 4 ft 11 in), narrowing in steeper reaches. The path is marked by cairns, probably to indicate where the path is when the volcano is covered by snow. The path ends at 6,500 metres (21,300 ft) altitude at the Portezuelo del Inca ruins, where a staircase begins. From these ruins one path goes to a cemetery at 6,715 metres (22,031 ft) altitude and another to the summit platform. The other path reaches two subrectangular walls 20 metres (66 ft) farther up, and continues to the platform where the mummies were found. These are the highest archeological sites in the world. The paths were discovered by Mathias Rebitsch in 1958.

Llullaillaco appears to have been the most important Inca sacred mountain in the region. Archeological sites are also found in the valleys that drain Llullaillaco towards the Salar de Punta Negra, including the Quebrada Llullaillaco and the Quebrada de las Zorritas. The paths connect with the major north–south axis that runs between San Pedro de Atacama and Copiapo. This axis is associated with the extensive Inca road system.

## Eruptive history

The volcano is about 1.45 ± 0.41 million years old, and Llullaillaco I is of early Pleistocene age. The oldest date, 1.5 ± 0.4 million years ago, was determined on a lava flow northwest of Llullaillaco's main edifice. Two dates obtained on lava flows of Llullaillaco II are 401,000 ± 6,000 and 1,500,000 ± 400,000 years ago, based on argon-argon dating and potassium-argon dating respectively. The northern young lava flow is less than one million years old based on potassium-argon dating, the southern flow is 48,000 ± 12,000 years old based on argon-argon dating on biotite. Surface exposure dating based on helium has yielded ages of 41,000 ± 1,000 years for Llullaillaco I at over 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) altitude, of 5,600 ± 250 years for Llullaillaco II at an altitude of over 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) and of 930 ± 140 years.

Llullaillaco has been active in historical time, with the last eruption occurring in the late 19th century. Eruptions were recorded in February 1854, September 1868, and May 1877, involving two explosive eruptions and one with lava flows. According to a report in 1899, during the 1868 eruption large fissures opened on its slopes. The last eruption consisted of smoking reported at the time of the 1877 Iquique earthquake. Other reports mention eruptions in 1920, 1931, 1936 and 1960.

The volcano is currently considered dormant and there are no known fumaroles. Llullaillaco is considered Argentina's 16th most dangerous volcano out of 38. Future eruptive activity may result in the emission of pyroclastic flows and lava flows and may cause sector collapses, although they would be a small danger to human life, given that the area is sparsely inhabited.

## See also

- Llullaillaco National Park
- List of volcanoes in Chile
- List of volcanoes in Argentina
- List of Andean peaks with known pre-Columbian ascents
- List of volcanoes by elevation

Dormant stratovolcano at the border of Argentina and Chile

International mountains of South America


SM U-66

SM U-66 was the lead ship of the Type U-66 submarines or U-boats for the Imperial German Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The submarine had been laid down in Kiel in November 1913 as U-7, the lead ship of the U-7 class for the Austro-Hungarian Navy (German: Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine or K.u.K. Kriegsmarine). They became convinced after the outbreak of war in August 1914 that none of these submarines could be delivered to the Adriatic via Gibraltar, and sold the entire class, including U-7, to the German Imperial Navy in November 1914.

Under German control, the class became known as the U-66 type and the boats were renumbered; U-7 became U-66, and all were redesigned and reconstructed to German specifications. U-66 was launched in April 1915 and commissioned in July. As completed, she displaced 791 tonnes (779 long tons) when surfaced and 933 tonnes (918 long tons) submerged. The boat was 69.50 metres (228 ft) long and was armed with five torpedo tubes and a deck gun.

As a part of the Baltic and IV Flotillas, U-66 sank 25 ships with a combined gross register tonnage of 73,847 in six war patrols. The U-boat also torpedoed and damaged the British cruiser Falmouth in August 1916. U-66 left Emden on her seventh patrol on 2 September 1917 for operations in the North Channel. The following day the U-boat reported her position in the North Sea but neither she nor any of her 40-man crew were ever heard from again. A postwar German study offered no explanation for U-66's loss, although British records suggest that she may have struck a mine in the Dogger Bank area.

## Design and construction

After the Austro-Hungarian Navy had competitively evaluated three foreign submarine designs, it selected the Germaniawerft 506d design, also known as the Type UD, for its new U-7 class of five submarines. The Navy ordered five boats on 1 February 1913.

The U-7 class was seen by the Austro-Hungarian Navy as an improved version of its U-3 class, which was also a Germaniawerft design. As designed for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the boats were to displace 695 long tons (706 t) on the surface and 885 long tons (899 t) while submerged. The double-hulled boats were to be 69.50 m (228 ft) long overall with a beam of 6.30 m (20 ft 8 in) and a draft of 3.79 m (12 ft 5 in). The Austrian specifications called for two shafts with twin diesel engines (2,269 shp (1,692 kW) total) for surface running at up to 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), and twin electric motors (1,223 shp (912 kW) total) for a maximum of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) when submerged. The boats were designed with five 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes; four located in the bow, one in the stern. The boats' armament was to also include a single 6.6 centimetres (2.6 in)/26 deck gun.

U-7 and sister boat SM U-67 were both laid down on 1 November 1913, the first two boats of the class begun. Their construction was scheduled for completion within 29 to 33 months, but neither U-7 nor any of her sister boats were complete when World War I began in August 1914. Because the boats were under construction at Kiel on the Baltic Sea, the Austrians became convinced that it would be impossible to take delivery: the boats would need to be transferred into the Mediterranean past Gibraltar, a British territory. As a result, U-7 and her four sisters were sold to the Imperial German Navy on 28 November 1914.

U-7 was renumbered by the Germans as U-66 when her class was redesignated as the Type U-66. The Imperial German Navy had the submarines redesigned and reconstructed to German standards, increasing the surface and submerged displacements by 96 and 48 tonnes (94 and 47 long tons), respectively. The torpedo load was increased by a third, from 9 to 12, and the deck gun size was upgraded from the 6.6-centimeter (2.6 in) size originally specified to 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30.

## Early career

U-66 was launched on 22 April 1915. On 23 July, SM U-66 was commissioned into the Imperial German Navy under the command of Kapitänleutnant (Kptlt.) Thorwald von Bothmer, a 31-year-old, thirteen-year veteran of the Imperial German Navy. U-66 was assigned to the Baltic Flotilla (German: U-boote der Ostseestreitkräfte V. Unterseeboots-Halbflottille) on 17 October.

In late September, the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic began a submarine offensive against German ships, intending to deny free passage of cargo, especially iron ore, from neutral Sweden to Germany. In A Naval History of World War I, author Paul G. Halpern reports on part of the German response, which was an experiment involving U-66. The U-boat was towed behind an "innocent-looking vessel" and connected to the host ship by a telephone line in addition to the towline. U-66 was able to cast off at a moment's notice to attack an enemy submarine. Halpern does not report on any encounters by U-66, nor does he provide any insight into the overall effectiveness of the plan. U-66 was not credited with the sinking of any vessels of any kind during this time. On 15 January 1916, she was transferred from the Baltic Flotilla into the IV Flotilla (German: IV. Unterseeboots-Halbflottille), where she joined her sister boats U-67 and U-68.

## Second German offensive

Germany began its second submarine offensive against shipping the month after U-66 joined the IV Flotilla. As in the first submarine offensive, U-boats were sent independently around Scotland to patrol the Irish Sea and the western entrance to the English Channel. The first reported activity of U-66 during this campaign reveals that she sank her first ship on 5 April 1916. On that date she was in the vicinity of Fastnet Rock and came upon the 3,890-ton British refrigerated cargo ship Zent headed from Garston to Santa Marta in ballast. U-66 torpedoed Zent 28 nautical miles (52 km; 32 mi) from Fastnet and sank the ship with the loss of 49 crewmen; the master and nine sailors were rescued and landed at Queenstown. Over the next two days, U-66 dispatched two French sailing vessels, the 151-ton Binicaise, and the 397-ton fishing smack Sainte Marie west of the Isles of Scilly. On 8 April, von Bothmer and U-66 sank the Spanish-flagged Santanderino 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi) from Ushant. Santanderino, a 3,346-ton ship built in 1890, was sailing from Liverpool to Havana, and U-66 gave 15 minutes' notice for all the passengers and crew to abandon ship; four drowned during the evacuation. Santanderino's 36 survivors were rescued by a Danish steamer and landed at a port on the Bay of Biscay.

U-66 continued her attacks on merchant shipping on 9 April with the sinking of three ships, the British steamers Eastern City and Glenalmond and the Norwegian ship Sjolyst. The 4,341-ton Eastern City was sailing from Saint-Nazaire to Barry Roads in ballast when she was shelled by U-66 and sent to the bottom 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi) from Ushant; all of her crew survived and were landed by 11 April. U-66's next victim was the 2,888-ton Glenalmond sailing from Bilbao to Clyde laden with iron ore. Torpedoes from U-66 sank the ship 27 nautical miles (50 km; 31 mi) north of Ushant, but all her crew were saved. The 20-year-old Norwegian steamer Sjolyst was sailing in ballast from Nantes to Manchester when U-66 sank her about two nautical miles (four kilometers) from where Glenalmond went down. Sjolyst's master and entire crew were picked up by the British steamer Libra and landed at Cardiff.

U-66 finished out her busy month the next day by sinking one British and one Italian ship. U-66 sank the British steamer Margam Abbey 55 nautical miles (102 km; 63 mi) southwest of the Lizard while the ship was en route from Bordeaux to Barry Roads in ballast. Margam Abbey, at 4,471 tons, was the largest ship sunk by U-66 to that time. The Italian freighter Unione was sailing with a load of coal from Clyde for Genoa when U-66 torpedoed her off Land's End. The sinking of Unione, with a tonnage of 2,367, raised U-66's tally for the month of April to nine ships with a combined tonnage of 22,848, all sunk in a six-day span. Near the end of April 1916, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the new commander-in-chief of the High Seas Fleet (under which U-66's IV Flotilla operated), called off the merchant shipping offensive and ordered all boats at sea to return, and all boats in port to remain there.

## Grand Fleet ambushes

In mid-May 1916, Scheer completed plans to draw out part of the British Grand Fleet. The German High Seas Fleet would sortie for a raid on Sunderland, luring the British fleet across "'nests' of submarines and mine-fields". U-66 was one of nine U-boats that put out to sea beginning on 17 May to scout the central North Sea for signs of the British fleet. Completing five days of scouting, U-66, along with U-63, U-51, U-32, sister boat U-70, U-24, and U-52, took up position off the Firth of Forth on 23 May. The other two boats, U-43 and U-44, were stationed off Pentland Firth, in position to attack the British fleet leaving Scapa Flow. All the boats were to remain on station until 1 June and await a coded message which would report the sailing of the British fleet. Unfortunately for the Germans, the British Admiralty had intelligence reports of the departure of the submarines which, coupled with an absence of attacks on shipping, aroused British suspicions.

A delayed departure of the German fleet for its sortie (which had been redirected to the Skagerrak) and the failure of five U-boats, including U-66, to receive the coded message warning of the British advance caused Scheer's anticipated ambush to be a "complete and disappointing failure". Although she had not received the advance warning of the coded message, U-66 was one of the two ambush U-boats that actually saw parts of the British fleet. At 09:00 on 31 May, U-66 sent out a wireless report of eight battleships, light cruisers, and destroyers on a northerly course 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) east of Kinnaird Head. U-66 was unable to make any attacks on the ships she reported due to the presence of screening vessels. The failure of the submarine ambush to sink any British capital ships allowed the full Grand Fleet to engage the numerically inferior High Seas Fleet in the Battle of Jutland, which took place 31 May – 1 June.

The next mention of U-66 in sources is on 11 August, when she sank Inverdruie, a 613-ton three-masted Norwegian bark. Inverdruie was carrying a load of pit props from Sandefjord to Hartlepool when she was sunk some 160 nautical miles (300 km; 180 mi) east of Aberdeen.

Later in August, the Germans set up another ambush for the British fleet, when they drew up plans for another High Seas Fleet raid on Sunderland (as had been the original intention in May). The German fleet planned to depart late in the day on 18 August and shell military targets the next morning. U-66 was one of 24 U-boats that formed five lines (German: Standlinie) in the expected paths of any Grand Fleet sorties. Standlinie II, consisting of U-63, U-49, U-45, U-66, and U-64, formed a 35-nautical-mile (65 km; 40 mi) front 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) off Flamborough Head. The other four Standlinie formed similar lines to the north and south; all were to be in place by 08:00 on 19 August. Once again, British intelligence had given warning of the impending attack and ambush, causing the Grand Fleet to sortie at 16:00 on 18 August, five hours before the German fleet sailed.

At 04:45 on 19 August, U-66 fired a spread of two torpedoes at the British light cruiser Falmouth from a distance of 1,000 yards (910 m). Both torpedoes scored hits on Falmouth's starboard side, flooding the warship forward and aft. The cruiser's mechanical spaces—located amidships—remained intact and in working order, so she was steered to the Humber with an escort of three destroyers and an armed trawler. U-66 tried repeatedly to deal the stricken cruiser a coup de grâce, but narrowly missed with torpedoes on several further attacks. U-66 broke off her pursuit after two hours, having endured multiple attacks from Falmouth's screening destroyers. One depth charge attack blew out all the lights on U-66 and knocked clips off two hatches that caused the boat to flood with a considerable quantity of water before the leaks could be sealed. Falmouth continued under tow at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) until she crossed Standlinie II and was attacked and sunk by U-63 around noon the next day.

Records on U-66 next appear in late 1916, when she is reported as one of the U-boat escorts assisting the German merchant raider Wolf into the North Atlantic. Wolf, under the command of Karl August Nerger, began a 15-month raiding voyage on 30 November that took the ship into the Indian and Pacific Oceans before a safe return to Germany. U-66's specific locations for this duty are not reported, but on 11 December she sank a Norwegian steamer and a Swedish sailing ship. U-66 shelled the 1,090-ton Norwegian steamer Bjor 4 nautical miles (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) southwest of the Norwegian island of Ryvingen. The ship and her general cargo, headed from Göteborg to Hull, were sent to the bottom without loss of life, and her crew was safely landed by 14 December. The same day, U-66 also sank the 311-ton Swedish sailing ship Palander off the island of Oxö, near the town of Tornio on the Sweden–Finland border.

## Unrestricted submarine warfare

From the early stages of the war the Royal Navy had blockaded Germany, preventing neutral shipping from reaching German ports. By the time of the so-called "turnip winter" of 1916–17, the blockade had severely limited imports of food and fuel into Germany. Among the results were an increase in infant mortality and as many as 700,000 deaths attributed to starvation or hypothermia during the war. With the blockade having such dire consequences, Kaiser Wilhelm II personally approved a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare to begin on 1 February 1917 to help force the British to make peace. The new rules of engagement specified that no ship was to be left afloat.

U-66's first victim under the new rules was encountered on 1 March. The Norwegian steamer Gurre, reported as 1,733 tons, was crossing the North Sea while steaming from Narvik and Fredrikshald for Hull with a cargo of iron ore. U-66 torpedoed her at position , sending the doomed Norwegian ship into the murky depths with 20 of her crew. The same day, U-66 encountered another Norwegian cargo ship, the 1,005-ton Livingstone, headed from Skien to Charente with a cargo of ammonium nitrate. Livingstone's cargo, used in the making of explosives and munitions, was too valuable to destroy. U-66's captain seized the ship as a prize east of Shetland. Further details of the encounter do not appear in sources, but it is known that the 11-year-old Livingstone not only survived the war, but remained in service under a variety of names until she was scrapped in 1962.

In late March, U-66 sank another two vessels. The 3,597-ton cargo ship Stuart Prince was headed from Manchester and Belfast to Alexandria with a general cargo when U-66 came upon her 85 nautical miles (157 km; 98 mi) off Broad Haven, County Mayo. U-66's torpedo attack was successful, sinking the ship and killing 20 men, including the ship's master. Five days later, U-66 encountered the five-masted bark Neath 28 nautical miles (52 km; 32 mi) south by east of Fastnet Rock. Equipped with an auxiliary triple-expansion steam engine, Neath was the former German bark R. C. Rickmers which had been seized by the Admiralty at Cardiff in August 1914. After U-66 torpedoed Neath at 08:45, the bark, en route from Martinique to Le Havre with a load of sugar, sank in seven minutes. The master of Neath was taken prisoner, but had been released and landed at Queenstown two days later.

During April 1917, German U-boats sank 860,334 tons of Allied and neutral shipping, a monthly total unsurpassed in either of the two world wars. U-66's sole contribution to this figure came when she torpedoed the tanker Powhatan 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi) from North Rona in the Outer Hebrides. The 6,117-ton ship, which was carrying fuel oil from Sabine, Texas to Kirkwall, bested Margam Abbey as U-66's largest ship sunk when she went down with 36 of her crew. As was done with the master of Neath, Powhatan's master was taken prisoner aboard U-66.

Although the monthly total of tonnage sunk by all U-boats had peaked in April, the losses were over 600,000 tons in each of May and June. U-66 did not contribute to the May tally but, with her most successful month since April 1916, added to the June figures. On 5 June, U-66 torpedoed the 3,472-ton Italian steamer Amor which was on her way to Liverpool from Galveston; Amor sank approximately 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) from Fastnet Rock. The same day, Manchester Miller, a 4,234-ton steamer sailing from Philadelphia for Manchester with a load of cotton, was sunk about 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) away from Amor when she was hit by a torpedo from U-66. Eight crewmen died in the attack; the survivors, who included three Americans, were landed on 9 June.

Two days after the attacks on Amor and Manchester Miller, U-66 attacked two more British steamers. The 4,329-ton Ikalis, carrying wheat from New York to Manchester, was torpedoed and sunk 170 nautical miles (310 km; 200 mi) from Fastnet Rock. The cargo ship Cranmore, of 3,157 tons, was headed to Manchester from Baltimore with a general cargo when torpedoed some 150 nautical miles (280 km; 170 mi) northwest of Fastnet. Though the ship was damaged, Cranmore's crew was able to beach her; the ship was later refloated and re-entered service.

U-66 sank her largest ship, the 6,583-ton British steamer Bay State on 10 June. The Warren Line cargo steamer had departed from Boston (the capital of Massachusetts nicknamed, coincidentally, the "Bay State") with a \$2,000,000 war cargo destined for Liverpool. U-66 intercepted the ship 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) northwest of Fastnet and sank her, but there were no casualties among her crew of 45. Four days later, U-66 encountered the Norwegian bark Perfect, laden with grain, headed from Bahía Blanca for Copenhagen. Perfect, which had been built in 1877, was dispatched by U-66's deck gun at position , east of Shetland.

On 17 June, Kptlt. von Bothmer was replaced by Kptlt. Gerhard Muhle as commander of the U-boat. U-66 was the first (and ultimately only) U-boat command for the 31-year-old Muhle, who had been a classmate of von Bothmer when both had joined the Kaiserliche Marine in April 1902. On 9 July, U-66 sank her first ship under her new commander, when she sent the Spanish steamer Iparraguirre to the bottom. The 1,161-ton steamer was headed to Santander from Piteå and Bergen with a cargo of pitwood, when U-66 attacked her west of the Orkney Islands.

U-66 scored another success when she torpedoed and sank the outbound British steamer African Prince on 21 July 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) north-northwest of Tory Island. The freighter—a Prince Line line-mate of Stuart Prince, sunk by U-66 in March—was carrying china clay from Liverpool to Newport News. The same day, U-66 also sank the 1,322-ton British sailing ship Harold about 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) from where African Prince went down. These two ships were the last sinkings credited to U-66. During six successful patrols, U-66 had sunk 25 ships and seized a 26th as a prize, for a combined total tonnage of 74,852.

U-66 began her seventh and what was to be her final patrol on the morning of 2 September when she departed from Emden destined for operations in the North Channel. Shortly after noon on 3 September, U-66 reported a position in the North Sea that placed her beyond known British minefields, in what was her last known contact. A postwar German study offered no explanation for U-66's loss. British records suggest that U-66 may have either struck a mine in an older minefield in the Dogger Bank area, or that a combination of destroyers, submarines, and anti-submarine net tenders sank U-66 sometime between 1 and 11 October. Author Dwight Messimer discounts this latter theory as not being supported by operational details.

## Summary of raiding history

German submarine

World War I shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean