From Civil War Orphan to Ballet Star: Michaela DePrince by Elias Ressegatti

This film from Avantgarde Diaries was directed by Elias Ressegatti and shot by Fridolin Schopper stars seventeen year-old Michaela DePrince. Michaela has made the incredible journey from Sierra Leon, where she was orphaned at three years old and made a refugee by the country’s brutal civil war. She ended up in the United States where she is now pursuing her dream to the top of the New York ballet scene. “Ballet Dancer” is a moving portrait of a determined and imaginative young woman, inspired by one simple image in a magazine as a child, to overcome incredible odds and create a new life for herself. Michaela is a graduate of the prestigious American Ballet Theater’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis school in New York, currently performs with the Harlem Ballet Theater (NYC), and has appeared on Dancing With The Stars and in the 2011 documentary, First Position.

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