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Read the review below to inspire you!
Hope in a Ballet Shoe
Michaela and Elaine DePrince
Faber & Faber
$19.99
Michaela DePrince is an extraordinary figure. Widely known for featuring in the documentary First Position, DePrince’s story is one of beating insurmountable odds, emerging from the chaos and devastation of Sierra Leone’s civil war to dance professionally with the Dutch National Ballet. Her life has since unfolded in a series of Cinderella-esque turns.
DePrince’s autobiography is infinitely readable. Her book adds to the recent influx of ballerina memoirs published in the past year, with authors like Misty Copeland (American Ballet Theatre) and Jennifer Ringer (New York City Ballet). While junior in years, DePrince’s tale is no less compelling. She writes clearly and candidly, letting her story speak for itself.
Hope in a Ballet Shoe opens in Sierra Leone, exploring DePrince’s early childhood. Michaela has lived through a harrowing set of circumstances. She writes of suffering beyond the realm of experience for most, but does so in a way that is accessible even to younger readers. Armed insurgents mass murdered the men in Michaela’s village, including her father. Her mother passed away soon after. Left in the care of Safe Haven Orphanage, DePrince was labeled “Devil’s Child” because of a condition that gave her spotted skin– vitilgo.
The memoir delves into her time at the orphanage, sleeping on grass mats and subject to the cruelty of caretakers who identified children solely by numbers –young Micheala was Number 27. Devoid of material possessions, DePrince found solace in learning, but even that was short-lived. Rebels killed her teacher as she stood by helplessly.It was at this time Michaela first saw an image of a ballerina, when the wind blew a magazine past the orphanage. For her, it held endless possibility.
“Someday I will dance on my toes like this lady,” Michaela remembers saying. “I will be happy too.”
DePrince doesn’t pander to the reader’s sympathies in delineating the horrors she witnessed, nor does she have to. The simplicity of the prose itself is moving, evoking the disquieting spectres of poverty, fear and death that haunted her early years. It proves both a heart wrenching and illuminating read. One can only feel relief as Michaela escapes from Sierra Leone at the age of four, into the loving arms of her American adoptive parents Elaine and Charles DePrince.
The latter half of the autobiography chronicles her life in America, marked by balletic milestones. DePrince recalls her first ballet class, first pointe shoes and first Nutcracker production with pride. Her list of accomplishments grows dizzying as she cultivates a resume that includes American Ballet Theatre (ABT) summer intensives, Youth America Grand Prix awards, and scholarships to stellar full-time dance programs in the United States. DePrince invites balletomane readers to live vicariously through her with thrilling peeks into these world famous ballet institutions.
Michaela’s balletic achievements are underscored by a deep appreciation for family. Growing up in the United States saw her grappling with a fresh set of challenges, not least racial bigotry in the ballet profession and wider communities. Her parents taught her to handle prejudice with grace; her siblings were her closest confidantes. The DePrince family proves instrumental in Michaela’s success, a fact of which she is well aware.
As Hope in a Ballet Shoe draws to a close, DePrince reveals she received contract offers from several renowned ballet companies, including ABT. Rather than adopting a self-congratulatory tone of voice, hers is imbued with gratitude. An orphan turned ballerina, Michaela’s story clearly embraces a message of hope. But just as affecting is her unassuming nature – a professional dancer balancing on the cusp of adulthood, paying homage to those who have gotten her this far.
- Ariel Mae Sammy