Michaela Mabinty DePrince, a significant figure and inspiration in the ballet community, passed away at 29. This was shared by her spokesperson on her Instagram page Friday. The cause of her death hasn’t been made public.
Ballet dancer Michaela DePrince “Her was filled with grace, purpose, and strength,” read the caption. “Her deep commitment to her art, humanitarian efforts, & courage in facing unimaginable challenges will always inspire us. She was a light of hope for many, demonstrating that even in the darkest times, beauty & greatness can emerge.”
Following the announcement of her passing, DePrince’s family issued a statement.
“I’m in shock and deeply sad. My beautiful sister is gone,” Mia DePrince said. “From our early days in Africa, sharing a mat in the orphanage, Michaela (Mabinty) and I created our own musical theater plays and acted them out. We even made up our own ballets… After our adoption, our parents supported our dreams and nurtured the beautiful, strong ballerina many of you know. She inspired us all.”
DePrince was born Mabinty Bangura in Sierra Leone. At just three years old, she went to an orphanage after losing both parents during the civil war. While there, she faced mistreatment and malnourishment, which she spoke about to the Associated in 2012.
“I lost both my parents,” she recalled. “I stayed at the orphanage for about a year and didn’t get treated well because of my vitiligo. We were assigned numbers—27 was the least favorite: that was mine. So I got less food and clothes than everyone else.”
After learning that the orphanage would be bombed, DePrince walked barefoot for miles to reach a refugee camp. Her mother adopted Michaela and two other girls from that orphanage after meeting them in Ghana in 1999. She described Michaela as “sick and traumatized by the war,” suffering from tonsillitis, fever, mononucleosis, & swollen joints—she was four years old when she moved to America.
DePrince’s love for ballet sparked as a kid in Sierra Leone when she saw a picture of a ballerina. Although she began training at five years old, she still faced challenges along her journey. At eight, she heard that America wasn’t ready for a Black ballerina even though she got picked to play Marie in The Nutcracker. A teacher told her mom when she was nine that investing in Black girls was pointless.
Eventually, she attended the Rock School for Dance Education—a prestigious ballet school.
At 17, DePrince appeared in First Position—a documentary that follows dancers preparing for the Youth America Grand Prix. She earned a scholarship at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet. After high school, DePrince danced at the Dance Theatre of Harlem & became its youngest principal dancer ever.
In 2012, she performed her first full ballet professionally in South Africa; then joined the Dutch National Ballet’s junior company the year after.
Folks unfamiliar with ballet might recall seeing DePrince dance in Beyoncé’s Lemonade at age 21—wearing an old-timey tutu and headpiece! In 2021, she joined Boston Ballet as a second soloist & starred in Coppelia—a ballet film that same year.
DePrince shared how earlier Black dancers inspired her despite facing racism & xenophobia while at Boston Ballet.
“I’m really lucky,” DePrince noted back then. “There was Lauren Anderson—I had someone to look up to at Houston Ballet…” She mentioned other names too but highlighted how few there were: “But what I think about often is spreading more poppies amongst daffodils—that means having more Black & brown dancers.”
Despite all her achievements, DePrince always remembered where she came from—she became a humanitarian aiming to open a dance & arts school back home in Sierra Leone.
“That’d be amazing—I wanna use money from this book [a memoir called Hope in a Ballet Shoe] to start it,” she shared with The Guardian back in 2015. “It’ll have to wait until I retire from dancing though. The arts changed me as a person; dancing helped me express emotions & connect with my family—it helped me feel special instead of being seen as the ‘devil’s child’. Those kids don’t have opportunities like I did—they shouldn’t miss out.”
Throughout her career, DePrince championed including more Black dancers into ballet.
“There are hardly any Black people in ballet; so I must speak up,” she told The Guardian.
In place of flowers during this time of loss, her family has requested donations go to War Child—an organization close to DePrince’s heart.
“This work meant everything to her; your donations will help other kids who grew up with armed conflicts,” they expressed. “Thank you.”
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