Michaela surviving in this world
Have you ever dreamed of becoming a famous ballerina? Only the top ballet dancers make it into company's. The sport of ballet is very competitive and hard. Michaela DePrince first realized that she wanted to be a ballerina when she found a magazine cover with a ballerina on the front. Michaela was born during the 11 year civil war in Sierra Leone. Ballet is a wonderful performing art that entertains tons of people, in Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince is about Michaela becoming a world renowned ballet dancer through her rough background, book reviews, and her cultural impact.
Michaela DePrince lived in Sierra Leone for the first four years of her life. Michaela was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa on January
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6, 1995. Her real name is Mabinty Bangura (Administrator 2 and DePrince 5). Michaela was loved in her house but outside she was called “the devil's child” and kids were afraid of her. Her uncle shamed her and punished her anytime he saw her because he thought that his brother should have sent Michaela off to an orphanage. Michaelas’ biological father got shot and killed while working in the mines and not very long after he died her mother died of starvation and Lassa Fever (DePrince 13). The rebels invaded the little village where Michaela grew up. They shot everyone that worked in the mines and burned lots of houses and killed tons of people. After Michaelas father's death her uncle took her mom and her into his house. Her uncle barely fed them and Michaela and her mother had the worst living conditions there. After Michaela's mom died her uncle took her to an orphanage because he could not afford to raise her because he had to many wives and children (DePrince 22). Her uncle left her at the orphanage until she got adopted. Her uncle wanted nothing to do with her because she was a “devil child”. Michaela got adopted and that saved her life and she got to start a new and better life in America. “Elaine DePrince and her husband, Charles, adopted Michaela’s and Mia, Michaela’s best friend from the orphanage” (Jones 2). At first Elaine and Charles DePrince were just going to adopt Mia and then they found out that there was another girl that has not been adopted. They took in Michaela and she was now able to start to fulfill her dreams that she would not have been able to do in Africa. Elaine promised Michaela that she could take ballet lessons; she began ballet on September 13,1999 (DePrince 82). The only thing Michaela could think about is becoming a famous ballerina. She had many setbacks along the way. She found out about racism and in ballet it is strong. People had never seen an African American girl try and become a principal ballet dancer. Life in America was better than in Africa but there were many barriers that she had to learn to overcome. When Michaela wrote Taking Flight she had a ton of amazing feedback.
Everyone loved hearing her story and she has inspired many young ballerinas to pursue their dreams no matter what people say. In publisher’s weekly they wrote, “A compelling narrative of the journey of an African orphan whose hard work, emotional strength, and supportive adoptive American parents helped her build a life as a professional dancer,...” (“Taking” 111). Michaelas story is truly inspiring to young dancers and to everyone around the world. It is just amazing to read about all the difficulties she has faced is truly amazing and inspirational. When you read about a topic you don’t know much about it opens your eyes to things you don’t know. Another amazing review is “...Taking Flight- is one of almost unimaginable turmoil and out-of-the-blue good fortune, much like the fairy-tale dances she now performs” (Siegal 1). Lots of people start out in rough places and don’t get to experience some things that other people get to experience. Telling people what it was like to live as a little kid during the middle of a civil war is an amazing story to tell but sometimes the nightmares get in the way of people sharing their stories. Taking Flight is an eye-opening and breathtaking autobiography by Michaela telling her story to impact the world in an unbelievable …show more content…
way. When Michaela lived in Sierra Leone there was an 11 year civil war going. The civil war in Sierra Leone started in March 1991 and ended in January 2002 (Nicol 16,18). The civil war caused pain and sorrow in almost everyone's life. People were shot and killed in the street and their bodies were left there to rot. War raged on and “...that at least 50,000 people died, with hundreds of thousands more affected by the violence and some 2,000,000 people were displaced by the conflict” (Nicol 18). People could not walk half a mile without seeing a dead body on the side of the rode. It is bewildering that people could not walk to the market without a fear of getting attacked by rebels. Many children were left orphans and were sent to orphanages, lots of other children died of starvation or disease. Another thing is that girls did not usually go to school in Sierra Leone. Michaela was taught how to read and write in Arabic (DePrince 5). It was extremely uncommon for girls to go to school. In their culture girls stayed home and dd house work and cooked food while the men provided for the family. Life in Sierra Leone was not easy and it only got harder as the civil war went on. Michaela has a disease that is called Vitiligo and she was known as the “devil's child” by everyone in Sierra Leone thought she was dangerous. Michaela is very open about having vitilo and she hopes to inspire young people with vitiligo (Administrator 2). Vitiligo affects the skin and Michaela wants to help kids that have insecurity problems related to vitiligo to be their own person and not think what anybody else thinks. Elaine said “When I saw the picture of the little girl, I realized that she had Vitiligo. I laughed because Michael and I both had vitiligo (Administrator 3). It's not easy living with a disease that people notice and it is just amazing how she inspires young kids with vitiligo. I thought that Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince is a terrific and incredible book about her journey to becoming a famous ballerina.
In my opinion this book was and is amazing. I would definitely read this book again and I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is perfect for anybody to read but dancers will connect to the book really well and enjoy it. Taking Flight is also an amazing adoption story. I know how hard it is for a kid to move from one country to another and have to learn a different language and different culture. It is difficult for kids to get use to a new place and for Michaela to get use to and learn decent English as fast as she did is amazing. Taking Flight is over all a terrific and eye opening book. I think everyone should read it and don't judge this book just because she is a ballerina, read it for the cultural side and the history side.
Michaela DePrince is a breathtaking ballerina and she shares her background through her book Taking Flight. She shares her dismal background, terrific response from her autobiography, and her cultural impact and the civil war. Michaela is an example of a true miracle, she survived the harshness of living in Sierra Leone during the civil
war. Works Cited Administrator. “Michaela's Story.” Michaela's Story | Vitiligo Voices, 2014, www.avrf.org/vitiligo-voices/michaela-s-story.html. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. DePrince, Michaela, and Elaine DePrince. Taking Flight: from War Orphan to Star Ballerina. New York, Ember, an Imprint of Random House Children's Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2016. Jones, Malcolm. “The Unstoppable Ballerina.” Newsweek, 2013, p. 1. Student Resources in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A324514042/SUIC?u=okla32837&xid=09b3c3a7. Accessed 2017. Nicol, Davidson S.H.W., and Shekou M. Sesay. “Sierra Leone.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 May 2014, www.britannica.com/place/Sierra-Leone/Civil-war. Accessed 23 Mar. 2017. Siegal, Nina. “From Nightmare to Dream Come True.” The New York Times, 2015, p. C1(L). Student Resources in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A405463194/SUIC?u=okla32837&xid=8cd332ee. Accessed 2017. “Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.” Publishers Weekly, 18 Nov. 2014, pp. 111–111. Academic Search Premier, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=99627044&site=ehost-live. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
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Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of the Life of an iconic artist that was Frida Kahlo
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