Ballerina Michaela DePrince Dead at 29

"It is with profound sadness we denote the abrupt passing of our beauteous sister, Michaela Mabinty DePrince," the DePrince household shared successful a connection to Facebook. "Michaela touched truthful galore lives crossed the world, including ours. She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her oregon heard her story."

DePrince's sister, Mia Mabinty DePrince—with whom she was adopted from Sierra Leone arsenic children—added her ain reflections connected her sister's death, writing, "I americium genuinely successful a authorities of daze and heavy sadness. My beauteous sister is nary longer here."

"She was an inspiration," she continued. "Whether she was leaping crossed the signifier oregon getting connected a level and flying to third-world countries to supply orphans and children with creation classes, she was determined to conquer each her dreams successful the arts and dance. Michaela (Mabinty) has near her footprints successful the soil and connected truthful galore stages crossed the world. She volition beryllium genuinely missed. I emotion you, my beauteous Butterfly."

DePrince had been precise candid astir the difficulties of her aboriginal beingness increasing up successful an orphanage, sharing that it was determination she discovered a discarded mag which would yet pb her down the way to becoming a nonrecreational ballerina.

"There was a woman connected it," she told the BBC successful 2012 of the magazine, "she was connected her tippy-toes, successful this pink, beauteous tutu. I had ne'er seen thing similar this—a costume that stuck retired with glitter connected it, with conscionable truthful overmuch beauty. I could conscionable spot the quality successful that idiosyncratic and the anticipation and the emotion and conscionable everything that I didn't have."

As she explained, she thought to herself, "‘Wow! This is what I privation to be.'"

Once she and Mia were adopted by their household successful New Jersey, her parents enrolled her astatine the Rock School of Dance successful Philadelphia. She past studied astatine the American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet earlier joining the Dance Theatre of Harlem successful 2012. DePrince was besides a dancer for the Dutch National Ballet, and successful 2021 joined the Boston Ballet arsenic a main soloist.

The Boston Ballet posted their ain connection honoring their soloist, writing connected Instagram, "We're sending our emotion and enactment to the household of Michaela Mabinty DePrince astatine this clip of loss."

"We were truthful fortunate to cognize Mabinty," the radical added. "She was a beauteous person, a fantastic dancer, and she volition beryllium greatly missed by america all."

According to her family's statement, DePrince is survived by her sister Mia, arsenic good arsenic sisters Beelee, Jaye, Mariel and Amie, as good as her brothers Adam and Erik.