The family of ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who came to the US from an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone and performed on the world’s biggest stages, announced her death. She was 29.
“Michaela touched our lives and many others. “She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story” her family stated Friday on DePrince’s social media sites. From her childhood in war-torn Africa to stages and screens worldwide, she achieved her aspirations and more.”
The reason for death was unknown.
By 17, DePrince had been in a documentary and on “Dancing With the Stars.” An American couple adopted her.
After high school, she became a principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. She danced with the Dutch National Ballet in Holland. After returning to the US, she joined the Boston Ballet in 2021.
“We’re sending our love and support to the family of Michaela Mabinty DePrince at this time of loss,” the Boston Ballet told The Associated Press on Saturday. “We were so fortunate to know her; she was a beautiful person, a wonderful dancer, and we will miss her.”
Her memoir, “Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina,” chronicled her rise from orphanage to stage. The orphanage referred to DePrince, who had a skin pigmentation problem, as “the devil’s child” and inspired her to write a children’s book, Ballerina Dreams.
“I lost both my parents, so I was there (the orphanage) for about a year, and I wasn’t treated very well because I had vitiligo,” DePrince told the AP in 2012. We received food, clothes, and other necessities based on our rank, with 27 being my least favourite.
She said she remembers seeing a magazine portrait of an American ballet dancer that blew against the orphanage gate during Sierra Leone’s civil war.
“All I remember is she looked really, really happy,” DePrince told the AP, adding that she wanted “to become this exact person.”
She saw hope in that snapshot. “And I ripped the page out and stuck it in my underwear because I didn’t have any place to put it,” she recalled.
Her family said her dedication inspired young black dancers to follow their ambitions.
“We will miss her and her gorgeous smile forever, and we know you will too,” they stated.
Her sister, Mia Mabinty DePrince, stated in the declaration that they slept on a mat in the orphanage and made up musical theatre plays and ballets.
“Our parents quickly poured into our dreams after our adoption, creating the beautiful, gracefully strong ballerina you all knew,” Mia DePrince wrote. “Whether she was leaping across the stage or flying to third-world countries to teach orphans and children to dance, she was determined to achieve all her dreams in the arts and dance.”
She leaves five sisters and two brothers. In lieu of flowers, the family suggested donations to War Child, where Prince was an ambassador.
“This work meant the world to her, and your donations will directly help other children who grew up in armed conflict,” the family statement read.
