Michaela Mabinty DePrince, a ballerina with Philly roots who was an orphan from war-torn Sierra Leone, has died at 29

Michaela Mabinty DePrince, 29, an acclaimed ballerina with roots in the Philadelphia area, died on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in New York City of unknown causes, according to her family.

Ms. DePrince, who was born in West Africa and grew up in Cherry Hill after being adopted, trained at the Rock School for Dance Education in South Philly for years.

Her path to becoming an inspiring ballet dancer began in Sierra Leone, where she was born during the country’s civil war and became an orphan. Vitiligo, a pigmentation condition, exposed her to “ridicule and harassment in the orphanage,” she has said. One day she discovered a magazine that had blown against the gate of the orphanage, which had the picture of a ballerina in it. It inspired her ballet dreams.

She was adopted at the age of 4 with her friend Mia from the orphanage. They moved to the United States, where Ms. DePrince would embark on her dance journey.

“South Jersey was our first home, coming from Africa,” said her sister Mia Mabinty DePrince in an interview Saturday.

Throughout her career, Michaela DePrince danced with prestigious institutions, including as a student at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. She was also with the Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York City, where she was the youngest principal dancer, and spent time at the Dutch National Ballet, according to her sister. She had most recently been dancing with the Boston Ballet and living in New York City and Boston, her sister said.

Ms. DePrince’s success and influence went beyond the stage. She was featured in an award-winning documentary about young ballet dancers, First Position, at age 14, and wrote a book about her life experience with her adoptive mother, titled Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.

“From her early life in war-torn Africa, to stages and screens across the world, she achieved her dreams and so much more,” reads a message shared by her family on Facebook. “Her passion and impact on the dance world, especially in inspiring young Black dancers to pursue their dreams, has been tremendous. We will miss her and her gorgeous smile forever and we know you will, too.”

Saddened by her death, fans of Ms. DePrince along with ballet institutions took to social media with an outpouring of messages, sharing images and videos of her.

“We were so fortunate to know Mabinty; she was a beautiful person, a wonderful dancer, and she will be greatly missed by us all,” reads a note that the Boston Ballet posted on its Instagram account.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Michaela Mabinty DePrince, a brilliant artist and beloved member of the ABT family,” a post on X by American Ballet Theatre reads. “We express our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who were touched by her light.”

Off the stage and behind the scenes, Ms. DePrince was goofy, funny, and a klutzy person, said her sister Mia.

“The way she just gracefully blew across the stage, you would have no idea that right after that, that night, she had ice on her toe, not because of a pointe shoe injury, but because she just stubbed it,” her sister said.

Ms. DePrince loved to sing, and the sisters grew up singing together and making up songs.

“We would fight over who was going to take the lead when it came to Destiny’s Child songs. We were always having to do like ‘rock, paper, scissors’ to see who was going to perform that night in whatever fantasy it was we were living,” her sister recalled.

Ms. DePrince and her sister had always talked about going back to Sierra Leone one day and setting up a dance and music studio, Mia DePrince said. “She loved to help other people,” she said.

While many know Ms. DePrince as the dancer, her family describes a different side of her they also want the world to know.

“Ballet is such an activity of the swan that you don’t see kicking furiously under the surface, and that is the public persona of Michaela. It’s this beautifully poised swan. It’s very serious, but she was so funny and so playful and so silly and adorable, sensitive, so sensitive,” said Jess Volinski, Ms. DePrince’s sister-in-law.

In addition to her sister Mia and her sister-in-law, Ms. DePrince is survived by siblings Bee Green, Jaye DePrince, Mariel DePrince, Amie Curran, Adam DePrince, and Erik DePrince, and other relatives.

Her adoptive father, Charles DePrince, preceded her in death. Her adoptive mother, Elaine DePrince, died a day after Ms. DePrince in Vermont during a routine presurgical procedure. She did not know of her daughter’s death, according to Volinski.

Services will be private. The family requests that instead of sending flowers, people donate to War Child, an organization that DePrince had supported as an ambassador. The organization helps support children affected by war and conflict and donations can be made at warchild.net.

“Michaela had a beautiful, beautiful, loving family that supported her,” said her sister Mia. “We all truly, truly love her, and truly will miss her, miss her deeply.”