Dancer Misty Copeland made history in 2015, when she became the first African-American woman in the history of the American Ballet Theatre to be promoted to principal dancer. While she is truly a generational talent, her path to success wasn’t an easy one. Now that she has taken her final bow, Copeland is looking back at her career, reflecting on how resilience has been a driving force throughout her life.
In a recently published TED Talk, Copeland took to the stage for something other than performing; instead, she sought to share her wisdom. In her presentation, Copeland revisits major turning points in her career, such as the day she made her debut in the role of The Firebird, only to realize the leg pain she had pushed through to go on with the performance was actually six stress fractures on her tibia.
“Resilience isn’t about being unbreakable,” she said. “It isn’t about pretending the pain isn’t there. It’s about moving through the pain with purpose, steadying yourself when the ground shifts beneath you, and holding on to calm long enough to keep going.”
Thanks to her innate skills, ballet gave Copeland the stability her personal life lacked in her youth, but it also came with its own challenges. She was the only Black woman in a company of over 80 dancers. In one of her most heartbreaking incidents, she had to remain strong when she was cut from a filmed version of Swan Lake because she was told the color of her skin would ruin the aesthetic.
But it was that same strength and discipline what earned her the lead in that show years later. She had a full circle moment. She got to share the glory with Raven Wilkinson, the first African-American woman to dance for a major classical ballet company, when she handed her a bouquet after the first performance. “Resilience had turned pain into beauty and beauty into legacy,” Copeland said.
Even in the face of success and becoming a living legend, her mindset hasn’t changed. “Resilience doesn’t end with achievement. It asks, what now?” she said. “Resilience doesn’t require an easy beginning or a perfect ending. It’s about persistence and showing up again and again. It’s the quiet decision to return to rehearsal after rejection, to rise when the world says you don’t belong. To create beauty even when the ground beneath you is unsteady. That is the resilience that ballet gave me. And resilience is a skill we can all draw on, one that belongs to anyone, anywhere, whenever it is needed.”
You can watch Copeland’s full TED Talk below.
Ballet dancer Misty Copeland reflects on how resilience has been a driving force throughout her life in a new TED Talk.
Misty Copeland: Misty Copeland | Instagram
Sources: The Roots of Resilience | Misty Copeland | TED
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