Misty Copeland Quotes

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Misty Copeland

Profession : Dancer

Birth : September 10, 1982

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.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

I was on a path. I was going to become a principal dancer. I never let my mind rest.

Misty Copeland

When I was dancing, I felt in control and happy. I'm a Virgo, so I really like to be in control.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

The ballet world I don't think is an art form that is quick to change or to adjust or evolve.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

I am a black woman, and my experiences would not be what they are if I wasn't. I'm so happy to share those experiences for other people to be able to learn from them.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

I think that the ideal physique and look of a ballerina is always changing with different eras. And it's continuing to change.

Misty Copeland

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.

Misty Copeland

I think I'm pretty laid back. I like cooking, being at home, and going to concerts. And I love to shop!

Misty Copeland

I think most people think of ballerinas as kind of either as a fairytale, far-away thing that's really not attainable, something they can't grasp, or they think of them as European or Russian and kind of their nose up in the air. So, it's cool for me to, like, sit with them and for them to really see themselves as me.

Misty Copeland