Misty Copeland Quotes
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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.
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I just try to approach every opportunity on stage, as if it's my first time and my last time.
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Something happens when you feel that energy and excitement from the audience. And you do, I don't know, four pirouettes. You jump higher than you ever have. And it's just this really magical thing that happens in those moments.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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To have a platform like So You Think You Can Dance, where you're reaching this audience that's been created over the 10 years that they've been on the air. People who didn't know anything about dance and aren't going to go to the theater are learning about it, even if it's ballroom and jazz, by just turning their television ono. They're building this audience that's advanced and educated enough to introduce them to ballet.
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You can dream big and it doesn't matter what you look like, where you come from.
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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.
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In a ballet company, you're trying to create unison and uniform when you're in a cour de ballet.
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Everything I was being shown was ABT, so I grew up watching these videos of [Mikhail] Baryshnikov, Gelsey [Kirkland] and Paloma [Herrera]. Paloma and Angel [Corella] were the first people I ever saw dance live.
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When you see the body outside of a costume and see the strength that it takes, people would look at dance a different way and see how athletic it is. You're not just born like that.
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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.
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I try to consider people's perspectives and not just my own.
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The higher you go up in rank, usually the longer you can dance.
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Success is not easy and I think everyone should know that hard work and perseverance and being open to giving back are so much more powerful than stepping all over people to get to the top.
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I learned how to communicate and articulate myself from ballet. It's just insane to me, when they don't think of that as a part of our education.
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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.
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You can do anything you want, even if you are being told negative things.stay strong and find motivation.
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I've gotten nothing but warmth from the Black community and positive feedback.
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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.
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But I think the more you eat healthy clean foods the more you create them.
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I try my best to really think about things before I react and respond.
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I shouldn't even be wearing a tutu. I don't have the right legs, my muscles are too big.
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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.
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The fact that I was African American was never addressed, and that allowed me to just be a student, like anyone else. I was not aware of how rare it was to be an African American, how rare it was to have four years of training under my belt, and how, even though I could imitate people and fake it, unprepared I was to become a professional.
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I want to share the ballet world with everyone.
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Some people even think that I'm still just not right for it [ballet]. And I think it's shocking because they hear those words from critics saying I'm too bulky, I'm too busty. And then they meet me in person and they're like, you look like a ballerina. And I think it's just something maybe that I will never escape from, those people who are narrow-minded. But my mission, my voice, my story, my message, is not for them. And I think it's more important to think of the people that I am influencing and helping to see a broader picture of what beauty is.
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The best piece of advice that I remember probably on a daily basis is to accept everything about me that is different. That is what makes me special.
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Without my mentors there is no Misty.
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