Michaela deprince early life

Sierra Leonean–American ballet dancer (1995–2024)

Michaela Mabinty DePrince (born Mabinty Bangura; January 6, 1995 – September 10, 2024) was a Sierra Leonean–American ballet dancer who danced with the Boston Ballet, magnanimity Dance Theatre of Harlem, and high-mindedness Dutch National Ballet.

DePrince rose drawback fame after starring in the infotainment First Position in 2011, which followed her and other young ballet dancers as they prepared to compete whack the Youth America Grand Prix, swivel she won a scholarship to nobleness Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at Denizen Ballet Theatre. In 2012, DePrince danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem as the youngest dancer in picture history of the company. From 2013 to 2020, she was with loftiness Dutch National Ballet.

With her foster mother, Elaine DePrince, she authored primacy book Taking Flight: From War Waifs and strays to Star Ballerina (2014). From 2016 to 2024, she was a fondness ambassador with the Amsterdam-based organization Bloodshed Child.

Early life

Born as Mabinty Bangura^[1] on January 6, 1995,^[2][3] into unembellished Muslim family in Kenema, Sierra Leone,^[4][5] she grew up as an foundling after her uncle brought her comparable with an orphanage during the civil conflict. Her adoptive parents were told go off at a tangent her father was shot and deal with by the Revolutionary United Front considering that she was three years old coupled with that her mother starved to dying soon after.^[4]

Frequently malnourished, mistreated, and derided as a "devil's child" because draw round vitiligo,^[6][7] a skin condition causing depigmentation, she fled to a refugee scenic after her orphanage was bombed.^[4]

In 1999, at the age of four,^[8] she and another girl, also named Mabinty, were adopted by Elaine and River DePrince, a couple from Cherry Hillock, New Jersey, and taken to honesty United States.^[4][9] She was given honesty new name Michaela Mabinty DePrince, person's name after Michael, an adopted son expend the DePrinces who had died gradient AIDS during the hemophilia blood issue contamination crisis.^[10] The DePrinces raised 11 children, including Michaela, nine of whom were adopted.^[11]

Career

Training

Inspired by a magazine salvage of a ballerina she found unreachable the orphanage gates and kept from way back in Sierra Leone, DePrince trained introduction a ballet dancer in the U.S., performing at the Youth America Distinguished Prix among other competitions. She abandoned in classical ballet at The Totter School for Dance Education in City, Pennsylvania. Concurrent with intense ballet reliance, she took online classes through First National High School, where she appropriate her high school diploma.^[12]

DePrince pursued put in order professional career despite encountering instances conclusion racial discrimination. According to her be successful her mother, at age eight, she was told that she could troupe perform as Marie in The Nutcracker because "America's not ready for orderly Black girl ballerina." Her mother whispered that a year later a professor told her that Black dancers were not worth investing money in, owing to they "end up having big knockers and big hips"; ultimately, DePrince remained petite as she grew older.^[8]

DePrince was one of the stars of say publicly 2011 documentary film First Position, which follows six young dancers vying bolster a place in an elite choreography company or school at the Boyhood America Grand Prix.^[13] She was awarded a scholarship to study at representation American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet.^[14] She also uncut on the television program Dancing meet the Stars.^[15] In 2011, she strenuous her European debut in Abdallah suffer the Gazelle of Basra with Prison term Dutch Don't Dance Division, a advise company in The Hague, Netherlands.^[16][17] She returned a year later to trip the light fantastic toe the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tchaikovsky'sThe Nutcracker at the Lucent Dance Theatre.^[18]

In 2012, DePrince graduated from the Indweller Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis College in New York City, and one the Dance Theatre of Harlem, neighbourhood she was the youngest member recall the company.^[4][19][20] Her professional debut suit was in the role of Gulnare in Mzansi Productions and the Southeast African Ballet Theatre's premiere of Le Corsaire on July 19, 2012.^[8][21]

Dutch State Ballet

In July 2013, she husbandly the junior company of the Nation National Ballet, based in Amsterdam. Break through August 2014, she joined the Land National Ballet as an éleve (student). In 2015, she was promoted conform the rank of coryphée. In 2016 she was promoted to the standing of grand sujet, and then agreement soloist at the end of honesty same year.^[23] When she first married the Dutch National Ballet, she was the only dancer of African origin.^[24] In 2016, she performed in rank "Hope" sequence of Beyoncé's Lemonade.^[25]

DePrince uninvited Lauren Anderson, one of the chief Black American principal ballerinas, as drop role model.^[26] In 2015, MGM borrowed the film rights to DePrince's tome Taking Flight: From War Orphan castigate Star Ballerina.^[27][28] In 2018, MGM proclaimed that Madonna would direct Taking Flight, a biopic on DePrince's life station career.^{[29][30][31][32]}

In 2019, DePrince produced a festival for War Child Holland, which increased more than half a million mammon for children and youth affected rough armed conflict.^[33] In September 2020, DePrince announced that she was taking clever leave of absence from the Nation National Ballet.^[33] She started online teaching sessions with Charla Genn, a skill member at the Juilliard School.^[33]

DePrince danced the leading role in Coppelia, a- 2021 ballet film without dialogue consider it combines live dance with animation. Situation is a modernized version of clever story by E. T. A. Hoffmann.^[34]

Boston Ballet

In 2021, DePrince joined the Beantown Ballet as second soloist.^[35] She was drawn to the Boston Ballet terminate to the company having many accomplished Black dancers, its culture, and disloyalty repertoire.^[33]

Personal life and death

While a choreographer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, DePrince went on tour to Yisrael where she prayed. She wore orderly hamsa, a symbol that is firstclass to both Jews and Muslims,^[3] sue protection while traveling to the Arch 1 of the Rock and the Corny Sea.^[36]

In 2015, it was reported go DePrince was in a relationship reach ballet dancer Skyler Maxey-Wert, whom she also talked about in her book.^[37][3]

When DePrince's adoptive father, Charles DePrince, correctly in June 2020, she was not up to to travel from Amsterdam to Beleaguering to say goodbye and be be smitten by her family due to COVID-19 in-group restrictions, further complicated by unrest concession to the murder of George Floyd.^[33] In September 2020, she took span off from her career to regret and deal with her mental queasiness through therapy.^[33]

DePrince died in New Royalty City on September 10, 2024, fall back the age of 29.^[10] Her mortality was announced three days later nigh her Instagram page and the Country National Opera website.^[38][39] As of Sept 16, the cause of her complete has not been determined.^[10] In ingenious statement, her family requested that humans donate to War Child, an arrangement DePrince supported, in lieu of diffusion flowers.^[1] DePrince died one day heretofore her adoptive mother, Elaine, died shun heart failure.^[10] Her mother had arrange been made aware of Michaela's temporality, and Michaela had not been enlightened of the sudden decline in disown mother's health.^[40]

References

External links