Misty Copeland

speaker

575 appearances 3 recordings 2 series first heard Jun 2025 last heard 8 Nov

Misty Copeland’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Nov 2025 with 2.

Appearances

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The Daily · 'The Interview': Misty Copeland Changed Ballet. Now She's Ready to Move On. · 7 Jun 2025 podcast

Yes. Through our Be Bold program, through the Misty Copeland Foundation, we're in the Bronx and we're in Harlem. And a lot of these people with this administration and post the pandemic pulled their children out of schools for fear of a lot of things, you know, not having citizenship or whatever it is, you know, that they, the fear of ICE, you know, but this is like the one thing.

community social outlet that they have. So I guess it is different in a way that like we're having those real conversations like, am I safe to come in and take this class? But this is it. This is all I have. This is like a lifeline. And it's also a beautiful escape and it's healing. And it's just so important and necessary for our society, for our communities.

It is so frustrating. I'm constantly having these conversations with my producing partner, with my team, through my production company, as we're constantly trying to prove that dance is such an integral part of every culture and that for some reason it's not valued in the same way that music is or fashion is or food is.

And it's so mind-blowing because, I mean, I could stand in a room and ask how many of you have experienced have danced in your life. Everyone's going to raise their hand. It's a part of our culture. And for some reason, we don't allow ourselves to embody that concept and idea. So I don't know that I have an answer for that or why we try to resist. To me, it's mind-blowing.

And the fact that I sit on call after call and pitch after pitch trying to prove to people that you know, everyone dances and wants to see dance. It just has to be done the right way. And I think with an authentic voice behind it.

I definitely read it, but I think I was very young when I read it.

Yes, I very much remember this, exactly what you just said. And one thing that I wholeheartedly believe in and stand behind is that the ballet technique is one of the most perfect and beautiful things I've ever experienced. And I don't think that's the issue. And I don't think that that's something that people can't connect with.

it hasn't needed to change in hundreds of years because it's just, I think, perfection. And I'm experiencing it in real time, again, with these young kids that I'm teaching in communities that, like, there's no connection. They don't care about ballet. Their parents are like, what?

And showing them the value of the discipline, the value of the technique, and how it connects to so many things that they do in their lives. And I think it has to be fed to us in the right way.

And I think that when it's exclusive and you don't see people that represent a broad range of people and you don't see the real complexity of what a dancer's experience is, but this narrow view, you know, where, again, you're this skinny white girl and you're being tortured and abused and you're having an affair with the choreographer and, you know, all of these tropes and stereotypes. It's like,

If we keep that narrow view and we just keep perpetuating it, then no one's going to want to be a part of it. So I truly believe that it's not a dying art form if we handle it with care moving forward.

I hope that... You know, I don't even have hopes. I think that... I don't have hopes and dreams for what's going to happen that night. I think that I'm going to go out there feeling in control of the decision that I've made to do it, the pieces that I'm choosing to dance, the shape that I'm going to be in, because it's like... I only have control over so much.

You know, what's so interesting is that... After I saw you, you know, I had done the shoot in the morning. And it was the first time I've done a shoot without wearing pointe shoes, really. I mean, I've done fashion shoots and things like that, but really like a movement shoot. And I left thinking that wasn't me.

You know, almost like feeling like a fraud. Like, I'm like in my bare feet. I'm like, I'm used to being on pointe and just like really moving so freely in a way that I know. And after the shoot, I... pulled my pointe shoes out, brought them into class. I've been on pointe now for three classes and I'm considering wearing pointe shoes for my final performance.

So I want to allow myself the freedom to do what feels right and feels good because I want to enjoy myself.

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