Second soloist with the Boston Ballet Michaela Mabinty DePrince has a personal journey to the stage that is nothing short of inspiring. Michaela describes her astonishing childhood in her homeland of war-torn Sierra Leone and how dance helped quiet the chaos of her life and ultimately gave her freedom. Michaela describes the importance of authenticity, what it means to wear tights of her own skin tone, and how she questioned her identity outside the dance world after an injury.Check out Michaela Mabinty DePrince on Instagram or the web.To learn more about Michaela, read her memoir Taking Flight.Follow Moving Moments on Instagram.Follow Alicia on Instagram.You can find out more about Artful Narratives Media on Instagram or the web.The Moving Moments theme song was composed by Saul Guanipa for Videohelper.Moving Moments was co-created by Alicia Graf Mack, Jessica Handelman, and David Krauss.This interview has been edited and condensed to fit the time format.Episode copyright © 2023 Artful Narratives Media. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.