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Michaela DePrince

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Michaela DePrince
DePrince in 2019
Born
Mabinty Bangura

(1995-01-06)January 6, 1995
Kenema, Sierra Leone
DiedSeptember 10, 2024(2024-09-10) (aged 29)
New York City, U.S.
Education
OccupationBallet dancer
Years active2010–2024
Career
Former groups
Websitemichaeladeprince.com

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, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and the Dutch National Ballet.

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

With her adoptive mother, Elaine DePrince, she authored the book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina (2014). From 2016 to 2024, she was a goodwill ambassador with the Amsterdam-based organization War Child.

Early life

Born as Mabinty Bangura[1] on January 6, 1995,[2][3] into a Muslim family in Kenema, Sierra Leone,[4][5] she grew up as an orphan after her uncle brought her to an orphanage during the civil war. Her adoptive parents were told that her father was shot and killed by the Revolutionary United Front when she was three years old and that her mother starved to death soon after.[4]

Frequently malnourished, mistreated, and derided as a "devil's child" because of vitiligo,[6][7] a skin condition causing depigmentation, she fled to a refugee camp 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 Charles DePrince, a couple from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and taken to the United States.[4][9] She was given the new name Michaela Mabinty DePrince, named after Michael, an adopted son of the DePrinces who had died of AIDS during the hemophilia blood product contamination crisis.[10] The DePrinces raised 11 children, including Michaela, nine of whom were adopted.[11]

Career

Training

Inspired by a magazine cover of a ballerina she found outside the orphanage gates and kept while in Sierra Leone, DePrince trained as a ballet dancer in the U.S., performing at the Youth America Grand Prix among other competitions. She trained in classical ballet at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Concurrent with intense ballet training, she took online classes through Keystone National High School, where she earned her high school diploma.[12]

DePrince pursued a professional career despite encountering instances of racial discrimination. According to her or her mother, at age eight, she was told that she could not perform as Marie in The Nutcracker because "America's not ready for a Black girl ballerina." Her mother said that a year later a teacher told her that Black dancers were not worth investing money in, because they "end up having big boobs and big hips"; ultimately, DePrince remained petite as she grew older.[8]

DePrince in 2011

DePrince was one of the stars of the 2011 documentary film First Position, which follows six young dancers vying for a place in an elite ballet company or school at the Youth America Grand Prix.[13] She was awarded a scholarship to study at the American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet.[14] She also performed on the television program Dancing with the Stars.[15] In 2011, she made her European debut in Abdallah and the Gazelle of Basra with De Dutch Don't Dance Division, a dance company in The Hague, Netherlands.[16][17] She returned a year later to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker at the Lucent Dance Theatre.[18]

In 2012, DePrince graduated from the American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York City, and joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she was the youngest member of the company.[4][19][20] Her professional debut performance was in the role of Gulnare in Mzansi Productions and the South African Ballet Theatre's premiere of Le Corsaire on July 19, 2012.[8][21]

Dutch National Ballet

In July 2013, she joined the junior company of the Dutch National Ballet, based in Amsterdam.[22] In August 2014, she joined the Dutch National Ballet as an éleve (student). In 2015, she was promoted to the rank of coryphée. In 2016 she was promoted to the rank of grand sujet, and then to soloist at the end of the same year.[23] When she first joined the Dutch National Ballet, she was the only dancer of African origin.[24] In 2016, she performed in the "Hope" sequence of Beyoncé's Lemonade.[25]

DePrince in 2019

DePrince cited Lauren Anderson, one of the first Black American principal ballerinas, as her role model.[26] In 2015, MGM acquired the film rights to DePrince's book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.[27][28] In 2018, MGM announced that Madonna would direct Taking Flight, a biopic on DePrince's life and career.[29][30][31][32]

In 2019, DePrince produced a gala for War Child Holland, which raised more than half a million dollars for children and youth affected by armed conflict.[33] In September 2020, DePrince announced that she was taking a leave of absence from the Dutch National Ballet.[33] She started online coaching sessions with Charla Genn, a faculty member at the Juilliard School.[33]

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

Boston Ballet

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

Personal life and death

While a dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, DePrince went on tour to Israel where she prayed. She wore a hamsa, a symbol that is significant to both Jews and Muslims,[3] for protection while traveling to the Dome of the Rock and the Dead Sea.[36]

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

When DePrince's adoptive father, Charles DePrince, died in June 2020, she was unable to travel from Amsterdam to Atlanta to say goodbye and be with her family due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, further complicated by unrest due to the murder of George Floyd.[33] In September 2020, she took time off from her career to grieve and deal with her mental health through therapy.[33]

DePrince died in New York City on September 10, 2024, at the age of 29.[10] Her death was announced three days later via her Instagram page and the Dutch National Opera website.[38][39] As of September 16, the cause of her death has not been determined.[10] In a statement, her family requested that people donate to War Child, an organization DePrince supported, in lieu of sending flowers.[1] DePrince died one day before her adoptive mother, Elaine, died from heart failure.[10] Her mother had not been made aware of Michaela's death, and Michaela had not been aware of the sudden decline in her mother's health.[40]

References

  1. ^ a b Walker, Adria R. (September 13, 2024). "Trailblazing ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince dies at 29". The Guardian. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  2. ^ Fuhrer, Margaret (March 20, 2012). "Michaela DePrince". Dance Spirit magazine. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c DePrince, Michaela; Elaine, DePrince (2014). Taking Flight: From War Orphan To Star Ballerina. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-385-75513-9.
  4. ^ a b c d e Smith, David (July 16, 2012). "Sierra Leone war orphan returns to Africa en pointe for ballet debut". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  5. ^ Kuperinsky, Amy (September 13, 2024). "Ballet star Michaela DePrince dead at 29. Dancer with remarkable story had beginnings in N.J." NJ.com. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  6. ^ "Becoming Michaela DePrince". Ayiba. April 2015.
  7. ^ "HuffPost Teen's '18 Under 18' Of 2012! (PHOTOS)". Huffington Post. December 31, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c Petesch, Carley (July 11, 2012). "Star dancer born into war grows up to inspire". Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  9. ^ Marquis, Cate, "Ballet documentary defies stereotypes", STL Jewish Light, May 16, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d Traub, Alex (September 15, 2024). "Michaela DePrince, War Orphan Turned Leading Ballerina, Dies at 29". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  11. ^ Hayasaki, Erika, "I Was Orphan Number 27: Ballerina Michaela DePrince's Inspiring Story", Glamour, July 16, 2015.
  12. ^ Epstein, Eli, and Jennifer Polland (July 5, 2012), "The Most Impressive Kids Graduating From High School This Year", Business Insider.
  13. ^ Garrett, Giannella (May 2012). "Defying Gravity: Teen Ballerina Michaela DePrince". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  14. ^ Towers, Deirdre (August 21, 2013). "The Incredible Rise of a Young Ballerina, Michaela DePrince". The Dance Enthusiast. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  15. ^ "Ballerina Michaela DePrince, Once An Orphan From War-Torn Sierra Leone, Defies The Odds And Racial Stereotypes". Huffington Post. December 6, 2017 [May 8, 2012].
  16. ^ "DeDDDD: Dancing in Winter Wonderland". The Hague Online. 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  17. ^ "In Memoriam Michaela DePrince". Nationale Opera & Ballet. September 13, 2024. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  18. ^ "The Nutcracker Returns to The Hague this Christmas!". The Hague Online. 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  19. ^ Murray, Rheana (April 11, 2013). "Michaela DePrince: War orphan to star ballerina". Daily News. New York.
  20. ^ Mackrell, Judith (November 28, 2013), "Everyday racism: how to be a black ballet dancer in a white world", The Guardian.
  21. ^ "From A War-Torn Childhood To Dance Stardom". Huffington Post. July 11, 2012.
  22. ^ Harss, Marina (October 5, 2013). "Michaela DePrince – Junior Company, Dutch National Ballet". DanceTabs. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  23. ^ "Michaela DePrince CV", Nationale Opera & Ballet.
  24. ^ Siegal, Nina (March 13, 2015). "For Michaela DePrince, a Dream Comes True at the Dutch National Ballet". The New York Times.
  25. ^ Klein, Alyssa, "Meet The Sierra Leonean Ballet Star From Beyoncé's 'Lemonade'", OkayAfrica, April 29, 2016.
  26. ^ "African Voices". CNN. August 30, 2012.
  27. ^ Maas, Jennifer (March 19, 2015). "MGM acquires rights to 'Taking Flight' ballerina memoir". Entertainment Weekly.
  28. ^ Anthony D'Alessandro (March 19, 2015), "Ballerina Memoir 'Taking Flight' En Pointe For MGM, Alloy", Deadline Hollywood.
  29. ^ Respers, Lisa (March 14, 2018), "Madonna to direct biopic of ballerina from 'Lemonade' video", CNN.
  30. ^ Hallemann, Caroline (March 14, 2018), "Madonna to Direct a Film Based on Ballerina Michaela DePrince's Life", Town & Country.
  31. ^ Rose, Steve (March 14, 2018), "Madonna to direct movie based on life of ballerina Michaela DePrince", The Guardian.
  32. ^ Wingenroth, Lauren (March 13, 2018), "Michaela DePrince Is Getting A Biopic—And Madonna Is Directing It", Dance Magazine.
  33. ^ a b c d e f Howard, Theresa Ruth (November 3, 2021). "Michaela DePrince Makes Her Next Move". Pointe. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  34. ^ "Coppelia: the movie". operaballet.nl. July 14, 2022.
  35. ^ "Boston Ballet announces its roster for 2021–22". MSN. September 3, 2021. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
  36. ^ DePrince, Michaela; DePrince, Elaine (December 30, 2014). Hope in a Ballet Shoe: Orphaned by war, saved by ballet: an extraordinary true story. Faber & Faber. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-571-31448-5.
  37. ^ Poole, Sheila (July 29, 2015), "Black ballerina Michaela DePrince hopes to inspire others", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  38. ^ "In Memoriam Michaela DePrince | Nationale Opera & Ballet". www.operaballet.nl. September 13, 2024. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
  39. ^ "Instagram".
  40. ^ Pikora, Jillian (September 14, 2024). "Michaela DePrince's Mother Elaine Died Day After Daughter". Daily Voice. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
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