The 13 year old had the athletic ability and the ideal frame that made her a choreographer’s dream. Excellence runs in the family, with Misty’s siblings ranging from lawyers to artists.Įmbrace the criticism, not just the praise.Īlthough Misty was a latecomer to ballet, her innate ability to mimic choreography earned her the title of “prodigy” within months.

While the Copeland kids could have used their background as a crutch, they worked even harder to succeed. Dance would become her escape, as she’d choreograph performances to Mariah Carey’s earliest hits. A worrier by nature, Misty was determined to hide her unstable home life at school, by arriving early to class and keeping up excellent grades. The constant shuffling and abrupt moves caused her to have debilitating migraines and stomach pains. Misty opens up about her unstable childhood, when she spent her earliest years living in a motel in San Pedro with her mother and siblings. In addition, we salute the African-American ballerinas who paved the way for Misty’s masterful reign. If you have young daughters, stash this must-have on your bookshelf until they’re ready to discover it.īased on dance’s traditional 8 count, here are 8 lessons from Misty’s inspirational story. Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina is a must-read for all women, from dancers to executives in the boardroom. Most importantly, the prodigy dances with the dreams of the African American community on her shoulders, from the dancers whose promising careers were cut short by the threat of the Ku Klux Klan, to the little brown girls just beginning to tie up their first pair of pointe shoes. As a young woman, Misty found her stride and steadiness through her love of dance and New York City, where her mixed identity was welcomed outside of the all-white dance studios.

The pressure to achieve that standard of perfection lead to excruciating migraines.

In her memoir Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, the ABT soloist shares her Cinderella story, from a timid young girl who was introduced to ballet in a local Boys & Girls Club in San Pedro, CA, to a stunning dynamo gracing billboards in her career defining performance as “The Firebird.” As a painfully shy child, she aimed for perfectionism to keep her rocky childhood hidden.

But as with any success story, it takes a journey. As a soloist in the prestigious American Ballet Theatre (ABT), she is a vision en pointe, as she soars to impossible heights. “This is for the little brown girls.”- Misty Copeland, Life In Motionįrom our place in the audience, Misty Copeland is the picture of perfection.

Firebird misty