How I found resilience through artistry - Misty Copeland

You're listening to ted talks daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host elise Hugh, ballerina and activist misty copeland made history in2015 as the first black woman to become the principal dancer at the American ballet theater, and just last month, she gave her farewell performance with the company to a world that she helped reshape. In her talk, she shares a story of what LED her here, a story of persistence in spite of constantly being told she didn't belong. Misty makes the case for why movement is crucial and why she is proof that, as she says, resilience can turn pain into beauty and beauty into legacy.

你正在收听TED每日演讲，我们每天为你带来激发好奇心的新想法。我是主持人埃莉斯·休。芭蕾舞演员兼活动家米斯蒂·科普兰在2015年创造了历史，成为首位在美国芭蕾舞剧院担任首席舞者的黑人女性。就在上个月，她与舞团一起向这个她帮助重塑的世界献上了告别演出。在演讲中，她分享了引领她走到今天的故事，一个尽管不断被告知“你不属于这里”却依然坚持的故事。米斯蒂阐述了运动为何至关重要，并以自身证明，正如她所言，韧性可以将痛苦转化为美，再将美转化为遗产。

The first night I danced the firebird at American ballet theater, I wasn't yet a principal dancer. I was still a soloist12 years into the company. Carrying the weight of roles I had dreamed of but not yet been given. My body was in agony. For weeks I had ignored the deep, aching pain in my leg, convincing myself that it would somehow just go away.

我在美国芭蕾舞剧院首次出演《火鸟》的那个夜晚，我还不是首席舞者。我在舞团待了12年，仍是一名独舞演员。背负着那些我梦寐以求却尚未被赋予的角色的重量。我的身体痛苦不堪。几周来，我一直忽视着腿部的剧痛，说服自己它会以某种方式消失。

But this wasn't just an opportunity for me. It felt bigger than that. I was the first black woman to perform this role in Abt's history. Dancing the firebird, for me, was a chance to honor the generations of black dancers who came before me, dancers who never made it to the stage of the metropolitan opera house. It was a chance to prove that future generations. Could stand on that stage, and it could be theirs, too. I wasn't going to let pain steal that.

但这不仅仅是我个人的机会。它意义更为重大。我是Abt历史上首位出演这个角色的黑人女性。对我来说，演绎《火鸟》是向在我之前一代代黑人舞者致敬的机会，他们从未能登上大都会歌剧院的舞台。这是一个向世人证明，未来世代也能站在那个舞台上，那舞台同样可以属于他们的机会。我不会让痛苦夺走这一切。

The house was sold out. The energy in the room was undeniable, but the real power was in the people who showed up. It was the most diverse audience the met had ever seen for a ballet performance. People of every background gathered to witness a black woman step into the title role in a space that had rarely welcomed anyone who looked like me before. They weren't just there for a show. They were there for everyone who had ever been told you don't belong here. Everyone who had ever been knocked down or discouraged from pursuing their dream.

剧场座无虚席。现场的能量无可否认，但真正的力量在于到场的人们。这是大都会歌剧院有史以来芭蕾舞演出中最多元化的观众。各种背景的人聚集在一起，见证一位黑人女性在一个以前几乎从未欢迎过像我这样的人的空间里担纲主演。他们不仅仅是为了一场演出而来。他们是为了每一个曾被告诉“你不属于这里”的人而来。为了每一个曾被击倒或气馁而放弃追求梦想的人而来。

As I stepped onto the stage, the cheers were so loud I could barely hear the orchestra because in that moment. What had always felt impossible was now inevitable. The next morning I couldn't get out of bed. Every step sent lightning through my leg. The test results revealed what I had tried to will away. Six stress fractures in my tibia. I had danced an entire performance on a broken leg.

当我踏上舞台时，欢呼声如此响亮，我几乎听不见乐队的演奏，因为在那一刻，曾感觉永远不可能的事变得不可避免。第二天早上，我无法起床。每走一步都像有闪电穿过我的腿。检查结果揭示了我一直试图用意念驱散的事实：我的胫骨有六处应力性骨折。我是在一条断腿上跳完了整场演出。

Now it's hard to explain the mix of emotions. I felt pain, yes, but also pride. Fear and an unexpected calm that washed over me, knowing I had poured everything I had into that role. In giving it my all, I recognized that it was never only about me. And in that moment, I understood something essential. Resilience isn't about being unbreakable. It isn't about pretending the pain isn't there. It's about moving through the pain with purpose. Steadying yourself when the ground shifts beneath you. And holding on to calm long enough to keep going. A lesson I would need again and again.

此刻难以形容我混杂的情绪。是的，我感到痛苦，但也感到骄傲。恐惧以及一种意想不到的平静席卷了我，因为我知道我已为那个角色倾尽所有。在全力以赴的过程中，我意识到这从来不只是关乎我个人。在那一刻，我理解了一些本质的东西。韧性并非坚不可摧。它不是假装痛苦不存在。而是带着目标，穿越痛苦。是在脚下的地面移动时稳住自己。是保持足够长久的平静以继续前行。这是一个我需要反复学习的功课。

That clarity was a far cry from my childhood, where nothing felt certain. My mother raised six of us kids, largely on her own, and for much of my childhood we didn't have a home. We bounced around from motels, sleeping on friends couches, never sure if there would be food on the table, never knowing if we were going to have to change schools the next day. So as a child I just assumed everyone had what I craved the most. The one thing that felt so out of reach for me. And that was stability.

这种清晰与我的童年相去甚远，那时一切都感觉不确定。我母亲几乎是独自一人抚养我们六个孩子，在我童年的大部分时间里，我们没有家。我们在汽车旅馆之间辗转，睡在朋友的沙发上，永远不确定餐桌上是否会有食物，永远不知道第二天是否要转学。所以作为一个孩子，我以为每个人都拥有我最渴望的东西。那件对我来说遥不可及的东西，那就是稳定。

I kept people at a distance. I didn't want anyone to know what we were going through at home. I carried this quiet shame, and this loneliness' so heavy that I barely spoke. I mean, my nickname was mouse. I suffered from fierce migraines that would stop me dead in my tracks. And then at13. Late by every standard. I touched a ballet bar for the first time. It wasn't in a studio. It was on a basketball court at the san Pedro boys and girls club in my gym clothes and socks,

我与人们保持距离。我不想让任何人知道我们在家中的境遇。我背负着这种无声的羞耻和如此沉重的孤独，以至于我几乎不说话。我的绰号是“老鼠”。我患有剧烈的偏头痛，会让我突然动弹不得。然后在13岁，以任何标准都算很晚了，我第一次触摸到芭蕾把杆。那不是在舞蹈室。是在圣佩德罗男孩女孩俱乐部篮球场上，我穿着运动服和袜子，

but the moment my hand rested there on that bar, something shifted inside me. For the first time, my body released its tension. The music, the movement, the discipline. It all gave me consistency of rhythm to hold on to. My migraines disappeared. My posture straightened, my confidence began to flicker awake. Ballet made me feel alive and like I had purpose. It gave me stability when nothing else around me was stable. It taught me how to quiet the storm inside me and how to channel pain into artistry. It gave me the resilience to survive and in time, truly thrive.

但就在我的手放在那根把杆上的瞬间，我内心有些东西改变了。我的身体第一次释放了紧张。音乐、动作、纪律。所有这一切都给了我一种可以紧紧抓住的稳定节奏。我的偏头痛消失了。我的身姿挺直了，我的自信开始闪烁苏醒。芭蕾让我感到充满活力，仿佛我有了目标。当周围的一切都不稳定时，它给了我稳定。它教会我如何*息内心的风暴，如何将痛苦转化为艺术。它给了我生存的韧性，并最终让我真正茁壮成长。

But Bali was not always the safe place I hoped it would be. I was the only black woman in a company of more than80 dancers, and for all the stability and belonging I had discovered early on in ballet, I also had to face the reality that this art form, shaped centuries ago in European courts, was not originally intended for people who looked like me.

但芭蕾并非总是我希望的安全港湾。在一个超过80名舞者的舞团里，我是唯一的黑人女性。尽管我早早在芭蕾中找到了稳定和归属感，但也不得不面对一个现实：这种几个世纪前在欧洲宫廷塑造的艺术形式，最初并非为像我这样的人而设。

In my third year as a quarter of ballet member. The decision was made to exclude me from a filmed production of swan lake because I was told my brown skin would disrupt the aesthetic. Hearing those words cut deeper than I can describe in a single sentence, everything I loved about ballet, the beauty, the discipline, the stability it had given me was turned against me. I stood in the studio surrounded by my peers, but I felt utterly invisible.

在我成为芭蕾舞团成员的第三年。团里决定将我排除在电影版《天鹅湖》的制作之外，原因是我被告知，我的棕色皮肤会破坏美学。听到那些话，其伤害之深难以用一句话形容。我所热爱的关于芭蕾的一切——它给予我的美、纪律和稳定——都转而与我为敌。我站在排练室里，被同伴们包围，却感到彻底隐形。

I went home devastated, questioning whether this was truly a place for me to be in this world of ballet and that I had dedicated myself to. And yet, the next morning, I came back to the studio. And not because I felt strong. But because I feared if I walked away, the door might close forever, and not just for me, but for anyone who might follow. Resilience in that moment was not grand. It was quiet. It was showing up again, even when my heart was broken.

我回到家，身心俱疲，质疑芭蕾这个世界是否真正容我存在，质疑这个我全身心投入的地方。然而，第二天早上，我还是回到了排练室。不是因为我觉得坚强，而是因为我害怕如果我离开，那扇门可能会永远关闭，不仅对我，也对任何可能追随我的人。那一刻的韧性并不宏伟。它是寂静的。它是在心碎之后，依然选择再次出现。

More than a decade later, it was that same ballet, that damn swan lake, that gave me one of the most powerful moments of my career, a triumph built on the resilience I had relied on long before back when showing up, despite setbacks, felt impossible. I was given the opportunity to perform the swan queen, the lead role in swan lake, one of the most iconic roles in a ballerina's repertoire.

十多年后，正是那部同样的芭蕾，那部该死的《天鹅湖》，给予了我职业生涯中最强大的时刻之一。这场胜利建立在我很久以前就依靠的韧性之上，那时尽管遭遇挫折仍要坚持出现，感觉几乎不可能。我获得了出演天鹅女王的机会，这是《天鹅湖》中的主角，也是芭蕾舞演员剧目中极具代表性的角色。

By then, I was already a public figure, but stepping into that role with a kind of pressure that was far from normal for most ballerinas. When most dancers debut a principal role, the new York times doesn't review them before they've even stepped on stage. There aren't articles declaring that if they can't perform a sequence of32 fuetes perfectly, they don't deserve a promotion.

那时，我已经是一个公众人物，但接下这个角色所承受的压力，远非大多数芭蕾舞演员所能想象。当大多数舞者首次出演主要角色时，《纽约时报》不会在他们还未登台前就发表评论。也不会有文章宣称，如果他们不能完美地完成32个挥鞭转，就不配得到晋升。

But that was my reality. Before I even danced a step, my worth was being debated in print. Every headline reminded me that I wasn't being judged solely on my artistry or my technique, but also on the fact that I was a black woman standing in a role where no black woman at Abt had stood before.

但这就是我的现实。甚至在我跳一个舞步之前，我的价值就已在印刷品上被争论。每个标题都在提醒我，人们评判我的不仅限于我的艺术性或技巧，还因为我是站在一个Abt历史上从未有黑人女性站过的位置上的黑人女性。

And yet, in that pressure, I returned to what ballet had always been for me. A language of artistry. A way to tell stories. A place to find calm and beauty when the world could be anything but. When the day finally came to debut as the swan queen raven, wilkinson was in the audience. Raven had been the first black woman to dance in a major American ballet company, the ballet rouse to monte Carlo in the19 fifties, performing across segregated America while facing threats from the ku klux klan. She never imagined, and she told me this several times, I'd never imagined I would see a black woman in this role.

然而，在这种压力下，我回归了芭蕾对我始终如一的意义：一种艺术的语言。一种讲述故事的方式。一个当世界充满纷扰时，可以找到平静与美的地方。当我最终以天鹅女王的身份首次登台的那天，雷文·威尔金森就在观众席中。雷文是首位在美国主要芭蕾舞团（蒙特卡洛芭蕾舞团）跳舞的黑人女性，在20世纪50年代，她在种族隔离的美国各地演出，同时还要面对三K*的威胁。她从未想象过，她多次告诉我，她从未想过会看到一个黑人女性扮演这个角色。

And at my curtain call, she walked onstage and placed flowers in my hands. For both of us, it was a moment of transformation. A stage that had once literally shut her out. She was not allowed to dance on that stage was now a stage that we could stand on together. Resilience had turned pain into beauty. And beauty into legacy.

在我的谢幕时刻，她走上舞台，将鲜花放在我手中。对我们两人来说，这是一个转变的时刻。一个曾经将她拒之门外的舞台——她曾不被允许在那个舞台上跳舞——如今成了我们可以共同站立的地方。韧性已将痛苦转化为美。而美又化作了遗产。

In2015 I was promoted to principal dancer at American ballet theatre, the first black woman in the company's then75 year history. But resilience doesn't end with achievement, it asks, what now? For me, it meant expanding the stage beyond the opera house through the misty copeland foundation, bringing ballet into communities that once felt excluded, dancing with prince, someone who definitely helped me to expand the audience that we were reaching through ballet, through books, giving children stories they could see themselves through. Through film, showing movement as a universal language. Attempting to create new spaces for beauty to take root and ensuring the stage is wide enough for others to step onto has been a small way to offer others the strength and support to discover their own resilience, to build it and to store it for the moments they would need it most.

2015年，我被提升为美国芭蕾舞剧院的首席舞者，是该舞团当时75年历史上的首位黑人女性。但韧性并不会因成就而终结，它叩问着：现在怎么办？对我来说，这意味着通过米斯蒂·科普兰基金会将舞台扩展到歌剧院之外，将芭蕾带入那些曾感到被排斥的社区；意味着与王子共舞，他无疑帮助我扩大了通过芭蕾触及的观众群；意味着通过书籍，为孩子们提供能从中看到自己影子的故事；意味着通过电影，展示运动作为一种通用语言。尝试为美创造新的扎根空间，并确保舞台足够宽广让他人也能踏上，这是我提供的一种微小的方式，给予他人力量和支持，去发现他们自己的韧性，去建立它，并在他们最需要的时候将其储存起来。

So if you remember nothing else from my story, remember this. Resilience doesn't require an easy beginning or a perfect ending. It's about persistence and showing up again and again. It's the quiet decision to return to rehearsal after rejection, to rise when the world says you don't belong. To create beauty even when the ground beneath you is unsteady. That is the resilience that ballet gave me. And resilience is a skill we can all draw on, one that belongs to anyone, anywhere, whenever it is needed. Thank you.

所以，如果你从我的故事中什么都没记住，请记住这一点：韧性不要求轻松的开端或完美的结局。它关乎坚持，关乎一次又一次地出现。它是在被拒绝后选择默默回到排练室的决定，是在世界说你不属于这里时选择站起来。是在脚下的土地不稳时依然选择创造美。这就是芭蕾给予我的韧性。而韧性是我们都可以汲取的一种技能，它属于任何人，任何地方，在任何需要的时候。谢谢。

That was misty copeland at ted next2025.

以上是米斯蒂·科普兰在2025年TED大会上的演讲。