Born in war-torn Sierra Leone, Michaela DePrince is now the Dutch National Ballet’s 2nd soloist. Working to change the industry, she wears brown tights and pointe shoes. She’s also worked with Beyonce on her album ‘Lemonade,’ been the face of Jockey and JP Morgan Chase campaigns, and is an ambassador of War Child Holland.
Michaela DePrince was born in war-torn Sierra Leone during the country’s decade-long civil war. Rebels killed her father, and shortly after her mother died of fever and starvation. She had vitiligo, a condition that causes patches of skin to lose its color. In her native land vitiligo was considered a curse of the devil. This caused her uncle to abandon her at an orphanage. There she was taunted and abused by the women who cared for the children. They called her the devil’s child.
“I was born with vitiligo, a skin condition which causes patches of my skin to lose its pigment and turn white. Because of this, I was exposed to ridicule and harassment in the orphanage. They called me the devil’s child,” she told War Child Holland, an NGO that works exclusively to improve the resilience and wellbeing of children living with violence and armed conflict. Deprince has been the organisation’s ambassador since 2016.
“What I’ve learnt along the way is that it takes a great deal more than a safe place to sleep, food on the table or fame and fortune to really overcome the past. Dare to dream? Yes. But first we have to really look inwards,” she continues.
One day she found a magazine blowing in the wind. On its cover was a photograph of a beautiful ballerina en pointe. Once Michaela saw this she found hope and determination to one day become just like that ballerina. Soon after the discovery of the magazine, an American family adopted Michaela, and she became the eighth of their eleven children, nine of whom were adopted.
Her new parents recognized her talent in ballet. They enrolled her in ballet classes and supported her passion for the art. While attending the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre, Michaela worked hard to develop her skills so that she could overcome stereotypes of conventional beauty and racial barriers in the world of ballet.
After Michaela was featured in the ballet documentary, First Position, Michaela debuted professionally as a guest principal at the Joburg Ballet in South Africa and appeared on Dancing with the Stars. At the age of seventeen Michaela performed with the Dance Theatre of Harlem professional company. At eighteen she joined the Dutch National Junior Company as a second-year member and apprentice to the main company. Now at the age of twenty-six, Michaela is now ranked as a soloist at Dutch National Ballet
Besides dancing, she loves reaching out to disadvantaged young people, with whom she shares her message of hard work, perseverance and hope, in order to encourage them to strive for a dream. In 2016 she was named an Ambassador for War Child Netherlands.
In 2013 Michaela collaborated with her mother to write ‘Taking Flight’, her memoir. It has since been published under different titles in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Poland.
Source: Ward Child Holland/ MichaeladePrince.com