The ballet world is heartbroken over the sudden and untimely death of Michaela de Prince, the celebrated ballerina. The rising star’s life was tragically cut short on September 12, 2024, at just 29 years of age. Her departure leaves a somber silence in the hearts of many, and the outpouring of grief is a testament to her extraordinary legacy. Born during one of the most volatile periods of Sierra Leone’s history in 1995, Michaela’s journey to stardom is nothing short of a modern-day fairy tale fraught with challenges and triumphs. Orphaned at an early age due to the brutal civil war, young Michaela was saddled with the unthinkable nightmare of an uncertain future. Yet, even amidst the chaos, a flicker of resilience illuminated her path. That spark, along with fate’s serendipitous hand, saw her adopted by an American family, setting in motion an incredible set of events that transformed her life.
Michaela, a ballet dancer who hails from a war-torn region, has taken her craft to the world’s most prestigious stages. Her life, and the career that she has forged against astonishing odds, is a tale of hope for many who dream in darkness. Yet her dancing is the real story. Technically splendid, yes, but also raw with emotion. I still can’t shake the image of her in a bow at the end of the first act of “La Bayadère”—a dancer who was mesmerizing because of the way she appeared to be thinking in that moment. As if one couldn’t really understand the act of bowing to such an extent with any other interpretive or technical embodiment of the art form. Every person in the audience must have felt her deep reverence for the art. She promised to do it again, as that encore itself is the magic that ballet offers.
Michaela is gone, and the way forward seems dim and directionless for those who populated her world. But even as we mourn, we can scarcely fathom the reach of her impact. From the moment Ballet West announced her death yesterday at the age of 30, the en pointe world and the wider art community have collectively held sighs, gasps, and even wails of lament for a fallen firebrand. The outpouring tells the story of a woman who was a world-class artist with an uncanny ability to inspire.
When we think back on Michaela de Prince’s breathtaking life, we don’t just acknowledge her remarkable accomplishments in ballet. More than that, we celebrate her as a true paragon of perseverance. Remaking herself from a tragedy not of her own making, Michaela’s kinetic artistry reclaims and redeems her past. The debt we owe her is beyond measure—not just for the beauty she’s infused into the world (and, hush now, lest we make the heavens envious), but for the very virtuous example she sets. For too many reasons to count, Michaela de Prince has always and will always matter.
