--- description: As revealed on The Late Show title: Here's Misty Copeland's Secret to a Flawless Ballet Routine image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Misty Copeland's Secret to a Flawless Ballet Routine by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2015 2:36 PM CUT by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2015 2:36 PM CUT On Monday night, ballerina Misty Copeland[ performed](http://time.com/4062685/misty-copeland-yo-yo-ma-late-show/ "undefined") on _The Late Show With Stephen Colbert_ with legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In a follow-up clip posted to the show’s YouTube channel, Copeland revealed the secret that allows her to always dance perfectly in time with the music. The trick, she says, is that all of her dances are carefully choreographed to work with _all_ music. Watch above as Copeland proves that her routines really do work with just about any genre you can imagine. Hard rock, bluegrass, you name it. Misty can dance to it. _Read next:_ [_Misty Copeland Becomes First Black Principal Ballerina at American Ballet Theatre_ ](http://time.com/3941742/misty-copeland-black-principal-dancer/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4066214/misty-copeland-dance-secret/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4066214/misty-copeland-dance-secret/"},"headline":"Here's Misty Copeland's Secret to a Flawless Ballet Routine","datePublished":"2015-10-08T14:36:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:44.275Z","description":"As revealed on The Late Show","url":"https://time.com/4066214/misty-copeland-dance-secret/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Arts"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4066214/misty-copeland-dance-secret/","name":"Here's Misty Copeland's Secret to a Flawless Ballet Routine"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes With Misty Copeland","description":"Take a look behind the scenes of TIME's photoshoot with Misty Copeland.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QD1U3Qm9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-16T01:12:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QD1U3Qm9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4066214/misty-copeland-dance-secret/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4066214/misty-copeland-dance-secret/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```