On Wednesday afternoon, more than 350 people, toting books and folding chairs, stood and sat in a line that stretched around the corner at 66th Street, down Amsterdam Avenue, and back up 65th Street.
The first fan arrived to Lincoln Center in Manhattan just after 7 a.m., hoping to secure a ticket to the free, live broadcast of the trailblazing ballerina Misty Copeland’s farewell performance with American Ballet Theater. Fifteen years ago, that company made history when it named Ms. Copeland its first Black female principal dancer.
“I wouldn’t miss this,” said Elsa Tullos, who was third in line. She had flown in from Chicago and made it to Alice Tully Hall around 8 a.m. “I’ve never seen her perform, so I’m really excited,” Ms. Tullos continued, while she waited for the box office to begin distributing tickets at 4 p.m. for that evening’s gala performance.
Ms. Copeland, now 43, inspired similar devotion throughout her career. She was promoted to principal dancer in 2015, and fans have since packed the Metropolitan Opera House, where American Ballet Theater has a season each year.
Now Ms. Copeland, who announced her retirement in an interview with The New York Times in June, was returning to the stage after five years away. In that time, she raised her 3-year-old son, Jackson, and focused on growing her charitable foundation, which aims to diversify the dance world.
A starry crowd that included Oprah Winfrey and Caroline Kennedy, the chairs of the evening; Chelsea Clinton; the “Big Bang Theory” actor Jim Parsons; the “Orange Is the New Black” actress Danielle Brooks; the retired Yankees pitcher C. C. Sabathia; and the “And Just Like That …” actress Nicole Ari Parker turned out to see her off. After walking a red carpet inside David Geffen Hall, they sipped cocktails on the grand promenade and terrace before the performance.
“We’re all going to be crying soon,” said Gayle King, the broadcast journalist.
Around 6:15 p.m., they headed across the plaza to the David H. Koch Theater, where Ms. Kennedy introduced the gala performance.
Ms. Copeland then made her first appearance — to cheers and applause — kicking off an 80-minute program. The lineup included video footage from her career; live and prerecorded tributes from friends, mentors and colleagues; and six pieces performed by Ms. Copeland and dancers from American Ballet Theater and its training troupe, ABT Studio Company.
Among the dances were excerpts from Kenneth MacMillan’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s “Swan Lake” and George Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations.”
Ms. Winfrey delivered a special tribute before Ms. Copeland’s final performance of Twyla Tharp’s “Sinatra Suite.”
“When you stepped on that stage years ago, you didn’t just dance,” Ms. Winfrey told the sold-out audience of more than 2,500 people, as well as the roughly 900 viewers watching the livestream in Alice Tully Hall.
“You gave permission. You gave hope. You gave vision,” she continued. “And to every child watching, to every young person who thought, ‘maybe not me,’ you showed them with every movement that, yes, you too, belong.”
After the performance, Ms. Copeland stood center stage in what looked like a storm of gold confetti as she accepted more than a dozen bouquets from colleagues, mentors, friends and family, which she tossed into a pile that grew several feet long by the end of the 15-minute standing ovation.
When the curtain finally fell, about 850 attendees made their way upstairs to candlelit tables in the theater’s second-floor promenade for a dinner of crudité and artichoke piquillo tahina, Parmesan chicken, caramel pecan pie squares and dark chocolate tartlets.
The gala, which celebrated the 85th anniversary of the American Ballet Theater, raised about $6 million for the company.
“I feel so inspired,” Ms. Brooks said. “Everybody can’t reach the levels that she might, but it’s a reminder to keep trying, keep striving in your community, in the spaces where you can inspire somebody.”
Sarah Bahr writes about culture and style for The Times.
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