Life in Motion Part 2

Copeland's first time wearing pointe shoes, at age 13

I have continued to read Life In Motion by Misty Copeland and I have enjoyed every single page of it. Misty's writing is so deep and reflects the highs and lows of her life in such a realistic, yet intriguing, way. Throughout reading this book, I have a new found appreciation for her as not only a dancer, but a normal human-being. Misty's life was never easy for her, but she still found a way to get through her unsteady and never stable life through her love and passion for dance and her much loved siblings. Her mother had created a tough life for the Copeland children, with many different husbands and boyfriends, living in fear of one thing or another. In Misty's life, almost every good thing came with something horrible. For example, for about four years, her mother was with a man who had a job, a nice house, and money to support them. However, this man was overly strict, caused violence in the household, and made everyone constantly live in fear of what was to happen to them.

Young Copeland as Clara in The Nutcracker

Though her life at home was unpredictable and even devastating at times, there was one thing that was almost always steady in Copeland's life - ballet. Since she began dancing at age 13 at her local Boys and Girls Club, Misty's ballet teacher, Cindy Bradley, saw much potential in her dancing and took her under her wing at her own dance studio at the other end of town. Cindy persuaded Misty to come to her studio by offering Misty a full scholarship and even providing a ride from school to the studio everyday. Although Misty had thought that all she would ever do was be the captain of the drill team, she began to find a new love of ballet that she never would have thought would come to her. Ballet came naturally to her, even though she had started very late for a regular ballet dancer, and she was able to improve more and more, becoming an amazing dancer, very quickly.