1
00:00:15,724 --> 00:00:18,484
[woman] I've never fit the mold.

2
00:00:19,019 --> 00:00:23,149
I've never followed along
this path that most do.

3
00:00:26,443 --> 00:00:31,703
I was the only black woman at American
Ballet Theatre for over a decade.

4
00:00:32,241 --> 00:00:37,701
And when I received my first fan mail
that came from a young black girl,

5
00:00:37,788 --> 00:00:40,788
that's when I realized the
magnitude of what I represented.

6
00:00:40,874 --> 00:00:42,334
And it was like,

7
00:00:42,417 --> 00:00:47,337
"Wow. My purpose is so much more
than I ever could have imagined."

8
00:01:01,019 --> 00:01:02,269
- [woman 1] Dear Misty...
- [woman 2] Dear Misty...

9
00:01:02,354 --> 00:01:03,564
- [girl 1] Dear Misty...
- [man 1] Dear Misty...

10
00:01:03,647 --> 00:01:07,227
Dear Misty, I was told ballet was
no place for a black woman like me.

11
00:01:07,317 --> 00:01:10,567
[woman] When I felt like the dance world
would never accept me for who I was,

12
00:01:10,654 --> 00:01:13,624
you showed me that it's
self-acceptance that matters most.

13
00:01:14,157 --> 00:01:17,287
[Misty] It's so important
to embrace being unique.

14
00:01:17,369 --> 00:01:21,329
Accept all those things about you that
make you special and make you different.

15
00:01:21,415 --> 00:01:25,035
You are my reminder that
any barrier can be broken.

16
00:01:25,127 --> 00:01:29,877
Misty, your strength has given me the
courage to ignore doubt and negativity.

17
00:01:30,674 --> 00:01:34,684
There is no one way.
There is no right or wrong path.

18
00:01:35,637 --> 00:01:39,637
Just believe in yourself,
and anything's possible.

19
00:01:42,352 --> 00:01:44,312
-Dear Misty... -[woman 3] Dear Misty...

20
00:01:44,396 --> 00:01:45,806
- [woman 4] Dear Misty...
- [woman 5] Dear Misty...

21
00:02:12,466 --> 00:02:14,256
[Misty] I think I fell in love with dance

22
00:02:14,343 --> 00:02:16,353
before I realized I
fell in love with dance.

23
00:02:18,013 --> 00:02:21,433
Growing up, music was such
a big thing in my household.

24
00:02:21,517 --> 00:02:25,147
But I never wanted to sing when
I heard music, I wanted to move.

25
00:02:26,230 --> 00:02:29,360
For me, it was a way to escape.

26
00:02:30,108 --> 00:02:34,318
I would find a corner,
anywhere that wasn't loud and chaotic,

27
00:02:34,404 --> 00:02:37,244
and I would start choreographing.

28
00:02:41,912 --> 00:02:43,332
When I was two years old,

29
00:02:43,413 --> 00:02:47,583
my mother left my father and took me
and my siblings, I was the youngest,

30
00:02:47,668 --> 00:02:49,498
and moved to Los Angeles.

31
00:02:53,131 --> 00:02:54,591
We never really had money.

32
00:02:54,675 --> 00:02:58,255
But it was just so normal to
us that we never thought, like,

33
00:02:58,345 --> 00:03:00,965
"Oh, we don't have money," or
"Oh, we're poor."

34
00:03:01,056 --> 00:03:05,346
We often were on food stamps and
lived in so many different places.

35
00:03:05,435 --> 00:03:10,935
We slept on friends' couches,
so not having stability was normal for me.

36
00:03:11,942 --> 00:03:16,112
At 12 and a half years old,
my mother had divorced her last husband.

37
00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:22,366
And we were all at the lowest of the
low and living in a motel at that point.

38
00:03:24,121 --> 00:03:26,421
Me and my five siblings
sleeping on the floor,

39
00:03:26,498 --> 00:03:28,248
we were all in one room.

40
00:03:29,877 --> 00:03:33,627
In school, I was so extremely introverted.

41
00:03:33,714 --> 00:03:36,974
A lot of people thought I couldn't speak.

42
00:03:37,593 --> 00:03:39,553
I didn't really have any friends.

43
00:03:39,636 --> 00:03:43,806
I often would eat lunch
in the bathroom by myself.

44
00:03:43,891 --> 00:03:48,941
It was just this fear of people
knowing what was happening in my life,

45
00:03:49,021 --> 00:03:50,561
the fear of judgment.

46
00:03:51,315 --> 00:03:54,775
It was so crazy that at the
lowest point in-in our lives,

47
00:03:54,860 --> 00:03:56,700
that's when ballet came into my life.

48
00:03:57,821 --> 00:03:59,111
Just a tiny...

49
00:03:59,198 --> 00:04:03,488
[Misty] Cynthia Bradley was a
local ballet teacher in San Pedro.

50
00:04:03,577 --> 00:04:07,577
She was teaching free ballet classes at
the Boys & Girls Club I was attending.

51
00:04:08,916 --> 00:04:11,836
And I'm the only one that's
not in a leotard and tights.

52
00:04:12,586 --> 00:04:17,126
But my teacher, Cynthia, literally
was putting my legs into positions

53
00:04:17,216 --> 00:04:20,586
and pointing my feet and
my body was just doing it.

54
00:04:20,677 --> 00:04:22,677
She was like, "I think you're a prodigy.

55
00:04:22,763 --> 00:04:25,353
I want to take you into my
school on full scholarship,

56
00:04:25,432 --> 00:04:28,062
and I think you have what it
takes to be a professional."

57
00:04:28,435 --> 00:04:33,815
[woman] Five, six, seven and...

58
00:04:33,899 --> 00:04:37,899
[Misty] It was the first time
I saw purpose in my life.

59
00:04:37,986 --> 00:04:40,986
And it wasn't until I
stepped into a ballet studio

60
00:04:41,073 --> 00:04:45,203
and I had on the right attire that
it was just like everything clicked.

61
00:04:45,661 --> 00:04:48,541
I was not intimidated. I was not scared.

62
00:04:48,622 --> 00:04:50,542
It was like, "Wow, I'm beautiful."

63
00:04:52,459 --> 00:04:55,379
- [student cheers] -[woman 2]
God, that was gorgeous.

64
00:04:55,462 --> 00:04:56,712
I felt so at home.

65
00:04:57,798 --> 00:05:00,428
And I started doing three
ballet classes a day.

66
00:05:00,509 --> 00:05:06,309
And within that time, my mental and
emotional growth was just massive.

67
00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:11,850
I went from not being able
to speak to doing interviews.

68
00:05:11,937 --> 00:05:13,477
This is the photographer.

69
00:05:13,564 --> 00:05:15,194
[man] Hi. You're Misty?

70
00:05:16,942 --> 00:05:20,652
And all of a sudden, I was onstage
in front of all these people.

71
00:05:20,737 --> 00:05:23,067
[applause]

72
00:05:23,866 --> 00:05:26,736
I just grew in leaps and bounds.

73
00:05:28,537 --> 00:05:30,827
I felt like, "This is where I belong."

74
00:05:31,790 --> 00:05:35,340
But that was the opposite
of what it would become.

75
00:05:38,797 --> 00:05:45,257
Growing up, I was very conscious of
the fact that I was a black girl.

76
00:05:47,222 --> 00:05:51,192
My mother just made it very clear,
"That's how you are seen by the world."

77
00:05:52,477 --> 00:05:54,397
And my ballet teacher, Cynthia,

78
00:05:54,479 --> 00:05:57,819
she was very aware of the lack
of diversity in classical dance.

79
00:05:59,026 --> 00:06:02,946
The color of my skin was a huge
topic of discussion at her school.

80
00:06:03,030 --> 00:06:06,070
She had many students' parents
that pulled them out because

81
00:06:06,158 --> 00:06:09,828
they thought it was unfair I was getting
to dance the leads as a black girl.

82
00:06:11,997 --> 00:06:17,457
So I feel like that's what I'm constantly
thinking of: believing in yourself.

83
00:06:18,462 --> 00:06:21,552
That's so hard for a lot of kids to do,

84
00:06:21,632 --> 00:06:24,302
especially who come from
backgrounds like I do.

85
00:06:24,384 --> 00:06:29,564
And so I just try and be a voice,
try and be a positive example.

86
00:06:35,812 --> 00:06:37,312
[woman] Dear Misty,

87
00:06:37,397 --> 00:06:40,647
Growing up, there was no expectation
that I would ever succeed.

88
00:06:41,318 --> 00:06:43,488
My mom struggled to support us.

89
00:06:43,570 --> 00:06:48,240
Basic staples, like food and clothing,
required her to take on a second job.

90
00:06:49,326 --> 00:06:54,746
But just like you, I had the opportunity
to take ballet, and it became my escape.

91
00:06:55,332 --> 00:06:57,922
That's how I first found out about you.

92
00:06:59,127 --> 00:07:02,507
Misty, I followed your
career over the years,

93
00:07:02,589 --> 00:07:05,339
and I saw you face
obstacles similar to mine.

94
00:07:06,093 --> 00:07:08,303
But you persevered and triumphed.

95
00:07:08,387 --> 00:07:11,847
You inspired me to push
through just like you.

96
00:07:12,432 --> 00:07:16,022
In school, I worked hard and
excelled in math and science.

97
00:07:16,478 --> 00:07:21,228
And in my senior year, I discovered
a whole new passion: airplanes.

98
00:07:24,403 --> 00:07:29,663
I went on to become the first black woman
to get a PhD in aerospace engineering

99
00:07:29,741 --> 00:07:31,541
from Penn State University.

100
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:33,660
But as a woman of color,

101
00:07:33,745 --> 00:07:37,745
I had a hard time finding my
place in the aerospace industry.

102
00:07:38,250 --> 00:07:42,170
I felt that if I showcased my technical
abilities, they would be rewarded.

103
00:07:42,588 --> 00:07:46,048
They weren't.
For years, I saw people less qualified

104
00:07:46,133 --> 00:07:48,433
obtain greater positions and opportunities.

105
00:07:48,886 --> 00:07:51,676
I constantly fought battles within myself,

106
00:07:51,763 --> 00:07:55,063
wondering, "Am I good enough? Am I worthy?"

107
00:07:55,642 --> 00:07:59,102
Misty, I often thought of you
and the strength it took you

108
00:07:59,188 --> 00:08:03,478
to not give up on your dream,
even when it felt like a losing battle.

109
00:08:04,109 --> 00:08:09,279
You overcame every setback and
challenge with dignity and grace.

110
00:08:09,364 --> 00:08:13,244
With you as an example,
I pushed forward in my industry

111
00:08:13,327 --> 00:08:17,077
and eventually accepted a
position as an aerospace engineer

112
00:08:17,164 --> 00:08:19,214
at Georgia Tech Research Institute.

113
00:08:19,291 --> 00:08:24,551
I silenced the negative talk within
myself and earned the respect I deserved.

114
00:08:24,630 --> 00:08:28,010
I understand the importance
of role models like you.

115
00:08:28,091 --> 00:08:32,141
So I partnered with a nonprofit
organization, I Am B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.,

116
00:08:32,221 --> 00:08:37,141
to build confidence in girls so
they can see themselves as leaders.

117
00:08:37,226 --> 00:08:40,346
I use you as an example to show these girls

118
00:08:40,437 --> 00:08:43,937
that women who look like them
are achieving their dreams

119
00:08:44,024 --> 00:08:45,984
and defying the odds.

120
00:08:46,443 --> 00:08:50,203
Yes, barriers exist,
but they are breakable.

121
00:08:51,990 --> 00:08:52,990
[applause]

122
00:08:53,075 --> 00:08:56,745
[male announcer] The competition
is Misty Danielle Copeland.

123
00:08:56,828 --> 00:08:58,868
[cheering]

124
00:08:58,956 --> 00:09:00,956
[classical music playing]

125
00:09:06,046 --> 00:09:10,176
My teacher, Cynthia, had put me in
this arts education competition.

126
00:09:11,343 --> 00:09:15,353
I was 15 years old. I'd been dancing
for a year and a couple of months,

127
00:09:15,430 --> 00:09:17,520
or something crazy like that.

128
00:09:17,599 --> 00:09:20,229
And I ended up winning this competition.

129
00:09:20,310 --> 00:09:22,600
And it was the first time that ABT saw me.

130
00:09:22,688 --> 00:09:24,228
[music ends]

131
00:09:24,314 --> 00:09:26,864
[applause]

132
00:09:28,110 --> 00:09:31,530
American Ballet Theatre was on the level of

133
00:09:31,613 --> 00:09:35,033
the Royal Ballet, the Paris Opera
Ballet, New York City Ballet,

134
00:09:35,117 --> 00:09:37,327
San Francisco Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet.

135
00:09:38,078 --> 00:09:42,828
But out of all these companies,
ABT was the one that was the most diverse.

136
00:09:43,500 --> 00:09:46,880
They had dancers that came
from all over the world.

137
00:09:46,962 --> 00:09:50,222
And so my teacher just felt like
if I was going to thrive anywhere,

138
00:09:50,299 --> 00:09:52,129
ABT was going to be the place.

139
00:09:53,093 --> 00:09:54,393
After high school,

140
00:09:54,469 --> 00:09:59,349
American Ballet Theatre offered a
contract with the Studio Company.

141
00:09:59,433 --> 00:10:01,853
I was like, "Wow, I'm living a fairy tale."

142
00:10:02,769 --> 00:10:05,019
ABT has always been my dream.

143
00:10:09,776 --> 00:10:12,236
So I arrived at ABT at the Met.

144
00:10:12,321 --> 00:10:14,071
[man] Just across the floor...

145
00:10:15,908 --> 00:10:19,368
And the very first ballet
I danced in was Swan Lake.

146
00:10:22,831 --> 00:10:29,091
But when the ballet was being
filmed for an ABT ballet,

147
00:10:29,171 --> 00:10:31,381
I was pulled from the second act.

148
00:10:32,257 --> 00:10:35,297
And deep down I knew why.

149
00:10:38,138 --> 00:10:40,768
The second act of Swan
Lake, it's a "white act."

150
00:10:41,892 --> 00:10:44,602
There are a couple of ballets
that have white acts in them.

151
00:10:44,686 --> 00:10:47,266
It's not just for the
color of your costume.

152
00:10:48,148 --> 00:10:50,278
Everyone should look uniform and the same.

153
00:10:52,069 --> 00:10:57,199
And I'm this one brown girl in this
white act, and I didn't fit in.

154
00:10:57,741 --> 00:11:03,461
And to then see the video and
not see myself in that film

155
00:11:03,539 --> 00:11:05,539
was so extremely hurtful.

156
00:11:06,667 --> 00:11:08,917
This is the first time I've
been in the ballet world

157
00:11:09,002 --> 00:11:10,382
and I feel like I don't belong.

158
00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,840
And that's when I realized how much the
lack of diversity in classical dance--

159
00:11:16,927 --> 00:11:18,547
how big it is.

160
00:11:19,304 --> 00:11:22,434
[male narrator] When experts
consider classical ballet in America,

161
00:11:22,516 --> 00:11:27,186
they consider first, choreographer
and guiding spirit George Balanchine.

162
00:11:27,271 --> 00:11:30,021
As George Balanchine has said,

163
00:11:30,107 --> 00:11:34,527
a ballerina should have fair skin,

164
00:11:35,028 --> 00:11:38,198
skin the color of a freshly-peeled apple.

165
00:11:38,824 --> 00:11:44,544
She should have very long, straight
hair, be tall, extremely thin.

166
00:11:44,621 --> 00:11:48,001
No curves or real muscle tone.

167
00:11:48,834 --> 00:11:49,964
[laughs]

168
00:11:50,043 --> 00:11:51,303
And that was not me.

169
00:11:53,088 --> 00:11:56,588
The first time I saw myself in front
of the mirror when I was 13 years old

170
00:11:56,675 --> 00:11:59,715
was the first time I felt
beautiful in my life.

171
00:11:59,803 --> 00:12:04,643
And then years later,
I'm looking in that mirror and thinking,

172
00:12:04,725 --> 00:12:07,935
"You're not beautiful. You're fat.
You're wrong. You're too brown.

173
00:12:08,604 --> 00:12:12,234
You just aren't what ballet is."

174
00:12:13,483 --> 00:12:15,823
So I went through an
extremely difficult time,

175
00:12:15,903 --> 00:12:19,163
not just because of my skin color
but because of my body type.

176
00:12:21,992 --> 00:12:25,622
It's not really legal for
these companies to say,

177
00:12:25,704 --> 00:12:28,334
"Lose this much weight"
or "We need to weigh you."

178
00:12:28,415 --> 00:12:31,995
But they just said,
"You really need to lengthen."

179
00:12:34,129 --> 00:12:37,929
I didn't understand what beauty
was, what they wanted.

180
00:12:38,008 --> 00:12:43,678
So I would go home and just rebel and
eat everything I wasn't supposed to.

181
00:12:43,764 --> 00:12:48,564
And it was just this vicious cycle
of feeling they hated me, ABT.

182
00:12:48,644 --> 00:12:51,984
I hated myself when I looked at
myself in the mirror every day.

183
00:12:52,064 --> 00:12:55,824
And then I'd go home and repeat
the cycle and hate myself after.

184
00:12:57,861 --> 00:13:01,871
I think that it really
made me less confident.

185
00:13:01,949 --> 00:13:04,829
And it just kept pushing me
down more and more and more.

186
00:13:04,910 --> 00:13:08,000
And the more I lost that confidence,
the more I lost that sparkle,

187
00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,710
that thing that I had
that made me different.

188
00:13:13,085 --> 00:13:17,335
When I was growing up, food was
whatever we could get our hands on.

189
00:13:18,465 --> 00:13:20,005
I was actually a seven-year-old

190
00:13:20,092 --> 00:13:24,812
the first time that I had fresh
cooked vegetables in my life.

191
00:13:24,888 --> 00:13:29,518
So I never knew anything about taking care
of my body and fueling it like an athlete.

192
00:13:29,601 --> 00:13:34,271
So it was just this long process
of figuring out what worked for me.

193
00:13:35,148 --> 00:13:38,688
I realized I needed to find my own path,

194
00:13:38,777 --> 00:13:42,197
uh, to becoming a new
Misty, a healthy Misty,

195
00:13:42,281 --> 00:13:45,951
that I can never go back to
that 13-year-old body or self.

196
00:13:46,034 --> 00:13:50,164
And so that was kind of the start of
this, um, growth.

197
00:13:53,208 --> 00:13:56,918
I want people to see a
person, a real human being

198
00:13:57,004 --> 00:14:01,014
that doesn't have this
stick-thin figure and white skin.

199
00:14:01,758 --> 00:14:04,678
If you really think about it,
it's the most ridiculous thing ever

200
00:14:04,761 --> 00:14:10,641
to say this one thing is what beauty
is, when no two people are the same.

201
00:14:11,852 --> 00:14:15,522
So why do we try so hard
to morph into someone else?

202
00:14:17,149 --> 00:14:19,029
Dear Misty,

203
00:14:19,109 --> 00:14:21,149
Ballet was the first style
of dance that I loved,

204
00:14:21,236 --> 00:14:24,276
but my relationship with it
hasn't always been simple.

205
00:14:25,073 --> 00:14:29,083
Like you, I began training
pre-professionally at the age of 13.

206
00:14:29,161 --> 00:14:30,951
For as long as I can remember,

207
00:14:31,038 --> 00:14:34,248
I was scared of becoming
too curvy or too tall.

208
00:14:34,333 --> 00:14:38,423
Constantly striving to fit the idea of
what a dancer was supposed to look like

209
00:14:38,504 --> 00:14:40,594
eventually became too much.

210
00:14:42,299 --> 00:14:45,889
When I was in middle school,
my disordered eating began.

211
00:14:45,969 --> 00:14:48,969
It quickly turned into something
I carried around with me daily.

212
00:14:49,056 --> 00:14:53,436
My pattern of purging after meals or
not eating for extended periods of time

213
00:14:53,519 --> 00:14:56,229
was further rewarded by
some of my ballet teachers.

214
00:14:57,189 --> 00:15:01,069
Noticing that I had lost weight
almost always led one of my teachers

215
00:15:01,151 --> 00:15:05,071
to comment about how good or
strong or beautiful I looked.

216
00:15:05,656 --> 00:15:10,696
After a while, I became so weak from
not eating that one day in class I fell,

217
00:15:10,786 --> 00:15:13,116
tearing half of my Achilles tendon.

218
00:15:13,705 --> 00:15:16,995
The injury took away my
ability to dance en pointe,

219
00:15:17,084 --> 00:15:23,224
and within seconds, my dream of becoming
a professional ballet dancer was crushed.

220
00:15:24,216 --> 00:15:27,636
Despite my injury,
my eating disorder still continued.

221
00:15:28,220 --> 00:15:31,810
Finally, at age 21,
my college encouraged me

222
00:15:31,890 --> 00:15:35,480
to go to an inpatient facility
to get professional help.

223
00:15:36,144 --> 00:15:39,274
Adjusting to the treatment
center wasn't easy.

224
00:15:39,356 --> 00:15:43,146
But when one of my doctors there
actually said that I reminded her of you,

225
00:15:43,235 --> 00:15:45,065
everything changed.

226
00:15:45,696 --> 00:15:49,196
I learned about your struggle,
and it reminded me of a time in my life

227
00:15:49,283 --> 00:15:53,253
when my relationship with food and my
body almost erased my love of dance.

228
00:15:53,954 --> 00:15:57,294
Knowing that someone like you was plagued
with these issues through your career

229
00:15:57,374 --> 00:15:59,174
was the wake-up call I needed.

230
00:15:59,251 --> 00:16:01,801
It opened my eyes to the
fact that I was not alone.

231
00:16:04,089 --> 00:16:08,509
As I continue to heal, I feel a great
responsibility to share my story

232
00:16:08,594 --> 00:16:10,764
and help others the way you helped me.

233
00:16:11,221 --> 00:16:13,311
I've had the opportunity to write and speak

234
00:16:13,390 --> 00:16:16,940
for the National Eating Disorders
Association and Teen Vogue.

235
00:16:17,644 --> 00:16:21,904
I am using my experience to bring a
message of body kindness and positivity

236
00:16:21,982 --> 00:16:25,862
to young people, especially dancers
that need it so desperately.

237
00:16:26,737 --> 00:16:29,527
Misty, you gave me the
strength to keep going

238
00:16:29,615 --> 00:16:32,235
and to work to feel
comfortable in my own body.

239
00:16:33,243 --> 00:16:37,253
Instead of conforming to the status quo,
you are finding ways to challenge it.

240
00:16:43,879 --> 00:16:46,719
[Misty] After a couple of years
of being a professional dancer,

241
00:16:46,798 --> 00:16:50,008
I was kind of on the up,
trying to figure out and understand

242
00:16:50,093 --> 00:16:55,313
how to navigate through ABT as a
black woman, and feeling good, like,

243
00:16:55,390 --> 00:16:59,390
"Maybe I will be promoted to
soloist or become principal dancer."

244
00:17:02,105 --> 00:17:06,975
The principal dancer is the
star role in any ballet.

245
00:17:07,069 --> 00:17:09,569
That's every little girl's
dream, or every boy's dream,

246
00:17:09,655 --> 00:17:11,815
when they're entering the ballet world.

247
00:17:11,906 --> 00:17:13,736
[applause]

248
00:17:15,452 --> 00:17:17,122
And then this article comes out.

249
00:17:19,289 --> 00:17:21,749
ABT was criticized,
New York City Ballet was criticized.

250
00:17:21,834 --> 00:17:23,754
Every major company was criticized,

251
00:17:23,836 --> 00:17:27,956
because they've had amazingly gifted
black dancers in their company

252
00:17:28,048 --> 00:17:29,798
and none of them have ever
been a principal dancer.

253
00:17:32,052 --> 00:17:35,392
There have been so many black women that
have come through these major companies

254
00:17:36,098 --> 00:17:39,178
and they never quite get past this hump.

255
00:17:39,268 --> 00:17:45,018
So, being the only black woman at
ABT, it was just eye-opening.

256
00:17:45,107 --> 00:17:46,977
Then the white dancers
in the company were like,

257
00:17:47,067 --> 00:17:50,737
"We don't ever think of you as black.
That's not how we see you."

258
00:17:50,821 --> 00:17:52,781
And it's like, "What does that mean?"

259
00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:55,200
They saw me in a certain way,

260
00:17:55,284 --> 00:17:59,084
which I guess wasn't the stereotype of
how they envisioned black people to be.

261
00:17:59,162 --> 00:18:04,502
Then they read this article, and it was
so far from their realm of experience.

262
00:18:04,585 --> 00:18:06,295
They just kind of dismissed it.

263
00:18:07,588 --> 00:18:10,008
And I ran into another
studio and I closed the door

264
00:18:10,090 --> 00:18:11,760
and I just bawled my eyes out.

265
00:18:11,842 --> 00:18:16,142
It was just like, "Nobody gets it.
No one understands me."

266
00:18:16,221 --> 00:18:19,561
And I felt like it was proof
that no matter how hard I worked

267
00:18:19,641 --> 00:18:23,191
or how much support I had,
it was never going to happen for me.

268
00:18:23,270 --> 00:18:24,730
And it was just devastating.

269
00:18:25,814 --> 00:18:29,114
So I thought about leaving ABT.

270
00:18:31,028 --> 00:18:33,028
And then Arthur Mitchell called.

271
00:18:33,113 --> 00:18:35,413
[classical music playing]

272
00:18:39,077 --> 00:18:41,577
Arthur Mitchell started the
Dance Theatre of Harlem.

273
00:18:41,663 --> 00:18:43,963
And one. That's it.

274
00:18:44,041 --> 00:18:45,751
[Misty] He was the first
African American man

275
00:18:45,834 --> 00:18:48,884
to be a principal dancer
in a major ballet company.

276
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,340
So, when he came calling, I was like,

277
00:18:52,424 --> 00:18:55,594
"Yes, Mr. Mitchell.
[chuckles] What is it that you need?"

278
00:18:55,677 --> 00:18:58,807
So he invited me to
Dance Theatre of Harlem.

279
00:18:58,889 --> 00:19:00,179
One, two and three, four.

280
00:19:00,265 --> 00:19:05,015
It was the first time I'd been
surrounded by other black ballet dancers,

281
00:19:05,103 --> 00:19:07,153
completely immersed in them.

282
00:19:07,231 --> 00:19:09,481
And it was like, "This is where I belong.

283
00:19:10,609 --> 00:19:13,989
This is what will make me feel
good and make me comfortable."

284
00:19:14,071 --> 00:19:16,951
And he offered me a soloist
position in the company.

285
00:19:18,450 --> 00:19:20,410
And I thought about it,
and I thought about it.

286
00:19:21,203 --> 00:19:26,423
But I was like, "If I give in to
what's expected of a black dancer,

287
00:19:27,292 --> 00:19:29,802
the ballet world will
never grow or change."

288
00:19:33,131 --> 00:19:36,721
And I made the decision not to leave ABT.

289
00:19:39,179 --> 00:19:42,349
The thing is, when I look back...

290
00:19:42,891 --> 00:19:44,851
[sniffles] at my life...

291
00:19:47,563 --> 00:19:49,153
[sobs]

292
00:19:50,607 --> 00:19:54,237
I wouldn't be where I am
or who I am without ballet.

293
00:19:54,319 --> 00:19:55,529
[sniffles]

294
00:19:56,238 --> 00:20:01,538
And because that opportunity is
taken away from so many people

295
00:20:01,618 --> 00:20:04,618
because of something they can't control,

296
00:20:04,705 --> 00:20:08,875
it just made me want to do
everything that I can to change that.

297
00:20:15,299 --> 00:20:16,509
Years later,

298
00:20:16,592 --> 00:20:20,262
when I had been at American
Ballet Theatre for over a decade,

299
00:20:20,846 --> 00:20:23,676
I was still the only black
woman in the company.

300
00:20:24,683 --> 00:20:28,023
But I was in a place where it was like,
"I'm kind of picking up momentum."

301
00:20:28,103 --> 00:20:32,863
But at 29, who cares if you have momentum?
It's kind of the end of your career.

302
00:20:33,817 --> 00:20:38,607
And then, in 2015,
I was sitting in a company meeting,

303
00:20:38,697 --> 00:20:42,117
which is common,
and you're all just on the floor.

304
00:20:42,201 --> 00:20:46,041
And, out of nowhere,
I was promoted to principal dancer.

305
00:20:46,121 --> 00:20:48,671
Misty, take a bow.

306
00:20:48,749 --> 00:20:50,669
[cheers, applause]

307
00:20:51,293 --> 00:20:55,713
To be surrounded by my
peers, um, in that moment

308
00:20:55,797 --> 00:20:58,927
made it even more emotional.

309
00:20:59,009 --> 00:21:02,099
It was just shocking and incredible.

310
00:21:02,971 --> 00:21:06,181
But at the same time, I literally panicked.

311
00:21:06,934 --> 00:21:11,774
I remember getting to dance
Odette-Odile in Swan Lake.

312
00:21:13,023 --> 00:21:15,483
And when I did the tech rehearsal,

313
00:21:15,567 --> 00:21:18,777
I was like, "I'm not supposed
to be in this costume.

314
00:21:18,862 --> 00:21:23,582
I'm not supposed to be doing this role.
I'm supposed to be doing a little swan."

315
00:21:23,659 --> 00:21:26,449
It was the most crazy
moment to hear that music

316
00:21:26,537 --> 00:21:29,037
and then be dancing to
a different part of it.

317
00:21:29,748 --> 00:21:35,088
It wasn't until I stepped onto the stage
that I realized my presence in that space

318
00:21:35,170 --> 00:21:40,720
and simply holding that title could change
so much for so many generations to come.

319
00:21:40,801 --> 00:21:44,261
Young people will see a brown
ballerina and think that that's normal.

320
00:21:44,346 --> 00:21:46,346
That's what a ballerina looks like.

321
00:21:47,391 --> 00:21:49,231
So I embraced that it was happening

322
00:21:49,309 --> 00:21:52,979
and that I'm not going to
be like any other swan.

323
00:22:10,539 --> 00:22:12,879
Becoming principal dancer

324
00:22:12,958 --> 00:22:16,338
gave me a purpose beyond what
I ever imagined it could be.

325
00:22:17,421 --> 00:22:20,471
And so, no matter where I am in the world,

326
00:22:20,549 --> 00:22:22,259
whether I'm at the Boys & Girls Club...

327
00:22:23,552 --> 00:22:25,262
or even working with children in Rwanda,

328
00:22:25,345 --> 00:22:30,675
I just wanna do everything I can to make
the most out of an opportunity like this.

329
00:22:30,767 --> 00:22:32,727
It doesn't matter what your skin color is.

330
00:22:32,811 --> 00:22:36,861
It doesn't matter what body type you
have or what neighborhood you grew up in.

331
00:22:36,940 --> 00:22:40,940
Those are the things about you that
make you special and different.

332
00:22:42,196 --> 00:22:44,026
So I want to be known

333
00:22:44,114 --> 00:22:47,784
for bringing this dialogue of the
lack of diversity to the forefront,

334
00:22:47,868 --> 00:22:50,578
not just of the ballet
world, but of the world.

335
00:22:52,956 --> 00:22:54,036
Dear Misty,

336
00:22:55,042 --> 00:22:58,752
My life as a kid in Kigali was very tough.

337
00:22:58,837 --> 00:23:03,377
I was born here in Rwanda,
but when I was very young,

338
00:23:03,467 --> 00:23:07,297
my mother died and it
became difficult to survive.

339
00:23:08,722 --> 00:23:12,392
I had no choice but to go to the streets.

340
00:23:13,393 --> 00:23:18,443
At night, I slept in a sewer
alongside other street kids.

341
00:23:19,441 --> 00:23:24,571
I scavenged used charcoal
and sold it to buy food.

342
00:23:25,656 --> 00:23:28,526
Then I heard about a
place called MindLeaps.

343
00:23:29,326 --> 00:23:35,036
They ran a dance program that would give
me the skills to get me off the streets.

344
00:23:35,123 --> 00:23:37,923
So I decided to give it a try.

345
00:23:41,129 --> 00:23:43,839
Dance became an escape for me.

346
00:23:44,341 --> 00:23:47,511
It helped me forget about the outside world

347
00:23:47,594 --> 00:23:50,184
and the pain of my childhood.

348
00:23:50,264 --> 00:23:56,104
And soon I was dreaming of going to
school and learning like other kids.

349
00:23:56,186 --> 00:24:00,436
But the best day at MindLeaps
was the day you came.

350
00:24:00,524 --> 00:24:02,654
[chattering]

351
00:24:02,734 --> 00:24:05,824
You told us about your difficult childhood,

352
00:24:05,904 --> 00:24:11,294
how you did not always have enough
food to eat or a place to sleep.

353
00:24:11,368 --> 00:24:13,538
I knew you understood me.

354
00:24:15,038 --> 00:24:16,748
Oh, this way, this way.

355
00:24:18,375 --> 00:24:19,375
And then...

356
00:24:20,043 --> 00:24:24,423
Then you gave me an opportunity
I never thought possible.

357
00:24:24,506 --> 00:24:29,216
You sponsored me to go to
a private boarding school.

358
00:24:33,932 --> 00:24:37,442
I have now been at school for three years.

359
00:24:37,519 --> 00:24:39,439
Now I speak English.

360
00:24:39,521 --> 00:24:43,401
I was the top student
in my class last year.

361
00:24:43,483 --> 00:24:46,323
I love dance, but I love school more.

362
00:24:51,408 --> 00:24:54,288
Misty, I'm so grateful to you.

363
00:24:54,369 --> 00:24:59,119
Just as you helped me,
I too want to help other kids in Rwanda.

364
00:24:59,208 --> 00:25:05,338
Because of your kindness, I now have
an education and a bright future.

365
00:25:15,140 --> 00:25:17,730
For me, being on the stage
and dancing those roles:

366
00:25:17,809 --> 00:25:20,649
the Firebird, Juliet,
Odette-Odile in Swan Lake,

367
00:25:20,729 --> 00:25:22,769
that is everything I've wanted to do.

368
00:25:23,357 --> 00:25:29,147
But to hold the title of principal dancer
was important for the ballet community,

369
00:25:29,238 --> 00:25:31,108
for the African American community.

370
00:25:32,324 --> 00:25:35,164
[cheers, applause]

371
00:25:40,791 --> 00:25:45,001
Dance, it's literally,
I think, saved my life.

372
00:25:46,338 --> 00:25:51,338
And so, it just makes me want
to open it up to more people

373
00:25:51,426 --> 00:25:56,806
and allow other people to experience the
joy, beauty and tools that I've learned

374
00:25:56,890 --> 00:25:59,560
by being a part of the
classical ballet world.

375
00:26:01,854 --> 00:26:05,694
It's been a long journey,
but I think things are already changing

376
00:26:05,774 --> 00:26:09,784
in terms of what the world is
now envisioning as a dancer.

377
00:26:11,071 --> 00:26:16,121
To be able to be a clear representation
and a voice for brown dancers,

378
00:26:16,201 --> 00:26:21,501
that is something that is so symbolic
and will live on for generations to come.

379
00:26:23,417 --> 00:26:26,747
Misty, you are a beacon
of hope and inspiration.

380
00:26:26,837 --> 00:26:31,007
Thank you for reminding black
girls that they belong everywhere.

381
00:26:32,134 --> 00:26:34,434
There doesn't have to have been
someone that came before you.

382
00:26:34,511 --> 00:26:36,051
It's okay to be the first.

383
00:26:37,556 --> 00:26:41,556
Show the world that this can be
beauty, this can be strength.

384
00:26:41,643 --> 00:26:42,643
[woman] Thank you, Misty,

385
00:26:42,728 --> 00:26:46,398
for giving me and so many people the
courage to stick to what we love.

386
00:26:46,940 --> 00:26:48,780
Sincerely, Kimberly.

387
00:26:49,276 --> 00:26:52,526
You opened doors for me
I never thought possible.

388
00:26:52,613 --> 00:26:55,123
Thank you, my friend. Ally.

389
00:26:56,158 --> 00:26:58,328
You are remarkable. Sharae.

390
00:26:58,785 --> 00:27:01,955
[Misty] I think it's important for
me to be seen in the ballet world,

391
00:27:02,039 --> 00:27:05,749
not for myself, but to show that I am you.

392
00:27:06,335 --> 00:27:10,505
I am all of you guys,
and this is something that's possible.