Misty Copeland Quotes

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.

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

My favorite role of all? Whatever I’m working on in the moment.

My family didn’t have very much money, so ballet wasn’t even on my radar; I just found it randomly when I was 13 at a Boys & Girls Club. We were practicing in a basketball court in gym clothes with some old socks on. Even though it terrified me at first, I found that I really liked it.

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 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.

Finding great training, I think, is number one. I did a lot of research and found really great teachers, and it just takes – I took a year off from school and did independent studies so that I could devote all of my time to it. But I think that training is the key, definitely, and it’s not a sport.

Finding ballet was like finding this missing piece of myself.

Whenever there was chaos in my house, whether it was arguing, being in a cramped space with all of us kids and screaming, I found an empty space where I could just put music on and move.

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.

Before dance came into my life, I don’t really remember having any major goals or dreams of wanting to be anything.

I had some really incredible people who mentored me and gave me things I never got from my parents.

There are hundreds of stories I’ve heard from black women from my generation, generations before me, and the next, that have never been given an opportunity to fulfill their dreams.

I think body-image issues are not just a dancer thing. I think we’re much more in tune and aware because the body is our instrument and art, and we stare at ourselves in a mirror all day, but I feel like it’s something that every woman experiences and every girl experiences.

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.

At least in my performances, the audience has become so diverse in a way that I don’t think ballet has ever experienced.

The classical ballet world is so exclusive and small, and a lot of people don’t know about it.