AFROKLECTIC:Michaela the Ballerina

I saw this image of Michaela DePrince on TeenVogue and I was in mesmerized. There is a beautiful art to ballet. I have always admired the poise of ballerinas. So elegant, delicate and swift. The way they move their bodies into abstract forms so gracefully and I think the image above beautifully captures that.

Michaela DePrince is a 17-year old ballerina who is leaping to new heights with every move she makes.

Born in Sierra Leone, both her parents were killed during the civil war. She taken to an orphanage by her Uncle. At the orphanage, the children where ranked from the most favored to the least. Michaela was number 27 at the bottom due of her rebelliousness and her skin condition− vitiligo, which produces white freckles on her neck and chest.She shared a grass sleeping mat with Number 26, a girl named Mia, who was shunned for being left-handed. The pair were inseparable.

Whilst at the orphanage, Michaela found a magazine which has an image of a ballet dancer on point in a pink tutu. She saved the image hoping that if she was ever adopted, she would become ballerina.

One day an American couple by the name of Elaine and Charles DePrince adopted Mia and Michaela, brought them to the USA and later enrolled Michaela into dance school.

Now at 17, Micahela is a rising star! She is currently enrolled at the American Ballet Theatre‘s prestigious Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, stars in a new ballet documentary titled the First Position and recently debuted on Dancing with the Stars.

She’s battled racism and continues to battle it, yet her strive is amazing. She hasn’t let anything stop her!

Every leap she makes is a symbol of her strength and determination!