Misty Copeland reveals she “physically couldn’t walk” right after her farewell performance

Misty Copeland faces some physical challenges a week after taking his final bow.

Less than a week after performing at American Ballet Theater (ABT) for the last time on Wednesday, October 22, Copeland spoke with New York Times about saying goodbye.

While she feels free “in so many ways,” Copeland also noted, “Once you’re in shape and you’ve really focused on the artistry and the people and the relationships, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is what it is. This is what I forgot; this is what it’s for.” ”

Copeland also said she has been “dealing with a really bad hip injury,” adding that “everything just fell apart” a week before the final performance.

“It was really hard to dance with the total abandon that I’m used to,” she shared New York Times.

When she rehearsed her final number, Twyla Tharp’s “Sinatra Suite,” she was in “so much pain.”

“I changed things in the moment,” she said. “But I was just trying to stay in touch with my partners and really be present that way. So I guess I was free in my approach.”

One of the first people she called to share the news of her hip injury was Tharp.

“Two days before the show, I woke up to all these emails from her saying, ‘Call me, call me.’ She just said, ‘Misty, do whatever you want. I don’t care. Change the steps,'” Copeland recalled. “She’s like, ‘This isn’t about me. This isn’t about the choreography. Try to enjoy yourself.” ”

Despite her ability to finish rehearsals and give a crowd-pleasing performance, she “physically couldn’t walk” after the show. “My hip, it really locked up. It just needs to calm down. It’s really inflamed.”

Although she is suffering from a hip injury, Copeland shared New York Times that she is headed to Los Angeles for a “really cool opportunity.”

“It’s nothing like what I did,” she said. “I want to find a way to do things that I enjoy that don’t include ‘Swan Lake.'”

When she returns from LA, she meets with her team of doctors to figure out how she can continue dancing.

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Since I started dancing again, “I realized that I have to keep moving my body,” Copeland said.

“And I want to keep moving my body, but it can look the way I want it to look,” she said. “And I think that’s the beauty of movement and the beauty of aging and finding ways to move.”

During her final ABT performance, titled A celebration in honor of Misty CopelandShe was honored for serving as the company’s first black female principal dancer in history since its founding in 1939. She was named principal dancer at the age of 32.

Copeland announced plans to retire in June and hadn’t danced in five years before taking the stage last week.

“It’s been 25 years at ABT, and I think it’s time,” Copeland told The Associated Press at that time. “It’s time for me to move on to the next step.”

Other dancers joined Copeland in celebrating her career at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. The event was chaired by Caroline Kennedy and Oprah Winfrey as part of ABT’s autumn gala.