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also continued to find comfort there, surrounded by dancers who looked like me and who unconditionally supported, rather than questioned, my talent.
And I—Misty Copeland—would be the Firebird in the second.
Everyone around me started crying as well. There were arms everywhere as they reached out to grab me, hug me.
But I know, in the moment when I discovered that I had been cast, their reaction would not have been like what I received that day among the company members of Dance Theatre of Harlem.
They were also black dancers, and they felt the significance of this moment in a way that few others would: deep within their souls. They
But I also felt a weight that I had carried on my back for a decade slowly getting lighter.
Prince in his quiet, unassuming manner put together a small celebration for me to share in my achievement with family and friends.
Meanwhile, my body was giving me signals that it was being pushed past
Stress fractures are a slow injury—subtle, creeping—until they become a force that can’t be ignored.
began to feel pain in my left shin, the leg I turn on, about six months before I made my Firebird debut at the Met. I had hurt myself during the relentless rehearsal process, and continued to
The two times I performed as the Firebird in Orange County, there were moments when the pain was so strong, it seized my breath.
New York City, I had never seen a black woman on the facade of the Met.
How can I dance, I thought, staring in the mirror, if I can barely walk? I knew that after tonight, I wouldn’t be able to dance again for a long while.
package, which few have. You can have any role you desire. You have no limits.”
was awful. Sitting there, I couldn’t believe, after all my hard work and my much praised performances, that I still
had injuries over the years and had always healed. But this time was more serious. I had six stress fractures in my tibia, the
OF COURSE, IT WILL never be easy. In life, like in ballet, you have to find your balance. To push yourself as far as you can go, but know when to pull back from the brink—of injury, of despair. I wanted to run away, but where would
MY SURGERY TOOK PLACE on October 10, 2012. Seven months later, I returned to the stage.
month after my operation, I put my pointe shoes back on for the first time, to keep all the tiny muscles in my feet articulate, even though I wasn’t yet able to stand on my toes.
But Marjorie reminded me that my injury was temporary. She told me I had so much more dancing to do and not to give up my goals or my
would be lying if I didn’t admit that it was too soon. I was not “on my leg.” I wasn’t even close. I read a critique of my performance. “Misty Copeland
My extracurricular endeavors, beyond ballet or ABT, have been misunderstood by some. I
I also feel deeply that there is a huge, untapped audience of ballet viewers. And among disadvantaged
Studies show that dancers have a very high rate of success in any endeavor they pursue because of the poise and discipline, both physical and mental, that they must develop practicing their craft.
When I found out that I would become a principal, though, it was in front of
It means so much to me to see wonderful black ballerinas who came before me, who faced so much more adversity, receiving the honor they are due. One of my
