Michaela DePrince death: Tributes pour in for beloved ballerina
Michaela DePrince performs Giselle with the English National ballet at the Coliseum on January 13, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
Michaela DePrince, the famed dancer who went from an orphanage in Sierra Leone to the world’s best ballet stages, is being remembered as a "brilliant artist" and "beautiful soul" a day after her death was announced.
"Michaela touched so many lives across the world, including ours. She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story," her family said in a statement posted Friday on DePrince's social media accounts. "From her early life in war-torn Africa, to stages and screens across the world, she achieved her dreams and so much more."
A cause of death was not provided.
DePrince was little more than a toddler when she saw her first ballerina — an image in a magazine page blown against the gate of the orphanage where she ended up during Sierra Leone’s civil war. It showed an American ballet dancer posed on tip toe.
"All I remember is she looked really, really happy," Michaela told The Associated Press in 2012, not long before she performed in her first professional full ballet. She wished "to become this exact person."
From the misery of the orphanage, "I saw hope in it. And I ripped the page out and I stuck it in my underwear because I didn’t have any place to put it."
DePrince suffered a skin pigmentation disorder that had her labeled "the devil’s child" at the orphanage.
She was later adopted by an American couple and by age 17 she had been featured in a documentary film and had performed on the TV show "Dancing With the Stars." She was also hand-picked by Beyoncé to star in her "Freedom" music video from the 2016 "Lemonade" album.
"We were so fortunate to know her; she was a beautiful person, a wonderful dancer, and she will be greatly missed by us all," the Boston Ballet said in a statement to The Associated Press.
After graduating from high school and the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, she became a principal dancer at Dance Theatre of Harlem and made history as the youngest dancer to be featured in principal roles.
DePrince then went from Harlem to the Netherlands, where she danced with the Dutch National Ballet. She later returned to the U.S. and joined the Boston Ballet in 2021.
Her memoir, "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina," has been translated into multiple languages and published in 12 countries. She also wrote a children's book, "Ballerina Dreams."
Her passion helped inspire young Black dancers to pursue their own dreams, her family said.
"We will miss her and her gorgeous smile forever and we know you will, too," their statement said.
DePrince is survived by five sisters and two brothers. In lieu of flowers, her family requested that donations be made to War Child, an organization DePrince was involved with as a War Child Ambassador.
"Whether she was leaping across the stage or getting on a plane and flying to third-world countries to provide orphans and children with dance classes, she was determined to conquer all her dreams," her sister Mia Mabinty DePrince said in a statement.