Misty Copeland: Intense ballet pressure pushed me to therapy

[@eeb9177]

As silly as it sounds, i guessed right that shes a fellow virgo when it comes to the pressure we put on ourselves.

[@ollieenger1424]

The only reason she wouldn't win everyone over is because she's no prima, but being promoted like she is. Yes, she's really good, but the hype over her technique is unwarranted and undeserved. She's a soloist at best. If she was white, she wouldn't even have made corps with hyperextended knees. Sorry, i still enjoy watching her and she is a beautiful woman.

[@RelaxWithDog]

"wouldn't have made corps with hyperextended knees" Can you clarify what having hyper extended knees has to do with it? Are hyperextended knees not desirable in the corps?

[@a.nonymous2089]

I see a lot of dancers whose knees look a little hyperextended. Not to her extent, of course. Misty's is kind of extreme. I still think her legs are beautiful, though, and she is so muscular.

[@a.nonymous2089]

Wow, 10 comments, 10 hATERS. Shut up, y'all.

[@kareno7848]

Well, that's sad, but you pushed yourself at 16 thinking you were ready, and you were not. You had poor teachers and ABT needed a DEI hire so they picked you.

[@drwalka10]

Christ ... I was on her side until she bought up race. Being down because you can't win "EVERYONE" over is her main problem because it's a problem that isn't to be solved under any circumstances, no matter the race or class of an individual. What a nonsensical standard. What a standard to keep one self in perpetual depression. Misty, all elite athletics go thru this pressure, you aren't special.

[@Player500-1]

What a privileged perspective…she used race as one of the many examples of the pressures/anxieties she deals with but yet you chose to focus on that one example…what a privileged perspective…just because that doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect others…the denial of one’s source of anxiety/depression by others can feed more into one’s depression/anxieties…(especially when it’s coming from the perpetrators) …it wasn’t just the feeling of winning everyone over that she battled with it was being accepted in a yt dominated profession…the barriers she had to break to do that is part of the source of her anxieties. if majority of black ppl share the feeling of needing to be 10x better to get half of what yt ppl get they all can’t be lying 😂…stop gaslighting ppl…and she is special because her story is unique to her…there will only be on misty to ever walk this earth…just like there’s only one you…

[@birdiewolf3497]

🙄🙄 She is literally the first black principal ballerina at ABT. That's where the pressure comes from. Maybe your lack of empathy comes from your ignorance for how POCs in this position have to deal with the racist nonsense. You are not getting the added burden of trying to win everyone over is because she doesn't want ruin it for other black ballerinas that come after her. Unfortunately that is the reality being the "first" means. If she fails to win everyone over, folks literally go "see, we tried it, and it sucked so we never have to do that again." A lot of "firsts" literally had to be undeniable to help open up the space for others to follow. If you couldn't be that, bigots will latch onto it and use it a shield for their bigotry and block opportunities that could come up for others. Is it a nonsensical standard? Of course. But it does have real consequences when a person in this position fails to meet it. It is hard to balance that. You shouldn't have to hold yourself to impossible standards, but you also don't want to mess up this window of opportunity to help your community's ability to progress in these spaces. So no, not all elite athletics go thru that pressure. Thankfully other people helped breakdown certain barriers, so that they wouldn't and some people never had those barriers to begin with.

[@a.nonymous2089]

If all elite athletes go through this, why aren't they allowed to talk about it? Oh, just not Misty ...

[@oroborousqueen1590]

The pressure to execute 32 fouettés! That’s part of the role of Black Swan! She shouldn’t have been given the role! Yes she was a beautiful dancer but that role is for dancers with the capacity and technique to execute 32. Period. She uses the crutch of being the first African American prima. Black, white, Asian, blue, purple, IT DOESN’T MATTER. If you dance that role you HAVE to have the technique to back it up. I’ve lost so much respect for her. It’s embarrassing for ABT. Their virtue signaling is damaging their reputation. I said exactly what I said.

[@a.nonymous2089]

Has she EVER been able to do them?? She's in her 40s now and she had a baby. I just wondered.

[@drwalka10]

As a celebrity ... I will never understand the purpose of publicly admitting the talk / comments from random strangers on the internet have an impact of yourself ... especially if you want it to stop. If anything, it's only going to intensify because you told them what they're doing is working. Which tells me you're probably exaggerating how much this is affecting you, for what reason ... who knows