Transcript
Alicia Graff Mack (0:02)
Second soloist with the Boston Ballet, Michaela Mabenti Duprince's personal journey to the stage is astonishing. As a child, Mikayla was abandoned at an orphanage in her homeland of Sierra Leone. Enamored by ballet at a young age, her American adoptive parents nurtured her passion for ballet, and she went on to join Dance Theatre of Harlem and Dutch National Ballet. Ultimately, dance gave Mikayla freedom.
Michaela Mabenti Duprince (0:29)
For me, dancing was a way to quiet the chaos that I had been through in life, a way to express myself, because as a child, I constantly felt I had to be perfect. But in ballet, even if I messed up, I might have gotten mad at myself, but I had that space to explore.
Alicia Graff Mack (0:49)
You're listening to Moving Moments, the podcast that explores the dance world's most accomplished and groundbreaking artists. I'm your host, Alicia Graff Mack Dean and director of Dance at the Juilliard School. During each episode, you'll hear me talk with some of my closest friends and most trusted colleagues as we sit down to hear about their creative process and how they are changing the dance world on and off the stage. I'm a huge fan, and I've been since your first appearance as a teenager on the documentary First Position and through your films, books, of course, your work on stage and your commercial presence. You have a wide fan base and are inspiring generations of young dancers and the current generation of dancers such as myself. Did you ever think as a child that you'd be the face of the ballet world?
Michaela Mabenti Duprince (1:50)
Well, it's funny, because I was listening to a podcast and somebody was saying how people keep saying, oh, I'm so surprised I've made it so far. I am very surprised. But obviously there's a certain voice that's telling you, you can keep going, you can keep going. You don't have to stop. You just keep persevering and trying to change and pushing the envelope. At a very young age, I wasn't considered to be good enough to become an overachiever. At a very young age, I loved ballet. I love the things I've always done my whole life, but it was more like to matter. And so for me to matter finally, and then to be able to get adopted and to do something that I loved. And after losing so much, I thought I finally found something that I love and an environment where I can thrive and just be myself. But I'm a black ballerina, and I didn't realize that I was going to have to do the same thing to find a way to matter and to stand out. And I think I Was. I don't want to say I was born with it, but I'm kind of like, if you knew me as a little four year old, you'd be like, okay, she's the same person. I was very spicy. You couldn't tell me what to do. If you said, you can't do that, I was like, okay, I'm just going to prove you wrong and just show you that I can do it 10 times better. But I think it just has always been this fight because at a young age, I know what it's always felt like to not be good enough, to not feel like you can accomplish what other people think that you can't accomplish. I remember when I was 15 and I was auditioning even, like some teachers and even my best friends were saying, why don't you audition for Alvin Ailey? I love Alvin Ailey. It's a beautiful company. But if you know me, you know I was classically trained. All I talked about was ballet. I did obviously different types of dance techniques, but ballet was the thing I wanted to do. I wanted to be in a classical company. So I think because of all the things and all the obstacles I had to face, I think I just built this armor and this armor, I didn't realize I needed it to be able to help other people. I'm very much a caretaker and I want other people not to have to constantly fight, but to be able to enjoy and to be present in the moment of whatever art form that they love. Because it can get very tiring to fight, I'm sure. You know, it can get exhausting. And sometimes you're like, well, what's the point anymore? Which is why, like writing ballerina dreams and taking flight and having those kinds of responses from people of how I've changed their lives has changed mine. It inspires me every day to be able to go to work. It inspires me to continue to use my voice. It inspires me just to hold on to that love of this amazing art form that I found, if that makes sense.