#michaela mabinty deprince

[anticoquette]

rest in peace to ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince 🩰

[blk-vinluxee]

[elaine-of-shalott-blog]

A lovely tribute by Het National Ballet

It is with great sadness and dismay that we received the news that Michaela DePrince has passed away at the age of 29. To honour her memory, we will make it possible to donate to War Child, the organisation for which Michaela passionately worked as an ambassador.

Michaela grew up in war-ravaged Sierra Leone. At a young age, she lost both her parents and was admitted to an orphanage. Her skin condition vitiligo meant that people there treated her as inferior. Her nickname in the orphanage was devil’s child. A story she chronicled in her autobiography: Taking flight: From war orphan to star ballerina .

Michaela was adopted by the American DePrince family. Once in America, she followed her dream of becoming a ballet dancer, inspired by a photograph she once saw, still in Sierra Leone, of an American ballerina. This was not an easy path for Michaela; she was told several times that she did not have the right body type ánd skin colour to become a ballet dancer.

Determined, she persevered and in 2012 came to Europe at the invitation of the Hague dance company De Dutch Don't Dance Division, to dance in one of their productions. This also introduced her to the Dutch National Ballet, and in August 2013 she joined the first batch of the Junior Company. In 2014, she made the switch to the ‘main company’ of Dutch National Ballet, where she rose to the rank of soloist in the following years.  

From a young age, her extraordinary life story combined with her dance career did not go unnoticed. Among other things, she featured in the film documentary First Position, danced in a video by Beyoncé and Madonna bought the film rights to her autobiography. She also starred in the film version of Coppelia, choreographed by Ted Brandsen. 

Motivated to help children from war zones, Michaela became an ambassador for War Child in 2016 and committed to helping children in many ways. 

In 2022, she left Amsterdam to continue her dance career with the US Boston Ballet. 

Michaela is taken from us far too soon. Our thoughts are with her loved ones and family.

Link to donate: https://actie.voorwarchild.nl/teams/michaela?locale=en?utm_source=facebook-hnb&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2425-michaela%20deprince-donatie-236

[msclaritea]

Michaela Mabinty DePrince was far more beautiful and graceful than the crap that Hollywood is currently pushing. I don't know why she died but if I had to guess, it may have been because of losing her parents, four years ago. It's despicable that trolls are linking her death to the covid vaccine without knowing any real information.

[davidwarner3]

Trailblazing ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince dies at 29

Read more..

Read more..

[sakuraswordly]

[kimludcom]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dance Institute of Washington | DIW | D.C (@danceinstituteofwashington)

[tikitania]

Dancer Michaela Deprince || Peter Leung Choreography

RIP Sweet Angel 🤍

[sujooon]

Ballerina Michaela DePrince Passes Away at 29, Leaving Behind a Legacy of Inspiration

[lifeseccess]

Trailblazing ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince dies at 29

Sierra Leone-conceived DePrince, who moved to US as a kid, hit the dance floor with Boston Expressive dance and performed with Beyoncé.... read more

[tllgrrl]

Rest in Paradise, Michaela DePrince.

💐🖤👑🖤💐

[lboogie1906]

Michaela Mabinty DePrince (Mabinty Bangura; January 6, 1995 – September 10, 2024) was a ballet dancer, currently dancing with the Boston Ballet. She rose to fame after starring in the documentary First Position in 2011, following her and other young ballet dancers as they prepared to compete at the Youth America Grand Prix. With her adoptive mother, Elaine DePrince, she authored the book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina. She danced with the Dance Theatre of Harlem as the youngest dancer in the history of the company and was a former soloist with the Dutch National Ballet. She was a goodwill ambassador with the Dutch organization War Child, based in Amsterdam.

Born into a Muslim family, she grew up as an orphan in Sierra Leone after her uncle brought her to an orphanage during the civil war. Her adoptive parents were told that her father was shot and killed by the Revolutionary United Front when she was three years old and that her mother starved to death soon after.

In 1999, she and another girl were adopted by Elaine and Charles DePrince, a couple from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and taken to the US.

She trained as a ballet dancer, performing at the Youth America Grand Prix among other competitions. She trained in classical ballet at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia. Concurrent with intense ballet training, she took online classes through Keystone National High School, where she earned her high school diploma. She graduated from the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York. Her professional debut performance was in the role of Gulnare in Mzansi Productions and the South African Ballet Theatre’s premiere of Le Corsaire on July 19, 2012.

In 2015 MGM acquired the film rights to her book Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina. In 2018 MGM announced that Madonna will direct Taking Flight, a biopic on her life and career.

In 2021, she joined the Boston Ballet as a second soloist. She danced the leading role in Coppelia. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[kicksaddictny]

Nike’s Athlete Think Tank (ATT 2.0)

According to NIKE

Nike’s most powerful relationships are with its athletes. By listening to and learning from them, the company continues to build the best possible version of sport for this generation — and expands it for the next. It is with that intent that Nike is continuing one of its greatest opportunities to listen to and learn from athletes: Athlete Think Tank.

“We’re excited to introduce the next chapter of the Nike Athlete Think Tank,” says Tanya Hvizdak, VP, Global Women’s Sports Marketing. “Our partnership with this collective of incredible changemakers represents Nike’s continued commitment to champion women and girls. Together, we are taking action to create bigger change through sport.” 

Athlete Think Tank (ATT) is a collective of influential athlete voices that help the company champion women and girls in sport. Based off the success of its inaugural group, Nike brought together a second cohort: ATT 2.0. This new cohort includes 11 elite women athletes from different geographies and sport experiences who are at varying junctures in their sport lives, including: A’ja Wilson, Adia Barnes, Anna Cockrell, Cai Xuetong (aka “Tong Tong”), Chloe Kim, Faith Kipyegon, Michaela Mabinty DePrince, Michelle Wie West, Rayssa Leal, Sam Kerr, and Tatyana McFadden.

In November, Nike invited ATT 2.0 members to its World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., to launch a year-long journey with a two-day workshop. The company’s goal was to know exactly what it could do to support this group of women athletes and their communities — to understand their needs, learn from their unique experiences, and hear their ideas for improving sport for women and girls. The event was an in-depth, wide-ranging two-way dialogue and an opportunity for Nike to share its vision for growing women’s sport. For the athletes, it was an opportunity to share what matters most to them, from product design to athlete services to partnering for even greater impact in the world of sport and beyond.

During the past year, Nike invited ATT 2.0 members, and select members from its inaugural cohort, to pivotal sporting events in Eugene, Ore., London and Chicago, creating space for candid and unfiltered conversations. The insights they’ve shared will help inform how Nike creates innovative products, meaningful experiences and supportive communities for all athletes, especially women and girls. This community-building is a hallmark of Nike Athlete Think Tank; it acts as a forum to foster connections between Nike athletes from all walks of life. “We believe that investing in women makes sport better,” says Hvizdak. “Together, we created space for athletes to build and strengthen connections during record-breaking, future-defining moments in sport — because we know that the voice of the collective is unstoppable.”

The newest members of the collective want to do more to improve the experience of girls and women in sport. “It has been incredible to be with other members of Nike’s Athlete Think Tank who have all used their voices and platforms to shape the future of women in sport,” says snowboarder and Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim. “It has been great to work with Nike and this collective on creating solutions for the next generation."

In addition to listening and learning, NIKE, Inc. is continuing to partner with Charities Aid Foundation America (CAF America) to donate a total of $1.25 million, which will go toward supporting a nonprofit of choice for Athlete Think Tank members. These investments put action behind the words, says LPGA professional golfer Michelle Wie West. “It has motivated me to be more active in my community and use my platform to discuss topics that I care about most.” This includes challenging Nike to think even bigger about the change that it can create. And together, through commitments such as the CAF America investments, the company and its athletes are stepping up and taking action. 

Building off the success of its first two cohorts, Nike will form a third Athlete Think Tank later this year.

[saintlaurentproblems]

"Ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince, 29, and her mom died within 24 hours of each other" That's just so sad! Apparently her mom wasn't even aware that her daughter had passed when she went in for her procedure and passed.

That’s crazy