In Memory of Michaela DePrince
Michaela DePrince, 2019. Superimposed on the image: the May 1979 cover of Dance Magazine that played a pivotal role in Michaela’s life.
The dance world is mourning the sudden death of Michaela Mabinty DePrince at the age of 29. Michaela passed away on 10 September 2024. As of 21 September, no cause has been given.
Michaela DePrince was born Mabinty Bangura in Sierra Leone on 6 January 1995, in the middle of a brutal civil war that would shape her early childhood. By the time she was three years old, her father had been killed by rebels from the Revolutionary United Front and her mother had died of starvation and disease. Her uncle deposited the tiny orphan at an orphanage and left. Since birth, Michaela suffered from vitiligo, a skin pigmentation condition that made her skin look spotted. Back in her village, the other children had been scared of her. At the orphanage, some of the children and staff called her “devil child” and “leopard girl.” But there was one girl who played with her and comforted her, a girl who shared her first name “Mabinty.” The two Mabintys were adopted by the American couple Charles and Elaine DePrince when Michaela was four years old, and raised in America.
Michaela took her first ballet class shortly after her arrival in America. She persevered against the odds of systemic racism in the ballet world and fulfilled her dream of becoming a professional classical ballet dancer. She first rose to fame as one of six talented young dancers competing at the Youth America Grand Prix portrayed in the award-winning documentary First Position. After graduating from American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, she joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem, rose to the rank of soloist during her nine years with Dutch National Ballet, and then became a second soloist at Boston Ballet in 2022. While still at Dutch National Ballet, an injury gave her time and space to undergo therapy to address the post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her childhood traumas. Michaela DePrince was a role model and ambassador for black representation in ballet, but also an advocate for children affected by conflict and violence. She became an ambassador for War Child in 2016.
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Michaela DePrince was an inspiration to many, both as a dancer and as a human being. Paying tribute to everything she accomplished in her short life, TWoA would also like to honour two women at the centre of her story. The two women are the ballerina who personified hope for the war orphan in Sierra Leone, and the woman who gave her a safe and loving home in America. Michaela told the story of her childhood and youth in the memoir she co-authored with her adoptive mother Elaine DePrince when she was only seventeen, at the very beginning of her professional career (Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina). One of the key moments determining the course of her life happened when she was still at the orphanage in Sierra Leone.
One day, Michaela woke up to air that was thick with orange dust. The children were told to stay inside the orphanage, but Michaela suddenly imagined that the wind carried her dead father’s voice. The little girl ran into the courtyard, wondering whether her father was alive, after all. The cold, dusty wind was blowing so forcefully that it almost knocked her over as she was running towards the gate. When she looked through the gate, she didn’t see her father, but long lines of people running away from the rebels who had reached their town:
“I peered through the wrought-iron gate, hoping that someone would come to take me away. Just then I was slapped in the face. ‘Ugh! Trash!’ I exclaimed, but it wasn’t trash at all. I had been attacked by the pages of a magazine. The magazine was stuck in the gate, exactly where my face had been. I reached my hand through and grabbed it. It was filled with shiny pages printed with pictures of white people.” Flipping through the magazine, one image in particular grabbed her attention. The photo would change her life: “A white lady was wearing a very short, glittering pink skirt that stuck out all around her. She also wore pink shoes that looked like the silk fabric I had once seen in the marketplace, and she was standing on the very tips of her toes.” Michaela showed the image to her favourite teacher at the orphanage, who explained that it showed a ballerina. From that moment, Michaela wanted to learn ballet.
The situation around the orphanage deteriorated to the point where the rebels occupied the building, declaring the orphanage their new headquarters. By a miracle, the orphanage’s director managed to assemble the children, and to lead them through the jungle and over mountains into neighbouring Guinea. Michaela took along the page with the picture of the ballerina, carrying it with her as the children passed unspeakable scenes on the road: “That picture was my only hope. It was my promise of a better life somewhere away from the madness.”
In Guinea, Michaela and her best friend from the orphanage were picked up by Elaine DePrince, their adoptive mother. In the hotel room, Michaela showed the picture of the ballerina to Elaine: “My mama crouched down in front of me again and placed her hands on my shoulder. Very slowly she said, ‘Home in America. . . you will dance.’“
Michaela took her first ballet lesson shortly after her arrival in America. Her adoptive parents enabled her to develop her talent for dance, supporting her throughout her long journey towards the professional stage.
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Michaela lost the picture of the ballerina while still in Guinea, but her image of hope was etched in her memory. Many years later, Elaine DePrince started searching for the image on the internet. After much persistence, she found it, and Michaela and Elaine printed out a tiny version. A journalist later helped them trace the image: it was the cover of the May 1979 issue of Dance Magazine and showed Magali Messac, a French American principal dancer with the Pennsylvania Ballet, who was subsequently invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join American Ballet Theatre as principal dancer.
Michaela’s adoptive father died in 2020. Elaine DePrince died unexpectedly on 11 September 2024 during a routine pre-surgical procedure, a day after Michaela. The family announced that Elaine had not been aware of Michaela’s death. Michaela is survived by her sisters Mia, Amie Jaye, Mariel and Bee, and her brothers Erik and Adam.
Dutch National Ballet created this video tribute to Michaela: