Sierra Leonean ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince, known for her roles on Dancing with the Stars and Beyoncé's Lemonade music video album, passed away on Friday at the age of 29, her family announced.
Her death was first shared on her personal Instagram account and later confirmed by her family in a statement on Facebook. No cause of death was disclosed.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our beautiful sister, Michaela Mabinty DePrince. Michaela touched countless lives around the world, including ours. She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story,” her family said.
Tributes from the ballet community poured in, including from American ballerina Misty Copeland, who shared a video of DePrince dancing along with a passage from her book, Black Ballerinas, celebrating DePrince's perseverance in the face of adversity. “Despite being told the world wasn’t ready for Black ballerinas, she remained determined and began making big strides,” Copeland wrote.
DePrince was born Mabinty Bangura on January 6, 1995, in Kenema, Sierra Leone. During the civil war, she was sent to an orphanage at the age of three by her uncle. In her 2014 memoir, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina, DePrince detailed her struggles with vitiligo, a skin condition that isolated her from other children, and the malnourishment she endured.
In 1999, at the age of four, DePrince was adopted by Elaine and Charles DePrince of New Jersey, who enrolled her in ballet classes. By the age of 14, she earned a scholarship to the prestigious Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School.
She gained international recognition after starring in the 2011 documentary First Position and went on to perform globally, eventually joining the Boston Ballet as a second soloist while also working as a motivational speaker.
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