Michaela Mabinty DePrince: 29-year-old ballerina who starred in Beyoncé video has died

CNN
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Michaela Mabinty DePrince, the ballerina born during a civil war in Sierra Leone who appeared in Beyoncé's music video “Lemonade,” has died at the age of 29, according to a statement on her official Instagram page.

“Her life was marked by grace, determination and strength. Her unwavering commitment to her art, her humanitarian efforts and her courage to overcome unimaginable challenges will forever inspire us,” the post said.

“She was a beacon of hope for many and showed that no matter the obstacles, beauty and greatness can emerge from even the darkest places.”

The cause of death has not yet been announced. Her sister Mia said she was in “shock and deep sadness.”

DePrince made history as the youngest principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and went on to dance with the Dutch National Ballet and the Boston Ballet, where she was second principal dancer.

Her talent became known to a wider audience through a cameo in “Lemonade,” the video for Beyoncé's album of the same name. DePrince told the WSJ she thought it was a joke when she heard the singer wanted her in the video, and DePrince personally said it was an “honor” to have her as the star.

DePrince was born during the brutal war in Sierra Leone and sent to an orphanage after the death of both her biological parents – her father was killed by rebels and her mother starved to death. Her early childhood was marked by the horrors of war.

At the orphanage, she was called “Devil's Child” and abused by caregivers because she suffered from vitiligo, a skin disease that causes lightening patches on the skin. She witnessed one of her teachers being murdered by rebels and was stabbed to death by a young boy who tried to save her.

“I actually have a scar from it and I blacked out afterwards – I have no idea how I survived that, it was horrible,” she told CNN in an interview in 2012.

DePrince was named Mabinty Bangura at birth and saw a ballerina for the first time on the cover of a magazine outside the orphanage at the age of three.

“I was just so fascinated by this person, by how beautiful she was, by how she wore such a beautiful costume,” DePrince said. Although she had no idea what ballet was, she kept the magazine cover and dreamed of one day being as happy as the dancer in the photo.

Shortly thereafter, DePrince was adopted by a couple from New Jersey and began a new life in the United States. Her family encouraged her love of ballet and enrolled her in classes.

“From the very beginning, when we slept on a shared mat in the orphanage in Africa, Michaela (Mabinty) and I invented and performed our own musicals. We created our own ballets,” her sister Mia, who was also born in Sierra Leone and adopted by the same family, wrote in a statement.

At the age of 13, DePrince received a full scholarship to the American Ballet Theater's summer intensive and another scholarship to the Youth America Grand Prix, the largest ballet competition in the world.

It was not a path without prejudice. As a black girl in the predominantly white domain of ballet, she almost quit at age 10 when a teacher said she did not want to invest effort or money in black dancers.

But her determination did not waver. “I'm still trying to change the way people see black dancers, that we can be sensitive dancers, that we can be ballerinas,” she told CNN at age 17.

“Despite being told that 'the world wasn't ready for black ballerinas' or that 'black ballerinas weren't worth investing in,' she remained determined, focused and began to make great strides,” dancer Misty Copeland wrote in an obituary posted on social media. “Michaela had so much more to give,” she added.

In 2014, DePrince co-wrote a memoir about her life, Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina, with her adoptive mother, and became an ambassador for War Child Holland, a charity that works to improve the well-being and mental health of children in war zones.

“This work meant the world to her,” her family wrote in their statement, asking that people donate to the organization in her memory.

With previous reporting by CNN's Nkepile Mabuse.