Hope in a Ballet Shoe: Orphaned by war, saved by ballet: an extraordinary true story

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Later, a tragedy occurred leaving Mabinity and her mother under her Uncles abusive control. Life moving forward became a horror with her mother later falling to death also. Mabinity’s uncle then declared there was no use for her as she was a spotty girl who no one would ever offer a good bride price for she was sent to live in an orphanage. Hope in a Ballet Shoe tells the story of Michaela DePrince. Growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, she witnesses atrocities that no child ever should. Her father is killed by rebels and her mother dies of famine. Sent to an orphanage, Michaela is mistreated and she sees the brutal murder of her favourite teacher. I also would like to know what happened to Mia, as I loved their stories about their close relationship growing up, but there isn't much said about Mia towards the end. Ballet brings me joy! It is my dream-come-true. It is the way I express my emotions. It helped keep me out of trouble as a kid, and fulfils me as an adult. It is the source of my success. It was fortunate for Michaela and Mia that their new parents were both kind and experienced. They had already raised 5 boys - two of whom had passed away due to being born with hemophilia and contracting AIDS via blood transfusions - and would go on to adopt 4 more girls after Michaela and Mia. Understandably, Mia and Michaela were extremely traumatised as well as having to learn a whole new way of life. They learned form their new family, started school, and soon they started dance lessons.

Hope in a Ballet Shoe tells the story of Michaela DePrince. Growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, she witnessed atrocities that no child ever should. Her father was killed by rebels and her mother died of famine. Sent to an orphanage, Michaela was mistreated and saw the brutal murder of her favourite teacher.Micheala was born in the 1990's to loving but poor parents in Sierra Leone. Her father worked long, hard hours in a diamond mine and both her parents wanted their only child to have an education - in spite of the fact she was a girl and had a skin condition called vitiligo (areas of skin lose pigment creating white spots - a harmless condition that can cause superstition and shunning in Africa and elsewhere). Sierra Leone in the 90's was a place overrun with violence and it soon came to Micheala's village. Every man in the mine was shot, causing Michaela and her mother to move into her uncle's house. Only men deserve respect in her uncle's eyes and both Michaela and her mother were beaten and starved. Eventually the treatment resulted in her mother's death and at the tender age of 4 Michaela was dumped at an orphanage by her uncle. Treated little better there than at her uncle's house at least for the first time Michaela had friends and the promise that an American family wanted to adopt them. One day a magazine was blown against the orphanage fence - it had a picture of a dancer, tall, elegant and standing en pointe - not that Michaela knew what en pointe was or even the word "ballet" but she wanted to be that girl more than anything. It's very upsetting, there are not a lot of dark, dark ballerinas. That's why I came to the Dutch National, they are not focusing on what colour my skin is...it's upsetting, you'd think that in the US it would be more colourful in the dance world."

She has decided to take a break from the Dutch National Ballet Company and you can read more about her decision here. urn:lcp:hopeinballetshoe0000depr_g0d8:epub:18177514-580e-4def-ba77-a3942a42d69b Foldoutcount 0 Identifier hopeinballetshoe0000depr_g0d8 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t5x767962 Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780571314478 Michaela DePrince shot to fame when a ballet documentary featured her. The documentary was called First Position and you can read more about it here.Growing up in war-torn Sierra Leone, Michaela DePrince witnesses atrocities that no child ever should. Her father is killed by rebels and her mother dies of famine. Sent to an orphanage, Michaela is mistreated and she sees the brutal murder of her favourite teacher. I have put off reading this for YEARS not because I wasn't interested in it but because it's hugely popular with the 12 year olds at work and my brain shelved it in the same category as Soul Surfer, a book I have flipped through a couple of times while shelving and ultimately decided is not for me. As the war continued and chaos spread, at one stage, Mabinty witnessed the murder of a beloved teacher. Having been adopted at the age of four, alongside her best friend Mia, Michaela initially finds life in America difficult to adjust to. The cultural differences, as well as the impact that war and abuse had on both girls created fears that would appear unfounded to the onlooker, and that were overcome, in time, by the help of their family. The book is very much focused on family ties, and how in spite of the effects past events can have on young children, love and patience can overcome these obstacles. Here is a video of her dancing a contemporary variation. Watch those beautiful suspended poses of hers.

Her passion for dance came about when she found a copy of a dance magazine when she was very young, with a ballet dancer on the front cover doing a retire en pointe. Michaela wanted to be just like that ballerina, and Hope In A Ballet Shoe tells of her lifelong passion for classical ballet and how she beat all the odds to achieve her dream. But this? I was HOOKED from the first chapter and I flew through it. Michaela's story was utterly compelling and this is written in a very engaging way with a writing style and tone that very much fits the fact that she was still a teenager when she and her mother wrote this. The orphanage was a place of sorrow with the children making their own fun with the scraps they had. However, amongst the darkness, Mabinity found her love for dance there and a young girl who became her best friend and would be for years to come. A day came when the girls were all adopted by American families, rescued from the disguised day-to-day trauma in the orphanage. It was this rescue and ignited Michaela Deprince’s dreams and the rest was history. My only concern about this book is that the horrors of her own childhood make this story of dedication, determination, and devotion unsuitable for young girls to read.Elaine and Charles DePrince had experienced enormous losses themselves, with the deaths of two of their haemophiliac sons before Michaela was born. Another son died while she was a young girl, and the couple adopted nine children altogether. While at the orphanage she witnessed her teacher be murdered but she also befriended a couple of girls. She was eventually adopted by US parents, along with her best friend. She went to live in the US, pursued her dreams of ballet and even appears on Dancing with the Stars. The beginning of the book is very sad, as it tells of her life, the poverty, the loss of her parents, abuse from her uncle, and experiences of death that she faced when she lived in Sierra Leone. Expect to shed a whole lot of tears when reading this part of the book. Hope in a Ballet Shoe is a book that I just recently finished reading. I really enjoyed this book as it was a true account of dancer Michaela DePrince and her struggles as a child coming out of war-torn Sierra Leone and being adopted by Elaine and Charles DePrince, who were part of an American Family. Michaela was born in 1995 and taken to America in 1999. For the people who are not involved in the dance world at all, let me introduce you to the 20 year old Michaela DePrince, principle ballet dancer at the Dutch National Ballet. This is her story about how ballet saved her life. Well it might sound too dramatic but in this case it is true.