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" To be empathetic to everyone around you, I think, is such a powerful thing to hold. "

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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. I didn't know anything about it. "

" 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. "

" Don't hold on to the barre like, 'I might die.' It's just ballet. "

" 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 didn't care how much work it would take, and I didn't see the time invested as a waste or like I was missing out on anything. Ballet became my ultimate passion. "

" 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. "

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

" It's hard to be the one that stands out when, you know, in a ballet company, you're trying to create unison and uniform when you're in a corps de ballet. "

" I had always been proud of my body - its strength and grace enabled me to pursue my passions. "

" Ballet was this thing that just felt so innate in me, like I was meant to be doing this. "

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

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

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

" 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. "

" All you can do is be your best self. I've always felt that I had to be that much more aware of how I present myself. I'm representing more than just me. I think every person should think that way. "

" When people meet me in person, they're usually surprised at how petite I am because there's this idea that because I'm black, I just look a certain way. "

" Being the only African American at this level in American Ballet Theater, I feel like people are looking at me, and it's my responsibility for me to do whatever I can to provide these opportunities in communities to be able to educate them. "

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

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

" 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. "

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

" Most ballerinas take their first ballet class when they are 5 or 6 years old. I was 13 when I took mine on the basketball court of the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club in California. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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'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. "

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