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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.

Misty Copeland

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Misty Copeland
Age: 42
Born: 1982
Born: September 10
Actor
Author
Ballet Dancer
Dancer
Kansas City
Missouri
Misty Danielle Copeland
Trying
Basketball
Court
Clothes
Called
Class
Socks
Firsts
Sock
First
Gym
Thing
Ballet

More quotes by Misty Copeland

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When people meet me in person, they're usually surprised at how petite I am because there's just [an] idea that because I'm black I just look a certain way.
Misty Copeland
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But I think the more you eat healthy clean foods the more you create them.
Misty Copeland
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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
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I will never reach perfection.
Misty Copeland
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You're always working to improve, and you're always being critiqued on your next performance. It's not about what you've done. There's always room to grow.
Misty Copeland
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Ballet found me. 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.
Misty Copeland
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I never experienced getting nervous on stage. I think I was most comfortable there.
Misty Copeland
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A lot of people think, Oh I'm going to eat whatever I want and then go to the gym. And I've definitely been one of those people and it just doesn't give me the results that I need to have the physique of a ballerina.
Misty Copeland
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Success is not easy and I think everyone should know that hard work and perseverance and being open to giving back are so much more powerful than stepping all over people to get to the top.
Misty Copeland
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I've gotten nothing but warmth from the Black community and positive feedback.
Misty Copeland
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I believe I am yet to dance my favorite role, but I am pretty open to adapting to different characters. I would love to be Odette in Swan Lake one day. I think that would be the ultimate role.
Misty Copeland
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I know that most of the time I have to work overtime to do everything that I want to.
Misty Copeland
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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
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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
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The word prodigy was thrown around a lot, but I didn't understand what that meant, or the weight of it. It didn't really mean anything to me, until I was older and could look back on it.
Misty Copeland
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The woman represents ballet. She is most important, powerful and vital to it. Therefore, she is not less than a man. If anything she is more than in this field.
Misty Copeland
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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
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Without my mentors there is no Misty.
Misty Copeland
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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
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Once I became a professional, maybe 19 or 20, I really started to try to figure out who I was, as a woman and as an individual.
Misty Copeland