The family of ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince is mourning two tragedies after the Boston Ballet dancer and her adoptive mother died on the same day.
DePrince was born in Sierra Leone, and was adopted by his US mother Elaine in 1999 after losing both of his parents when he was three years old in the country’s civil war. Despite the fact that some of her teachers did not believe that a Black girl could become a professional ballet dancer, DePrince did not know what was expected – to be a principal dancer, or in other words, a prima ballerina at just 17 years old at the Dance Theater of Harlem.
She went on to dance for the Dutch National Ballet and the Boston Ballet. Offstage, DePrince’s best work includes appearances Dancing with the stars and sings in Beyoncé’s music video Lemonade. DePrince’s name is often mentioned alongside Misty Copeland when discussing famous black ballerinas, according to the New York Times.
What could have been a long career was cut short on September 10, when DePrince died at just 29 years old. His death was announced three days later on the dancer’s Instagram page. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
“His life was defined by grace, purpose, and strength,” the obituary reads. “His unwavering dedication to his art, his humanitarian efforts, and his courage to overcome unimaginable challenges will forever inspire us.”
A day after DePrince died, his mother Elaine died, too.
Family spokesperson Jess Volinski says the two deaths are not connected and that Elaine died “during a routine procedure to prepare for surgery” on September 11. In fact, “Elaine was unaware of Michaela’s passing at the time of her surgery.”
Volinksi writes: “The only way we can make sense to the senseless is that Elaine, who had lost three children many years ago, by the grace of God was spared the pain of losing a fourth child.”
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The family requests privacy as they mourn the deaths of DePrince and Elaine.
“What the family is going through right now is incredibly painful. Grieving the loss of two family members in a 24-hour period is heartbreaking and heartbreaking,” added Volinski.
Elaine died after a period of declining health from congenital heart failure, the Times reported. The three children who died before DePrince were three adopted sons who all suffered from hemophilia and died from complications of HIV. She felt it was her duty to take the boys in because other foster parents didn’t want to deal with their medical issues.
DePrince, born Mabinty Bangura in Sierra Leone, was adopted by Elaine from an orphanage in Ghana along with another girl named Mabinty. DePrince was renamed Michaela and her adopted sister was renamed Mia, although both of their names are Mabinty.
At the orphanage, she faced mistreatment and malnutrition, she told the Associated Press in 2012. DePrince had a problem with changing skin color that caused him to be called “Satan’s child” at the orphanage.
“I lost both of my parents, so I was there (an orphanage) for a year and I wasn’t treated well because I had vitiligo,” said DePrince. “We were numbered and number 27 was the least popular and that was my number, so I got the least amount of food, the least amount of clothes and so on.”
She remembered seeing a picture of an American ballet dancer on the cover of a magazine waving at the gate of an orphanage during the Sierra Leonean civil war. The photo will spark his love of dance for the rest of his life.
“All I remember is that he looked really happy,” DePrince told the AP, adding that he wished he could “be that real person.”
He said he saw hope in that picture, “I tore the page and stuck it in my underwear because I had no place to put it,” he said.
DePrince’s sister Mia shared a statement after the ballerina’s death, reflecting on their adoption together.
“From the beginning of our story in Africa, sleeping on the mats we live on in the orphanage, Michaela (Mabinty) and I were doing our own plays and acting. We created our own ballets,” Mia wrote. “When we were adopted, our parents quickly joined our dreams and gave birth to the beautiful, strong, graceful ballerina that many of you know today. He was an inspiration.”
In the US, Elaine promised DePrince that she could take ballet classes once she learned to speak English. DePrince’s talent in ballet was quickly recognized, although some teachers did not believe it was worth investing in a black ballet dancer.
At the age of eight, DePrince was told that she would not be able to play the lead role of Marie in The Nutcracker because “America is not ready to have a black girl ballerina,” DePrince told the AP.
“It was terrible,” DePrince said in 2012, “to say that to an eight-year-old is very painful.”
When he was 9 years old, the teacher told his mother: “I don’t like to invest money in Black dancers because they grow up and end up with big bums and big hips.”
The disappointment only served to make DePrince more “determined” to become a professional ballerina.
“I’ve been through a lot, I know now that I can overcome it and I can help other children who have faced terrible situations to see that they can too,” adding that dance helped him cope with the pain. memories of life during the Sierra Leone civil war.
DePrince is survived by five sisters and two brothers. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to War Child, an organization DePrince is involved with as a War Child Ambassador.
“This project meant the world to him, and your donations will directly help other children growing up in conflict zones,” the family said in a statement.
– Via files from the Associated Press
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