Michaela DePrince went from war orphan to ballet star, said David Smith in The Guardian (U.K.). Born in 1995 during Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war, DePrince was 3 years old when rebels killed her father. A week later, her mother died of starvation, and DePrince was placed in an orphanage. There was no escape from the horrors. Rebels raided the building, killing her pregnant teacher. “They cut her arms and legs off,” says the 17-year-old. “I tried to save her.” The caregivers at the orphanage despised DePrince because of her independent spirit. “We were ranked as numbers, and [my] number, 27, was the least favorite, so I got the least amount of food.” Her only source of hope was a photograph of an American ballerina she found in a discarded magazine. “She looked really happy. [I wanted] to become this person.” DePrince got to realize that dream in 1999 when she was adopted by an American couple, who enrolled her in a top New York City ballet school. She now faces a new obstacle, her race, and says she is often turned down for roles for being “too dark.” But DePrince—who recently made her professional debut in a production of Le Corsaire—refuses to be held back by prejudice. “Because I’ve been through so much, I know that I can make it.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Switzerland could vote to cap its populationUnder the Radar Swiss People’s Party proposes referendum on radical anti-immigration measure to limit residents to 10 million
-
Political cartoons for February 15Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include political ventriloquism, Europe in the middle, and more
-
The broken water companies failing England and WalesExplainer With rising bills, deteriorating river health and a lack of investment, regulators face an uphill battle to stabilise the industry
