Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" 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. "

Related Quotes:

" What you put into your body is just as important as how hard you dance. I believe with the right training and an understanding of how to take care of your body, you can mold it to be whatever you want it to be. "

Misty Copeland

Dance

Believe

Training

" 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 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

Think

Way

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" I love heels. I'm 5-foot-2, and I like feeling tall. "

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

" 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. "

" My childhood is a part of my story, and it's why I'm who I am today and why my career is what it is. "

" Finding ballet was like finding this missing piece of myself. "

Misty Copeland

Myself

Ballet

" Perseverance has always just been something that was in me. And it was a tool that came in very handy as a ballerina. "

Misty Copeland

Always

Tool

" 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. "

" Dance kind of was always just a part of my natural state as a child. It's something that, whenever music was playing, I was dancing. "

" I think that having a platform and having a voice to be seen by people beyond the classical ballet world has really been my power, I feel. "

" More often than we realize, people see in us what we don't see in ourselves. "

Misty Copeland

See

" 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 didn't know anything about 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. "

" As a child, I had been told that I was exactly what a ballerina should be. "

" That something that I fought so hard for throughout the beginning of my career is I didn't want to pancake my skin a lighter color to fit into the... ballet. I wanted to be myself. I didn't want to have to wear makeup that made my nose look thinner. "

" I feel like with 'On the Town,' it was the perfect production and the perfect opportunity. "

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

" '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. "

" Every time I dance, I'm trying to prove myself to myself. "

" Every time I step onto the stage, it's not only proving to the audience that I'm capable but to myself. "

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

Misty Copeland

Things

People

" There are no taking days off. There are no distractions. If I had that, I physically wouldn't be capable of going onstage and performing live theater. It's extremely demanding. I have to be in ballet class every day. "

" I say over and over again that I am just standing on the shoulders of so many who have set this path for me, and they may not be seen or recognized or have been given an opportunity to have a voice, but I'm here representing all of those dancers. Dance Theatre of Harlem Virginia Johnson, Tai Jimenez, Lauren Anderson. "

" I grew up poor in San Pedro, California, sleeping on the floor of shady motels with my five siblings and not always sure when or where I'd get my next meal. "

" I want to bring awareness to the lack of diversity in ballet, and feel like that's a large part of my purpose. "