Mabinty Bangura’s journey had only begun, when as a young Sierra Leonean girl she was tragically orphaned by the civil war and left with the dream of becoming a ballerina. Today she belongs to the league of very few black classical ballerinas in the world, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc (MGM) recently made contact for film rights to her memoir, Taking Flight.

At Age 4, Mabinty was adopted by the DePrinces; an American couple who raised her as Michaela DePrince. She began a new life never forgetting her desire to one day become a great ballerina. With the support of her new family Mabinty, now Michaela was able to forge ahead in this great pursuit. However this was rather challenging in the face of racial discrimination within the ballet industry and to make it worse all she was neither very slim nor ‘petite.’

When she was 8, she was told that she couldn’t perform as Marie in the Nutcracker—a two-act ballet because “black girls are too muscular for ballet…. too curvy for ballet….America is not ready for a black ballerina.” A year later her new mommy was advised against investing too much in her ballet preparation classes because “black girls grow up and develop big boobs and busty hips.” Circumstances which reflect in the fact that there are only few black ballet dancers globally.

Writing in the Guardian in September 2012 Olivia Goldhill and Sarah Marsh noted the complete absence of black dancers at the Bolshoi Ballet. Another instance which raised concerns is the fact that out of the English National Ballet‘s corps of 64 dancers, only two were black.

However with American Ballet dancers like Misty Copeland, who earned the title of first African-American principal ballerina at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, the ballet world is fast evolving. Michaela reinforces that hope for all, especially black and ethnic youths with a passion for classical dances and others who may be facing discrimination or difficulties in their careers. Her story is that of achievement through hard work and triumph in a field characterised by certain aesthetics—all of which she didn’t quite fit into.

She has proven over time that ballet comes natural to her, so much that you would conclude she was born to dance ballet. At 19, she has been recognised globally on shows such as “Le Corsaire” in South Africa with the South African Manszi Ballet Company, “Abdallah and the Gazelle of the Basra” in Netherlands and in the US with the popular TV Show “Dancing with the Stars”. DePrince is featured in the acclaimed documentary, “First Position”, a documentary focused on covered her experience during the youth America Grand Prix.

In an interview with Glamour Inspired, Michaela recounts what makes her career almost fated: Outside her orphanage one day, the wind had literally blown a magazine onto her face; the cover showed a ballerina en pointe. “The dancer looked beautiful and happy—that’s what caught my eye,” she explained. “I wanted to be happy.”

A scruffy photograph of Magali Messac, a French prima ballerina was one of the first things she shared with her new mother, Elaine DePrince.