Misty Copeland

“I don't feel like my life is that of a superstar! Every day I wake up, I take the train, I go to my ballet class. My everyday life is pretty normal.”

“I think American Ballet Theatre is setting that standard now for classical ballet, that you can dream big, and it doesn't matter what you look like, where you come from, what your background is.”

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

“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 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.”

“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.”

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

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

“When I was younger, my feet would hurt a lot, but you build up calluses and strength, and you don't feel as much pain there. But then again, it's a give and take. The older you get, you may feel pain in your back or your hips.”

“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.”

“My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, not something I needed to lose to become one.”

“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.”

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

“I never thought of myself as special or particularly good at anything. But once I started ballet, suddenly I had a new identity: prodigy.”

“More often than we realize, people see in us what we don't see in ourselves.”

“I think all dancers are control freaks a bit. We just want to be in control of ourselves and our bodies. That's just what the ballet structure, I think, kind of puts inside of you.”

“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.”

“Being in ballet class, being on the stage, being surrounded by my peers at American Ballet Theater every day, keeps me so humble and grounded. Being in ballet class, I feel, is like this meditation for me every morning.”

“I want to bring awareness to the lack of diversity in ballet, and feel like that's a large part of my purpose.”

“My childhood is a part of my story, and it's why I'm who I am today and why my career is what it is.”