Misty Copeland Quotes

Freedom to a dancer means discipline. That is what technique is for -- liberation.

For me, there's nothing more masculine than when I'm completely in control of my body and can call upon my body to do whatever I want it to do.

Being in ballet school and being in leotards in front of a mirror I don't know how many hours a day was quite tough.

When I model, I use every single muscle in my body. Being fit and physical lets me know that control.

Dancers, many dancers today can do so much technically. You can give them steps that are complicated, then more complicated, pyrotechnical - and they can execute these steps to perfection. But to do simple steps with a pure classical line, that is truly difficult.

Seriously, I do a lot of yoga, so I'm in control of my body.

In order for me to be successful... In order to be a great artist - musician, actor, painter, whatever - you must be able to be private in public at all times. That is what we do.

So I'm studying ballet every day and really training so people will see me as a ballet dancer, which no one's seen before.

Screen is satisfying because it's so technical and mysterious. It's like playing roulette: you get a script, you think it's either great or naff, but you have no idea how it will really turn out. On stage, you are your own editor - and you get brief moments of grace, where suddenly you feel free.

Dance is a very disciplining career or hobby. I was disciplined at an early age.

I would describe my dancing talents as incredibly deep.

My problem is: as a singer and a dancer, if I get it in my body one way, it is harder for me to be open to something new - to something else; to something that is really organically connected to the piece and not just to my perception of it.

The rewards of dancing are very different from choreographing.

The real American type can never be a ballet dancer. The legs are too long, the body too supple and the spirit too free for this school of affected grace and toe walking.

Now that I'm more mature, in a funny way, I can even appreciate that I've bad to become more aware of my body. Since I've chosen acting as my career, I have to keep my weight down anyway-I've been used to it for years, so it's no problem. And there's nothing I can't do.

In a way, making Martin Ellingham the way he is was a corrective exercise for my acting - to keep a bit still and show a little control. I do like it - it's like having an instrument that you can play and that you can pick up and enjoy playing.

An ex-ABT ballerina, while staging a ballet for the company, once followed a dancer into the bathroom to deliver notes through the stall door. She was known to bark - literally, like a dog - during private rehearsals.

I have never been too concerned about things you're supposed to be concerned about as a singer. Pitch is important, and so is sounding good. But I think there's something underneath all that.

I began to fear that the Graham work was not in lots of ways sufficient for me. I suppose it came about from looking at other dancing and being involved with the ballet - something about the air and the way she thought about dancing.

There are many different styles of, and approaches to, tap. My own leans towards a more intellectual view: tap dancing not just for the sake of entertainment but to educate and spark emotion.

Ballet is a classically based art form, so it comes with a certain set of rules, at least to start with; then it's about how far you want to push from there.

My coach would push us off the balance beam and teach us how to fall. That helps with your body awareness, your air awareness, but even the training I had in cheerleading, gymnastics, bodybuilding, nothing prepares you for what you go through in the ring.

Ballet can be grueling, for sure, but it gives you a certain discipline.

I had to learn about patience, to let the music get its own spirit and voice.

I can only control what I can, which is what I'm able to do as an artist.