The ballet world is mourning the death of Dancing with the Stars’ Michaela Mabinty DePrince, an inspirational ballerina who beat staggering odds to become one of the world’s most famous dancers.
Michaela, an orphan from war-torn Sierra Leone, was a dancer with the Boston Ballet who gained widespread notoriety after starring in the 2011 documentary First Position. She died September 10 at only 29.
Adding to the family’s tragic loss, Michaela’s adoptive mom – who rescued Michaela from the filthy shelter where she was told she was “too ugly” to find a family – died only 24 hours later.
After her father was brutally killed in war-torn Sierra Leone and her mother died from fever, four-year-old Michaela Mabinty DePrince was abandoned by her uncle in a shelter where staff every day tried to break her spirit.
Known then as “Number 27” a young Michaela had little hope of finding a family as she had vitiligo, a condition that causes patches of skin to lose pigmentation.
The young girl, called “the devil child” because of her patchy skin, was told repeatedly that she was too ugly to be picked.
“We were all ranked from the most favored to the least, and I was at the very bottom for being rebellious and having a skin condition called vitiligo, which produces white freckles on my neck and chest,” Michaela said, adding she slept on a grass sleeping mat with “Number 26.”
Aside from the vomit-stained nightgown she was wearing, all she had was a magazine, which according to Glamour had (literally) blown onto her face. And on the cover was a ballerina en pointe – a dancer supporting all her body weight on the tips of her toes.
“The dancer looked beautiful and happy, that’s what caught my eye,” Michaela tells Glamour. “I wanted to be happy.”
And the crumpled old photo of the ballerina was the first thing she handed Elaine DePrince, who took her to her new home in New Jersey.
“There was so much love right away,” said Michaela, who over the next two decades would be the prima ballerina on the cover of magazines. “I had never been surrounded by something like that.”
‘My life is proof’
Michaela’s passion for dancing was ignited at a young age, and she pursued her dreams with remarkable dedication.
In 2011, Michaela became one of the stars of First Position, a documentary that followed six gifted dancers leading up to the competition for a place in the prestigious American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet (JKO)
She not only earned a spot but was also awarded a scholarship to study at JKO.
The same year the award-winning documentary was released, Michaela also appeared on Dancing with the Stars.
“My life is proof that no matter what situation you’re in, as long as you have a supportive family, you can achieve anything,” Michaela said.
In 2012, the talented ballerina joined the renowned Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she continued to shine as a rising star. Her exceptional talent and grace later led her to the Dutch National Ballet, where the War Child Ambassador further established herself as a formidable presence in the ballet world.
While she was living in Amsterdam and training for The Nutcracker, she received a call, inviting her to travel to New Orleans and dance in Beyonce’s hour-long video, Lemonade, which was released in 2016.
Speaking with the Wall Street Journal of meeting the pop sensation, Michaela said, “She walked up to me and said, ‘It’s such an honor to have you here.’ I was really cheesy and said, ‘The honor is mine.’ I was on cloud nine.”
‘Beacon of hope’
On September 10, her family released a heartbreaking message about the principal soloist with the Boston Ballet.
“Rest in Power,” the post starts about the dancer who died on September 10. “With pain in our hearts, we share the loss of star ballerina Michaela Mabinty DePrince, whose artistry touched countless hearts and whose spirit inspired many, leaving an indelible mark on the world of ballet, and beyond.”
The Facebook post describes Michaela as an inspiration who “stood as a beacon of hope for many, showing that no matter the obstacles, beauty and greatness can rise from the darkest of places.”
The cause of her death has not yet been released.
Mom ‘spared the pain’
Only 24 hours after Michaela’s sudden death, her doting adoptive mom Elaine DePrince died on September 11 “during a routine procedure in preparation for a surgery.”
A family statement on Facebook explains that at the time of Elaine’s death, she was unaware that her daughter had died.
“As unbelievable as it may seem, the two deaths were completely unrelated. The only way we can make sense of the senseless is that Elaine, who had already lost three children many years ago, was by the grace of God spared the pain of experiencing the loss of a fourth child.” The message continues, “What the family is going through right now is truly unimaginably painful. Grieving two family members who died within a 24-hour period is tragic and devastating. We continue to ask for privacy…”
Rest in peace Michaela and Elaine. Please share your thoughts with us and then share this story so we can all send a lot of love to the family and friends of this mother-daughter duo.
People are seriously struggling to find engagement ring in photo and you’ll need eagle-eyes to see it
In this picture, people are having trouble locating the engagement ring. Are You Able to See It?
Not only can optical illusions be a great method to challenge our minds, but they may also fool and seduce others. A woman recently asked others to help her find her misplaced engagement ring by posting a photo of herself at the beach.
An Odd Picture of a Misplaced Engagement Ring
Find her missing engagement ring among cream, gray, and brown rocks, leaves, and shells from her beach excursion was the latest challenge posted by a Reddit member.More than 1,600 people have commented on the article, many of whom being puzzled Redditors who are unable to find the lost engagement ring.One user said, “It’s the worst when you know it’s dead center and still don’t see it.” Another person, in the meantime, joked, “You know what? No… Locate your own nuptial rings!
One last individual has been duped more than once. “I came here to guess after seeing three things that looked like rings, but after seeing the hint, I realized I was wrong about the first three things,” they wrote.
Locating the Misplaced Engagement Ring
Nevertheless, a few people found the misplaced engagement ring quickly and gave guidance to others on how to do the same.One helpful user advised starting from the middle of the photo whenever possible.”Seek out the little, horizontal stick in the middle. From there, it’s a little to the left and down,” said someone another.A third Redditor said, “Well, it turns out that the ring does actually feature in the image, and to find it, you’re going to have to get your mega zoom on.” “Even though most rocks are the same color, you can find it by zooming in on the area in the center of the image. It’s next to a cream rock that has a leaf under it.”One last person stated, “If there was a chessboard grid in the picture, the object would be at 6B or 5B ish.”
An Alternative Viewpoint Completely
While some people were able to locate the lost engagement ring, others were able to look at the image differently and discovered additional concealed objects.”No ring, but I do see a snake, a toy army man, a socket, and a baby moose,” remarked one individual.They wrote: “It was found, but there was also something else that might have been a little piece of jewelry, or something else, or nothing.” Another individual was questioned.
Reddit Trivia Questions
There is a whole SubReddit on Reddit where users may mislead one another. These optical illusions don’t include a misplaced engagement ring. One Redditor described another optical illusion that is perplexing people as elusive and “shy.” Even though it seems like a simple illusion to solve, it becomes more difficult to locate the curve the longer you stare at it.”The color of the structures conceals the curvature. One commenter pointed out helpfully that they only stand out in your peripheral vision because you see less color, making the green and grey appear more similar, and you see less detail, making the gaps invisible.”I discovered it! That’s correct, though. Give it a minute.It is there, and it isn’t there. Yes, it isn’t it either. Oh nerts!” jokingly said someone else.
Perplexing Circles
You cannot unsee them after you have seen them, according to one user. “Excellent! It took me a minute to realize how this worked after I had been staring at it.One person could not see the circles, though. “I have witnessed this twice, and I still can’t see them. ugh,” they penned.In the interim, the OP made some suggestions. KingBanana advised, “Try looking where the vertical lines are, in between the squares.”
The degree of optical illusions varies, and viewers appear perplexed by the picture of the misplaced engagement ring. It should come as no surprise that there are other optical illusions that have managed to fool individuals. There is an amazing world full of visuals to stimulate and captivate the mind.
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