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" As a child, I had been told that I was exactly what a ballerina should be. "
Misty Copeland
Should
Exactly
Child
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" 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
Day
Work
Love
" I was the first person in my family who was ever interested in dance, or fine art of any kind for that matter - I came from a very humble beginning in San Pedro, California. "
Misty Copeland
Art
Humble
Family
" I've gotten nothing but warmth from the Black community and positive feedback. "
Misty Copeland
Feedback
Positive
Community
" 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
Me
" I've always approached my career and my life, you know, one day at a time, as if this was the last day that I'm going, because you never know as an athlete and as a dancer. You never know what can happen today, tomorrow. "
Misty Copeland
Time
Know
Life
" Ballet was this thing that just felt so innate in me, like I was meant to be doing this. "
Misty Copeland
Me
Meant To Be
Ballet
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Dancing
Music
Just
" I never thought of myself as special or particularly good at anything. But once I started ballet, suddenly I had a new identity: prodigy. "
Misty Copeland
Myself
Identity
Thought
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Gym
Know
Trying
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Professional
World
Think
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Color
Beginning
Makeup
" Ballet became this escape for me. I feel like I was on my own a lot. I was searching for stability, so I was going off on my own and imagining what I thought stability was. Ballet became a way for me to cope. "
Misty Copeland
Feel
Thought
Own
" Though I have tremendous support from lots of people, there are so many others waiting to tear me down. "
Misty Copeland
People
Support
Down
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Theatre
American
Perseverance
" I wanted to open the dialogue about race in ballet and bring more people in. It's just beautiful to see the interest that has exploded for such an incredible art form that I will forever be grateful to! "
Misty Copeland
Grateful
Beautiful
Art
" Finding ballet was like finding this missing piece of myself. "
Misty Copeland
Myself
Ballet
Like
" 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
Company
New York
New
" Don't hold on to the barre like, 'I might die.' It's just ballet. "
Misty Copeland
Might
Die
Just
" I want the ballet world to be given the respect that it deserves and to be seen by more people - for so many to experience the beauty that I've received from the ballet world. "
Misty Copeland
People
Respect
Experience
" I was definitely a late bloomer and didn't really come into my own until I was probably in my 20s. "
Misty Copeland
Own
Late Bloomer
Late
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Me
Money
Clothes
" Every time I step onto the stage, it's not only proving to the audience that I'm capable but to myself. "
Misty Copeland
Time
Myself
Stage
" I feel like with 'On the Town,' it was the perfect production and the perfect opportunity. "
Misty Copeland
Opportunity
Town
Feel
" 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
Day
Myself
Principal
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Jump
Moments
Energy
" 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
Me
Young
Want
" I don't eat a ton of pasta or bread. But I eat dessert almost every night, and I drink. You need a bit of balance, and I've found mine. "
Misty Copeland
Need
Pasta
You
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
People
Power
Think
" 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. "
Misty Copeland
Art
Woman
Girl
" The classical ballet world is so exclusive and small, and a lot of people don't know about it. "
Misty Copeland
Know
World
People