Trailblazing ballerina Michaela Mabinti DePrince has died aged 29

Michaela Mabinti DePrince, a trailblazer and inspiration to many in the ballet world, has died at the age of 29, a spokesperson announced on her Instagram page on Friday. No cause of death is yet known.

“Her life was defined by grace, purpose and strength,” the caption said. “His unwavering commitment to his art, his humanitarian efforts and his courage to overcome unimaginable challenges will forever inspire us. She was a beacon of hope for many, showing that no matter the obstacles, beauty and greatness can rise from darkness.”

De Prince's family released a statement following the announcement of his death.

“I am truly shocked and deeply saddened. My beautiful sister is no longer here,” wrote Mia De Prince. “From the beginning of our story in Africa, sleeping on a shared mat in the orphanage, Michaela (Mabinti) and I created and performed our own musical theater plays. We created our own ballet … When we were adopted, our parents quickly poured into our dreams and created the beautiful, gracefully powerful ballerina that many of you know today. He was an inspiration.”

Born in Mabinti Bangura, Sierra Leone, de Prince was sent to an orphanage aged three when both his parents died in the country's civil war. At the orphanage, she faced abuse and malnutrition, she told The Associated Press in 2012.

“I lost both my parents, so I was there [the orphanage] For almost a year and I wasn't treated very well because I had vitiligo,” he said at the time. “We were ranked as numbers, and 27 was the least favorite, and that was my number, so I got the least amount of food, the least amount of clothes, and whatever else.”

After receiving news that the orphanage would be bombed, DePrince described walking for miles without shoes to reach the refugee camp. Her mother, who adopted two other girls, including DePrince and Mia, from the orphanage after meeting them in Ghana in 1999, said Michaela was “sick and battle-scarred” with tonsillitis, fever, mononucleosis and swollen joints. De Prince was four when he was adopted and moved to the United States.

Her passion for ballet began after seeing pictures of ballerinas as a young girl in Sierra Leone. But despite starting ballet training at the age of five, DePrince still experienced trials. At the age of eight, she was told that the United States was not ready for a black girl ballerina, although she was selected to play Mary in The Nutcracker. When she was nine, a teacher told her mother that black girls were not worth investing in.

DePrince eventually attended the Rock School for Dance Education, a prestigious and selective ballet school.

At age 17, she appeared in First Position, a documentary that follows six dancers as they prepare for the Youth America Grand Prix. She received a scholarship to study at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet at the American Ballet Theatre. After graduating from high school, DePrince worked at the Dance Theater of Harlem, becoming the youngest principal dancer in the theater's history.

In 2012, she performed in her first professional Full Ballet in South Africa. The following year, he joined the junior company of the Dutch National Ballet.

Audiences unfamiliar with ballet may recognize DePrince from Beyoncé's Lemonade, where the then-21-year-old danced in an old-fashioned tutu and headpiece. In 2021, he joined Boston Ballet as a second soloist. That year, she played the lead role in the ballet film Coppélia.

At the Boston Ballet, DePrince told reporters how black dancers who came before him helped inspire him despite facing racism and xenophobia.

“I'm very lucky,” DePrince said at the time. “There was Lauren Anderson — I had someone to look up to. Houston Ballet. Heidi Cruz, Pennsylvania Ballet when I was younger. There's Misty Copeland. There's not a lot of us. But what I always try to think about, and what my passion is, is Spread more poppies in the case of daffodils, so there can be more black and brown dancers.”

Even with his success, DePrince never forgot his childhood. She became a humanitarian and expressed her desire to open a school for dance and art in Sierra Leone throughout her career.

“That would be amazing – I want to use the money I make from this book.” [a memoir, Hope in a Ballet Shoe] to open schools,” de Prince told the Guardian in 2015. “It has to be when I retire from dancing. Art can change you as a person. Dancing helped me share my passions and connect with my family – it helped me feel that I was special and not 'the devil's child'. These kids won't have the same opportunities I had and I don't think they deserve it.”

She spent much of her career advocating and promoting the inclusion of black dancers in ballet.

“There are virtually no black people in ballet, so I have to speak out,” she told the Guardian.

In lieu of flowers, DePrince's family asked people to donate to War Child, an organization DePrince supported.

“This work means the world to her, and your donation will directly help other children who have grown up in an environment of armed conflict,” they wrote. “Thank you.”