Michaela DePrince
Sierra Leonean ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who was featured on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars” and in Beyonce’s music video album “Lemonade,” died Friday at 29, her family said.
It was broken by her personal Instagram before being confirmed by the howling gates of Facebook.
This is absolutely devastating; we were heartbroken to learn of the untimely death of our beloved sister Publicist Michaela Mabinty DePrince.
Where is Michaela DePrince today?
Michaela DePrince, a former Boston Ballet dancer and inspiration to many, has died at 29 DePrince spent three years, Dell’Anno says: “Not only putting herself on the map but working to help diversify classical dance.
Who is Michaela DePrince vitiligo?
DePrince said she suffered mistreatment and malnutrition at the orphanage while also dealing with a skin condition called vitiligo.
What is a fact about Michaela DePrince?
The DePrinces told Jordan and her sons she was on her way to Sierra Leone again, but she landed to a taxi sent by as an alternative of going to the DePrinces’ home.
In war-torn Sierra Leone, Michaela DePrince was born. She had to live in an orphanage then get bounced around various possible foster homes after her own family were convicted of embezzlement and murder, but Michaela never let her background stand in the way of a future that saw her one day become a principal ballerina on the global circuit.
Michaela had an impact on people all over the world, as she did on us. Lavon, wife-mother-grandmother of our lives … her story was an inspiration to all who knew her,” the family wrote in a statement.
DePrince was mourned by other members of the ballet world as well — even American ballerina Misty Copeland shared a video of DePrince dancing, and a passage about her in Copeland’s book “Black Ballerinas” on social media.
“In the face of being told ‘the world wasn’t ready for Black ballerinas’ or that ‘Black ballerinas weren’t worth investing in,’ she persisted, remained dedicated and resilient while ticking off milestone after milestone on her journey to make a powerful impact on the dance world,” wrote Copeland.
Born in Sierra Leone on January 6th, 1995 as Mabinty Bangura, DePrince lost her parents during a rebel attack when she was only three years old and ended up being abandoned at the orphanage by her uncle.
DePrince wrote in her 2014 book, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina,” that she was shunned by other children because of the vitiligo and also experienced malnutrition.
She was placed with New Jersey couple Elaine and Charles DePrince in 1999 at the age of four, and she later started taking ballet classes. DePrince began attending the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School for ballet on a scholarship at age 14.
After rising to fame in 2011 and appearing in the documentary “First Position,” Copeland has performed around the world, served as a second soloist with the prestigious Boston Ballet and spent time touring as a motivational speaker.
