- Our next guest didn't start dancing until she was 13
and then rose to become
the first ever African American Principal Dancer
of the American Ballet Theater, not too shabby.
She is a trailblazer and a true icon.
Please, welcome Misty Copeland, everybody.
(blues music) (clapping and applause)
Hi, it's good to see you again.
We talked over Zoom in the summer.
- Yes, it's so good to see you as well.
And thank you for all of the incredible work
you're doing through your show.
It's really impressive, and I'm happy to be back.
- Oh man, thank you so much, and I,
you know, it's a little sad
as I thought the next time you'd be on my show,
you'd be here physically,
but we still can't do that quite yet.
So (laughs) there's that,
toast to that. - We'll get there.
- We're gonna get there, I have to keep saying it.
So representation though, on a serious note,
it's super important.
Not only to you, but to me as well.
So, how is that true for you, as a girl?
- Yeah, you know, it's been really
important for me to have that representation.
I think it was Mariah Carey
that really was the first person that,
I saw myself in.
She was a biracial woman who was succeeding
and was extremely talented.
And the power in seeing her
when I was seven years old when she first came out,
it it's this amazing through line
where I can understand the benefits of just
having my presence on the stage,
what it can do for an entire community.
It's, so powerful in a way that I think we often overlook
or forget for children to see themselves
represented in spaces they might
not otherwise consider themselves being.
- Yeah, it's so interesting 'cause we grew up differently.
But Mariah was also one for me,
not just as a singer, but as a writer.
I thought it was interesting her story,
how she kind of, came from,
you know, very humble beginnings
of kind of a broken home and this whole thing.
And I kind of related to a lot of that.
So it's interesting how, people in the public eye can just
totally have this huge impact on you as a little kid.
And, I just thought it was very interesting but.
So I didn't know this,
but Prince actually had
an early kind of impact on your career,
right? - Yeah.
- That's the coolest thing ever.
- A lot of people (laughs)
I know, yeah.
It seems really random,
but Prince has always had a love of other artists,
and as well as dancers, throughout his career.
But he came into my life.
I was a Soloist in American Ballet Theater
and he was just really adamant about me
starring in this music video of his.
And, it was really random and out of the blue,
but I ended up touring with him on and off
for about five years.
And, you know, he was such a supporter
and so extremely charitable to ballet
and to so many different schools and companies
that I'm passionate about and,
you know, behind the scenes,
he was doing a lot of incredible work
and he'd show up to a lot of my performances
and people wouldn't even know he was
up there in the balcony, watching
just, he really truly believed in the next generation
and nurturing them to be more than artists like himself.
- I think too, like I never got to meet up
every artist I know that has
been impacted by him like in person,
like personally has a relationship or worked with him.
I think he just had such a true,
like deep kind of love for music and the arts in general.
So I think that was kind of,
'cause whenever I found out
that you were in one of his shows, I was like,
"That doesn't seem weird to me.
That seems very Prince."
Like he'd have a prima ballerina in his show.
(laughter) Anyway
but tell us about your current social campaign,
Show Some Muscle.
- I'm so excited about it.
I think that, you know,
looking at Ford and looking at a muscle car, which is,
you know, what is a part of this campaign,
the Mustang Mach-E.
I don't think you would think of women
especially a ballerina being attached.
But, the Show Some Muscle campaign that they have is really,
you know, me encouraging other women
to share their stories of strength and perseverance.
And that strength doesn't have to be physical strength
in this outward, masculinity that,
you know, first of all, having a woman
be behind designing this car, an electric car,
is so empowering to show,
you know, the next generation to show little girls
all that we're capable of.
And so,
you know, show some muscle to me means,
you know, this inner strength that so many women have
and especially as a ballerina, you know?
Of course we have to have the physical abilities
to do what we do on stage
but to be able to make it look effortless and easy
is definitely showing some inner strength
and showing some muscle.
- Yeah, I think that's really cool.
I also, I love electric cars also love muscle cars.
So see, girls (mumbles)
- Yeah, this is the car for you.
- I love that.
Well, everybody check out #showsomemuscle on social media.