If Misty Can Defy Odds and Break Barriers, so can you.

I was 14 years old when I started doing ballet. I was scared that I had started ‘late’, as most of the girls had probably danced before they could walk. So that was negative, number one. I was the only brown girl in the class of slim white girls. I experienced a majority of my teenage years in a small town of Newfoundland, Canada, just to give a little bit of context.

Walking into that class, and slowly viewing these girls, stretching like it was nothing, and talking amongst themselves, like they had grown up together, didn’t really help with my insecurities. I was a little curvy and had a bigger chest, only to have those physical qualities amplified by a tight black leotard and light pink tights.

I stuck through it as best as I could. I was given the most corrections that day.

“Sit on your hips, when doing a turn out…”

“Relax your shoulders as you hold your arms in 1st position...long neck”...

I didn’t mind being corrected, because it was my first class, but I also felt left out.

Years later, I would fall deeper in love with the art form, as I practised it on my own. The precision, the discipline in which you have to train your body. It was all just so fascinating. I unfortunately never joined any major ballet or dance companies, even though it had been one of my teenage dreams to do so.

I thought I was that good enough at the time to join one.

However, I knew in the back of my mind, this setting was odd. Why was there no one that looked like me? As far I knew at the time, there were no brown ballerinas.

It was not until I decided to do an essay in grade 12 English about the history of ballet, only to find out about the most well-known black ballerina of our generation, Misty Copeland.

…

Misty Copeland in my own words, for those who are maybe familiar with the name but don’t know who she is, she is a pioneer in ballet. I repeat...A PIONEER, in ballet. She is one of the FIRST African American ballerinas a part of ABT (American Ballet Theatre).

She endured multiple obstacles over her journey to becoming a ballerina, including being rejected by major ballet companies because of her skin colour, and because of the curves and muscularity of her body. Up to this day, she still talks about these experiences. Up to this day, it urks me to think that some people ONLY see skin colour.

When I watch her perform, I’m instantly amazed. I’m instantly captivated and intrigued. I see myself on that stage, using my body to convey a clear story in front of an audience. I am a performer and dancer also, just to give a bit of context.

How does she hold her arms like that?

How does she maintain her precision, but also how is she able to play so freely with her movement?

These would always be the questions of curiosity running through my head, whenever I’d watch one of her performances.

When I would continue my research on her story and background, I was surprised at how similar to me she felt, when she would walk into her ballet class, only to find that there was no one that looked like her. The isolation that she felt. I felt it too.

She had also started ballet around 13 years of age, alike to me, which is the ‘late’ age to apparently train your body for that kind of discipline. But again she proved us wrong.

As I gained more knowledge of ballet, I realised and observed that all the dancers had the same shape (I.e) all slim and trim, barely any muscle, and white. Unfortunately, that was the ballet reality for a really long time.

As Misty was continuously rising and evolving, I saw and witnessed her, changing that body standard. She would constantly repeat that ballet is for everyone and should be for everyone, regardless of how you look; be it skin colour or muscle, or background. A lot of the time, it was money.

She makes me feel like I belong in the world of ballet. It’s not just for the white and wealthy, and it’s for everyone who loves to dance and is willing to work for it.

Watching her defy the odds and rise higher and higher in the ballet world, it made me realise that there is no limit. There is no limit to what I can do. There is no limit to what women of colour can do.

As my 14 year old self who would often get discouraged, taking ballet classes amongst white girls (who seemed to have it all); as a 24 year old now, I would tell her now,

“Keep going. IF Misty Copeland can defy odds and break barriers and standards of the ballet world...so can you”.