Quotes by Misty Copeland - Page 4

Growing up, I was surrounded by R&B and Hip-Hop, and the closest thing I could find to dance was gymnastics which I watched on TV. So, I just used those avenues I found available right in my milieu to express what was inside of me.
Misty Copeland / Author
Available
Closest
Gymnastics
Milieu
Watched
Closest Thing
Surrounded
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I have the opportunity, which most people don't experience nearly as much, of being in front of a mirror up to 10 hours a day. Staring at your body, you really get to know every little detail of how to make yourself look your best.
Misty Copeland / Author
Your Body
Nearly
Detail
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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.
Misty Copeland / Author
Positivity
Responsibility
Thinking
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I didn't want to be the best at anything; I just wanted to blend in. And that was kind of my existence throughout my family experiences at home of just kind of blending in in the background through my other siblings, which was easy to do.
Misty Copeland / Author
Easy
Existence
Sibling
Best Family Home
Background
Blend
Experiences
Just Kind
Throughout
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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.
Misty Copeland / Author
Ballet
Educate
Responsibility
Theater
African
Responsibility Me People
Communities
Me Looking People
Opportunities
Provide
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Finding ballet gave me passion for the first time in my life. I was always very shy and just wanted to fit in; I never daydreamed about what I wanted to be when I grew up. But dancing gave me a connection to my personality that made me grow.
Misty Copeland / Author
Ballet
Dancing
First Time
Grew
Made
Passion
Shy
Wanted
Life Time Personality
Connection
Finding
Gave
My Life
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I never knew I wanted to become a ballerina. I was discovered at the age of 13. I had a love for movement even though I had no exposure to dance other than what I saw in music videos, like hip-hop music videos. But I knew that I loved moving.
Misty Copeland / Author
Age
Hip Hop
Moving
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I don't believe in dieting, I don't believe in having certain moments in your life where you're healthy and then moments when you're like, "I'm going to eat whatever I want." It's just finding what works for your body and always eating healthy.
Misty Copeland / Author
Believe
Dieting
Healthy
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Once you become a professional, to get through a ballet like 'Swan Lake' - four acts as the lead, changing character - the perseverance is incredible. It takes a lot to make it through and keep the same energy throughout the entire performance.
Misty Copeland / Author
Ballet
Perseverance
Acts
Lake
Swan
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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 / Author
Ballet
Makeup
Fought
Lighter
Nose
Pancake
Thinner
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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.
Misty Copeland / Author
African American
Ballet
Dancer
Alone World Me
Connect
Reached
Wanting
Young Girl
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How difficult it is to exist, that we are athlete and artist. We have injuries. People don't see the hard side of being a ballerina. They just see this beautiful and effortless thing, and they assume it's easy and cute. I hate when people say it's cute!
Misty Copeland / Author
Cute
Smile
Athlete
Beautiful
Hate
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Meeting Raven Wilkinson and having her as a mentor, it was that kind of support from the generations that came before me that helped to lift me up and give me the confidence to then be able to give back and bring other minorities with me on this journey.
Misty Copeland / Author
Journey
Giving
Ravens
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Ballet found me, I guess you could say. I was discovered by a teacher in middle school. I always danced my whole life. I never had any training, never was exposed to seeing dance, but I always had something inside of me. I would love to choreograph and dance around.
Misty Copeland / Author
Dance
Teacher
Ballet
Exposed
Found
Middle
Middle School
School
Seeing
Training
Whole
Inside
Life Love Always
Around
Life Love Teacher
Choreograph
Discovered
Guess
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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 / Author
Girl
Body
Dancer
Issues
All Day
Aware
Experiences
Instrument
Mirror
Stare
Tune
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Just to get into a company like ABT is a dream come true, but to have all of these opportunities on top of it, I don't think it will hit me until I'm 70. I'll be like, "Oh, my god, remember that amazing life you had?" It's an incredible honor to be a part of something like ABT.
Misty Copeland / Author
Dream
Opportunity
Amazing Life
Thinking
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I know there are a lot of eyes on me now from young girls, and it makes me so proud. The only Black woman examples aren't Rihanna and Beyoncé. It makes me proud that I am a classical ballerina and they can look at me and see another way to succeed. That is setting a new standard.
Misty Copeland / Author
Girl
Black
Eye
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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 / Author
Ballet
Entering
Companies
Crop
Dancers
Minority
Shift
So Many Years
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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 / Author
Ballet
Basketball
Basketball Court
Gym
Radar
Terrified
Family Money Me
Practicing
Randomly
Socks
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'The Firebird' just symbolizes a lot for me and my career. It was one of the first really big principal roles that I was ever given an opportunity to dance with American Ballet Theatre, and it was a huge step for the African-American community, I think, within the classical ballet world.
Misty Copeland / Author
Dance
Opportunity
African American
Ballet
Community
Given
Huge
Principal
Roles
Theatre
Within
Opportunity World Me
American
African-American Community
Career
Classical
Community World Me
Ever
Step
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I had no idea what I was walking into, and the years and years of hard work it would take. I felt like an outsider and like it was never going to happen. But even if I would have known, I think I still would have done it. Dancers are perfectionists, and that's what keeps us going and growing.
Misty Copeland / Author
Hard Work
Thinking
Years
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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.
Misty Copeland / Author
Independent
My Time
Research
Training
Teachers
Time Great Training
Definitely
Devote
Sport
Number
Finding
Great Teachers
Studies
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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.
Misty Copeland / Author
Harlem
Johnson
Lauren
Representing
Shoulders
Standing
Virginia
Anderson
Dancers
Recognized
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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 / Author
Fairytale
Cool Me People
Attainable
Grasp
Nose
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I haven’t come from the typical path or background of someone who would make it to this level as a ballerina. When it came to my childhood-growing up in a single-parent home, often struggling financially-my mother definitely instilled in me and my siblings this strength, this will, to just continue to survive and succeed.
Misty Copeland / Author
Growing Up
Mother
Sibling
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When I was 16, I moved to Torrance, California to train at a more advanced studio, and by 19, I joined the American Ballet Theatre in New York. It all happened so fast - it was pretty unheard of that someone could train for so few years and become a professional at one of the most elite dance companies in the United States.
Misty Copeland / Author
Dance
New York
Ballet
California
Moved
States
Theatre
Unheard
Advanced
Pretty
Companies
Fast
Elite
Few
Joined
Studio
York
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I don't think every African-American or Latino have the same body type, but, yes, that's been one of the excuses ... saying that African-Americans are too muscular or just aren't lean enough. Usually they say, "Oh, they have flat feet so they just don't have the flexibility that it takes to create the line in a point shoe."
Misty Copeland / Author
Feet
Shoes
Thinking
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To be an artist and to be recognized by another artist who is, you know, just something you can't even put into words, someone that is so far beyond what the normal human being experience is in terms of creativity and originality. That was kind of a moment where I thought wow maybe I do have something more that makes me special.
Misty Copeland / Author
Artist
Creativity
Special
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The fact that I was African American was never addressed, and that allowed me to just be a student, like anyone else. I was not aware of how rare it was to be an African American, how rare it was to have four years of training under my belt, and how, even though I could imitate people and fake it, unprepared I was to become a professional.
Misty Copeland / Author
Fake
People
Years
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Just as a child, before I ever knew what ballet was, there was something in me where I was always searching for something structured, something that was bigger than me, and something so historical that I could be a part of. I didn't find that until I stepped into the ballet world, and it was overwhelming, the feeling of being a part of something that's bigger than you.
Misty Copeland / Author
Ballet
Children
Feelings
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I think most people don't really understand all that it takes to stand on your toes, and to be able to jump and land without any noise, or for a male dancer to be able to lift a girl. All of these things look so effortless, but there's an attention to detail and years of training, as well as being able to transform into a character and being able to meld all of those things together.
Misty Copeland / Author
Girl
Character
Thinking
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Those people that don't see the power in art maybe have never been a part of an art, in a real way. To experience it, and to see and witness how it affects people, we're not doing it just to create professionals. It's to add another dimension to the way that children think and the way they experience certain things. If you didn't have dance, music and singing, it just seems so odd to me.
Misty Copeland / Author
Art
Children
Real
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To have a platform like So You Think You Can Dance, where you're reaching this audience that's been created over the 10 years that they've been on the air. People who didn't know anything about dance and aren't going to go to the theater are learning about it, even if it's ballroom and jazz, by just turning their television ono. They're building this audience that's advanced and educated enough to introduce them to ballet.
Misty Copeland / Author
Air
Thinking
Years
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For me, I was in school and I pushed myself to be a good student, just because that's the type of person I was, but I never had a connection to any of it. I don't think my brain functioned in a way that was at its height, when I was in school. I needed something like art to really value the way my mind works. I wasn't reaching my full potential by sitting in a classroom and reading from a book. My mind didn't work that way.
Misty Copeland / Author
Art
Book
Reading
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I absolutely love what I do. And I want to dance for as long as I can and feel good about what I'm putting out there on the stage. But my goal has always been to be a principal dancer with ABT. Before I knew that there had never been a black woman, that was always my goal. I wanted to dance Odette-Odile and Kitri and "Don Quixote" and Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty." So that's still my goal. But knowing that it's never been done before, I think makes me fight even harder.
Misty Copeland / Author
Fighting
Sleep
Thinking
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Some people even think that I'm still just not right for it [ballet]. And I think it's shocking because they hear those words from critics saying I'm too bulky, I'm too busty. And then they meet me in person and they're like, you look like a ballerina. And I think it's just something maybe that I will never escape from, those people who are narrow-minded. But my mission, my voice, my story, my message, is not for them. And I think it's more important to think of the people that I am influencing and helping to see a broader picture of what beauty is.
Misty Copeland / Author
People
Thinking
Voice
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Misty Copeland Quotes - Page 4

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