Welcome to our collection of quotes by Misty Copeland. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for 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.
I think, as a child, there weren't dreams. I can't recall as a child having some ultimate dream and thinking that it was possible.
There are muscles that we have in our feet that most human beings don't even know that we have. The strength that we have is so detailed.
The classical ballet world is so exclusive and small, and a lot of people don't know about it.
It's weird for minorities even just to buy tickets to the ballet. We feel like it's not a part of our lives and we're not a part of that world.
It's hard to change someone's ideas when they might not even really consciously know that they're being racist, or have racist ideas, just because ballet has been this way for hundreds of years.
I know that I'm talented, and I know that I'm not in American Ballet Theater because I'm black -- I'm here because I'm a gifted dancer.
I have the opportunity, which most people don't experience nearly as much, of being in front of a mirror up to 10 hours a day. Staring at your body, you really get to know every little detail of how to make yourself look your best.
I traced the marley floor with my pointe shoes, and imagine myself on the stage, not as a member of the corps, but as a principal dancer. It felt right. It felt like a promise. Some day, somehow, it was going to happen for me.
I'm definitely influenced by the music. We dance to music, and you have to listen to it and phrase your dancing and movement in a certain way to compliment the music. We have to work hand in hand, the dancer and the music.
'The Company' was interesting. I didn't love it, although it might be compelling to someone who isn't a dancer. There wasn't a lot of dialogue, and you were just kind of observing the creative process of choreography and in class.
The ballet world I don't think is an art form that is quick to change or to adjust or evolve.
I knew that I just didn't have it in me to give up, even if I sometimes felt like a fool for continuing to believe.
All you can do is be your best self. I'm representing more than just me. I think everyone should be like that.
How difficult it is to exist, that we are athlete and artist. We have injuries. People don't see the hard side of being a ballerina. They just see this beautiful and effortless thing, and they assume it's easy and cute. I hate when people say it's cute!
I know there are a lot of eyes on me now from young girls, and it makes me so proud. The only Black woman examples aren't Rihanna and Beyoncé. It makes me proud that I am a classical ballerina and they can look at me and see another way to succeed. That is setting a new standard.
Maybe I'm seeing myself in a different way than the people in the audience see me, 'cause to me, I think I look like a ballerina and I feel like a ballerina. But maybe I'm not seeing what other people are seeing.
I don't want to be anything else other than a ballerina. I love what I do outside of my work, but at the end of the day, I have to sacrifice.
A lot of people think, Oh I'm going to eat whatever I want and then go to the gym. And I've definitely been one of those people and it just doesn't give me the results that I need to have the physique of a ballerina.
I had no idea what I was walking into, and the years and years of hard work it would take. I felt like an outsider and like it was never going to happen. But even if I would have known, I think I still would have done it. Dancers are perfectionists, and that's what keeps us going and growing.
Every time I step onto the stage, it's not only proving to the audience that I'm capable but to myself.
Ballet is number one, everything else is scheduled in the small windows when I'm not in the studio taking class, rehearsing, on stage or on tour.
I do think Under Armour is setting a new example for what a ballerina is, and that you can be feminine and an athlete and represent what a woman is at the same time.
Just to get into a company like ABT is a dream come true, but to have all of these opportunities on top of it, I don't think it will hit me until I'm 70. I'll be like, Oh, my god, remember that amazing life you had? It's an incredible honor to be a part of something like ABT.
My first ballet class was on a basketball court. I'm in my gym clothes and my socks trying to do this thing called ballet.
I think that the ideal physique and look of a ballerina is always changing with different eras. And it's continuing to change.
You're always working to improve, and you're always being critiqued on your next performance. It's not about what you've done. There's always room to grow.
I'm a classical ballet dancer, and at the end of the day I want to be with American Ballet Theater, performing classical ballets.
My career came together very quickly. I only trained for four years before I became a professional, so I didn't have a lot of time to sit back and be inspired before I took my first ballet class.
My body is very different from most of the dancers I dance with. My hair is different than most I dance with. But I didn't let that stop me. Black girls rock and can be ballerinas.
When I was younger, my feet would hurt a lot, but you build up calluses and strength and you don't feel as much pain there.
I think that I'm so fortunate to have found classical ballet. It completely changed my life and it shaped the person that I am today, on and off the stage.
Different mentors throughout my life have supported and guided me to remember that I do have the strength, courage and talent to do whatever I want to do.
I don't believe in dieting, I don't believe in having certain moments in your life where you're healthy and then moments when you're like, I'm going to eat whatever I want. It's just finding what works for your body and always eating healthy.
I think anything that affects me in my personal life is going to help me be a better artist on stage.
I never knew I wanted to become a ballerina. I was discovered at the age of 13. I had a love for movement even though I had no exposure to dance other than what I saw in music videos, like hip-hop music videos. But I knew that I loved moving.
I believe I am yet to dance my favorite role, but I am pretty open to adapting to different characters. I would love to be Odette in Swan Lake one day. I think that would be the ultimate role.
Even if I weren't learning new roles and getting the opportunity to be coached by incredible people, I still think I would be so excited to have an opportunity to continue to push myself and grow, as an artist.
Knowing that it has never been done before makes me want to fight even harder.
The word prodigy was thrown around a lot, but I didn't understand what that meant, or the weight of it. It didn't really mean anything to me, until I was older and could look back on it.
Meeting Raven Wilkinson and having her as a mentor, it was that kind of support from the generations that came before me that helped to lift me up and give me the confidence to then be able to give back and bring other minorities with me on this journey.
It's really amazing that I was discovered and that I've been given these great opportunities to travel the world and work with amazing artists. I'm very blessed.
I just want to leave a positive memory of setting an example and bringing our youth with us.
I know that I'll forever be involved in ballet. This is where my life was meant to be, and I don't see myself straying completely away, ever.
You can dream big and it doesn't matter what you look like, where you come from.
What makes people and companies and artistic directors and choreographers interested in working with dancers is the ability to kind of let go of everything you think you know and be a blank canvas.
I think I'm pretty laid back. I like cooking, being at home, and going to concerts. And I love to shop!
I was seventeen when I moved to New York. I was nineteen when I joined the main company. I was going through a lot. Just becoming an adult and just wanting to fit in, be accepted, and be in common with the other dancers.
I was 17 when I moved to NYC . I'm now 32. But I do know I can't see myself living anywhere else. I love the food, the fashion, art, the intelligence of this city and the people that live in it.
Ballet found me. I was discovered by a teacher in middle school. I always danced, my whole life. I never had any training, never was exposed to seeing dance, but I always had something inside of me.
You can do anything you want, even if you are being told negative things.stay strong and find motivation.
Growing up, I was surrounded by RandB and Hip-Hop, and the closest thing I could find to dance was gymnastics which I watched on TV. So, I just used those avenues I found available right in my milieu to express what was inside of me.
I'm a pescatarian, so I don't eat red meat or pork. So my dinners usually consist of seafood in some way. And maybe cookies after!
That it's possible to do positive things and I think that's how we're going to set an example to be respected as women in the world.
You have to be the one promoting yourself. If you don't think that you're worthy, you're never going to make it.
I do think that it's a responsibility when there are so few of us as African Americans to kind of get to that place of success in a positive light. We should take a stance and stand for something and use that platform for positivity.
Going on stage and transcending the audience and becoming this otherworldly thing makes you a dancer. It's not so black and white.
It takes a lot of money to be a part of the ballet world. Both the training and the supplies are expensive, the shoes, the leotards and the tights.
In a ballet company, you're trying to create unison and uniform when you're in a cour de ballet.
Going on stage and doing ballet, for the first time, was even more verification of, This is what I'm meant to do. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to make it somehow.
I was aware of my race from a very young age. Not in a negative way. Coming from an interracial background, I think it is important to understand who you are.
A young girl reached out to me to be her mentor one day, which I didn't really know anything about. What I did remember was what it was to be alone as an African-American dancer in the ballet world and wanting to connect with someone who looks like me.
It's difficult to exist as a woman, especially I think as a powerful woman. You want to stand strong and you want to be considered and equal.
I remind myself everyday just how lucky I am to do what I love! I feel so fortunate and I'm just trying to take my life one day at a time.
I think I get almost every piece of clothing that I buy altered and taken in just to fit me exactly the way it should.
When I was dancing, I felt in control and happy. I'm a Virgo, so I really like to be in control.
I was on a path. I was going to become a principal dancer. I never let my mind rest.
In the ballet studio, it was such an organized and disciplined environment, like I'd never had in my life. Seeing myself in the mirror, surrounded by the classical music, that's when I started to fall in love with dance.
My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, not something I needed to lose to become one.
I never thought of myself as special or particularly good at anything. But once I started ballet, suddenly I had a new identity: prodigy.
I had always been proud of my body -- its strength and grace enabled me to pursue my passions.
At least in my performances, the audience has become so diverse in a way that I don't think ballet has ever experienced.
It's going to take a while before we see a real shift in the students and the dancers that are going into professional companies because it takes so many years of training, but I do think that there's a new crop of dancers, of minority dancers that are entering into the ballet world.
I would have young dancers come to me and ask me questions and want to know what my experiences were like: 'What's it like being a black dancer?' So I just felt like it was necessary for me to share my experiences with them.
I wake up every morning, and I go to ballet class no matter what's going on the night before. That's my priority, and that's what makes me feel sane and not removed from the realities of my world.
Ballet was this thing that just felt so innate in me, like I was meant to be doing this.
Before dance came into my life, I don't really remember having any major goals or dreams of wanting to be anything.
If I'm put in a situation where I am not really sure what's going to happen, it can be overwhelming. I get a bit anxious.
I think all dancers are control freaks a bit. We just want to be in control of ourselves and our bodies. That's just what the ballet structure, I think, kind of puts inside of you.
Once you become a professional, to get through a ballet like 'Swan Lake' -- four acts as the lead, changing character -- the perseverance is incredible. It takes a lot to make it through and keep the same energy throughout the entire performance.
Being one of the few African American women to make it to this level in a classical ballet company, the level of American Ballet Theatre, takes a lot of perseverance.
Perseverance has always just been something that was in me. And it was a tool that came in very handy as a ballerina.
When it came to my childhood -- growing up in a single-parent home, often struggling financially -- my mother definitely instilled in me and my siblings this strength, this will, to just continue to survive and succeed.
More often than we realize, people see in us what we don't see in ourselves.
I didn't care how much work it would take, and I didn't see the time invested as a waste or like I was missing out on anything. Ballet became my ultimate passion.