Michaela DePrince, the Sierra Leonean-American ballerina who inspired a world of ballet students with her story of overcoming being orphaned and discriminated against, has died. She was 29.
No cause of death was disclosed when the heartbreaking announcement of her death first came from an Instagram post on her official account on Friday, Sept. 13. It said, “Rest in Power: Ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince.”
DePrince, a second soloist for the Boston Ballet, was born Jan. 6, 1995, in Sierra Leone in West Africa, and lost both of her parents during the civil war that tore the nation when she was 3. Her father was murdered in the war and her mother died of a fever. She was immediately placed in an orphanage, where she was bullied, abused and underfed because she had the skin condition vitiligo.
Amid her suffering, DePrince dreamed big. While at the orphanage, she saw a picture of a ballerina, which gave her hope and ignited her passion to emulate what she saw as a fairy tale. That dream began to take shape when she was adopted by a New Jersey family that enrolled her in ballet school at the age of 4.
A history-maker
DePrince made history as the youngest principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem before moving to the Netherlands to dance with the Dutch National Ballet. Along the way, she was exposed to discrimination and often passed over for major dance parts, such as in The Nutcracker.
Said DePrince, “I had a lot of teachers saying, ‘Well, we don’t really believe in Black ballerinas’ or ‘We think you’re going to end up getting fat with big boobs and big thighs. You should just be a modern dancer.’ There’s a lot of people who didn’t believe in me.”
She wrote a 2014 memoir about her struggles, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina, which was co-written by her adoptive mother, Elaine.
Through persistence, she joined a rare sorority of Black professional ballerinas, even being chosen by Beyonce to dance a solo in the 2016 “Freedom” music video from her Lemonade album. She was also featured on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2012 and in the 2021 movie Coppelia.
It was her dream to open a ballet school back in Sierra Leone.
“There’s not a lot of us,” DePrince once said. “But what I always try to think about and what my passion is, is spreading more poppies in a field of daffodils, so to have more Black and brown dancers.”
‘A beacon of hope for many’
DePrince’s team said she “stood as a beacon of hope for many, showing that no matter the obstacles, beauty and greatness can rise from the darkest of places.”
“Though her time with us was far too brief, her brilliance and legacy will continue to shine in the hearts of all who were touched by her story, for generations to come,” read the official family statement, released through spokeswoman Jess Volinski. “Love and prayers go to her chosen family, friends, and those who loved her.”
DePrince is survived by her sisters Mia, Beelee, Jaye, Mariel, Amie, and her brothers Adam and Erik. In a written statement on Facebook, Mia said she is “truly in a state of shock and deep sadness.” She spoke for fans around the world.
“My beautiful sister is no longer here,” Mia wrote. “From the very beginning of our story back in Africa, sleeping on a shared mat in the orphanage, Michaela (Mabinty) and I used to make up our own musical theater plays and act them out.”
