Ballerina Michaela DePrince, whose career inspired many after she was born into war, dies at 29

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who came to the United States from an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone and performed on some of the world's biggest stages, has died, her family said in a statement. She was 29.

“Michaela touched so many lives across the world, including ours. She was an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story,” her family said in a statement posted Friday on DePrince's social media accounts. “From her early life in war-torn Africa, to stages and screens across the world, she achieved her dreams and so much more.”

A cause of death was not provided.

DePrince was adopted by an American couple and by age 17 she had been featured in a documentary film and had performed on the TV show “Dancing With the Stars.”

After graduating from high school and the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, she became a principal dancer Dance Theatre of Harlem. She then went to the Netherlands, where she danced with the Dutch National Ballet. She later returned to the U.S. and joined the Boston Ballet in 2021.

“We’re sending our love and support to the family of Michaela Mabinty DePrince at this time of loss,” the Boston Ballet said in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday. “We were so fortunate to know her; she was a beautiful person, a wonderful dancer, and she will be greatly missed by us all.”

In her memoir, “Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina,” she shared her journey from the orphanage to the stage. She also wrote a children's book, Ballerina Dreams.

DePrince suffered from a skin pigmentation disorder that had her labeled “the devil’s child” at the orphanage.

“I lost both my parents, so I was there (the orphanage) for about a year and I wasn’t treated very well because I had vitiligo,” DePrince told the AP in a 2012 interview. “We were ranked as numbers and number 27 was the least favorite and that was my number, so I got the least amount of food, the least amount of clothes and whatnot.”

She told added that she remembered seeing a photo of an American ballet dancer on a magazine page that had blown against the gate of the orphanage during Sierra Leone's civil war.

“All I remember is she looked really, really happy,” DePrince told the AP, adding that she wished “to become this exact person.”

She said she saw hope in that photo, “and I ripped the page out and I stuck it in my underwear because I didn’t have any place to put it,” she said.

Her passion helped inspire young Black dancers to pursue their dreams, her family said.

“We will miss her and her gorgeous smile forever and we know you will, too,” their statement said.

Her sister Mia Mabinty DePrince recalled in the statement that they slept on a shared mat in the orphanage and used to make up their own musical theater plays and ballets.

“When we got adopted, our parents quickly poured into our dreams and arose the beautiful, gracefully strong ballerina that so many of you knew her as today. She was an inspiration,” Mia DePrince wrote. “Whether she was leaping across the stage or getting on a plane and flying to third-world countries to provide orphans and children with dance classes, she was determined to conquer all her dreams in the arts and dance.”

She is survived by five sisters and two brothers. The family requested that in lieu of flowers, donations could be made to War Child, which is an organization that DePrince was involved with as a War Child Ambassador.

“This work meant the world to her, and your donations will directly help other children who grew up in an environment of armed conflict,” the family statement said.

Michaela DePrince, center, instructs intermediate ballet students at BE Dance Studios in Miami Gardens, Fla. on July 14, 2015. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, July 10, 2012 photo, dancer Michaela DePrince rehearses for her lead role in Le Corsaire in Johannesburg. (AP Photo Denis Farrell, File)

FILE - This Monday July 9, 2012 photo shows dancer Michaela DePrince in Johannesburg. (AP Photo Denis Farrell, File)

OSLO, Norway (AP) — A beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation that it was a Russian spy, was not shot to death as claimed by animal rights groups but died of a bacterial infection, Norwegian police said Friday.

A final autopsy by Norway's Veterinary Institute “concludes that the probable cause of death was bacterial infection -- possibly as a result of a wound in the mouth from a stuck stick,” Amund Preede Revheim, head of the North Sea and Environment section of the police in south-western Norway said.

“There have been no findings from the autopsy that indicate that the whale has been shot,” he stressed, adding that the autopsy had been “made difficult by the fact that many of the whale’s organs were very rotten.” As there was no indication of foul play, there was no reason to start a criminal investigation into its death, Preede Revheim said.

The tame beluga, which was first spotted in 2019 not far from Russian waters with a harness reading “Equipment St. Petersburg,” had been nicknamed "Hvaldimir,” combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It was found floating in a southern Norway bay on Aug. 31.

In September, animal advocate groups OneWhale and NOAH filed a police report saying that the animal’s wounds suggested it was intentionally killed.

They pointed at several wounds found on the animal’s skin, including what was interpreted as a bullet hole.

“Assessments made by the Veterinary Institute and the police’s forensic technicians are that these are not gunshot wounds. X-rays of the chest and head were carried out without any projectiles or other metal fragments being detected,” police said in a statement.

Earlier, police had described a stick about 35 centimeters (14 inches) long and 3 centimeters (1 inch) wide which was found wedged in the animal’s mouth, its stomach was empty and its organs had broken down, police said. No further details were given.

The 4.2-meter (14-foot) long and 1,225-kilogram (2,700-pound) whale was first spotted by fishermen not far from the Arctic town of Hammerfest.

Its harness, along with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera, led to media speculation that it was a “spy whale.” Experts say the Russian navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes. Media reports also have speculated that the whale might have been trained as a therapy animal.

There was no immediate reaction from OneWhale or NOAH.

FILE - In this photo taken in April 2019 a beluga whale found in Arctic Norway is fed. (Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries via AP)