Michaela is Coppelia

Michaela DePrince, a soloist with Dutch National Ballet, is to star in a new film of the ballet Coppelia.

DePrince shot to international attention as one of the subjects of First Position, a documentary on the Youth America Grand Prix. A black dancer born in war-torn Sierra Leone and adopted and raised in America, she has also written a best-selling memoir, Hope in a Ballet Shoe.

She dances the leading role alongside Daniel Camargo, principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet. The cast also includes Igone de Jongh, principal with DNB, the former Bolshoi Ballet and Royal Ballet star Irek Mukhamedov, the British ballet star Darcey Bussell, and Dutch dancer and actor Jan Kooijman. The choreographer is Ted Brandsen, artistic director of DNB (and of the West Australian Ballet from 1998 to 2001).

The film is a a modern version of the classical ballet and combines animation with ballet, and is expected to be screened at the end of 2020.