Prince's appreciation of the arts extended beyond music. He saw the beauty in ballet and made Misty Copeland his muse way before she became principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in 2015.
Not only did Copeland appear in Prince's 2009 music video "Crimson and Clover," but Prince also introduced her to many people when she performed "The Beautiful Ones" with him during a 2011 episode of Lopez Tonight. Copeland went on to tour with Prince in Europe in 2011, and being the philanthropic person that he was, he also made a donation to the ABT.
What the world didn't know up until last week, though, was that Prince was also a producer on A Ballerina's Tale. The documentary, by Nelson George, is a look at Copeland's rise to fame. George posted to Facebook to let the world know the part Prince played in the completion of the doc:
We never made an announcement about it but Prince was a producer on A Ballerina's Tale. He contributed a substantial sum on Kickstart [that] allowed us to reach our fundraising goal. He didn't want his name on the film and never asked for points. He was a very early supporter of Misty Copeland. In fact it was because she danced with him on tour that I first became aware of her. So he played a very significant role in the creation of that documentary. Just another way in which he impacted the culture and my life.