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Elaine DePrince of Cherry Hill, NJ died "after many years of battling a hereditary disease and heart failure," as stated in the post. She passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 11. She was 77 years old.
Michaela's death at the age of 29 was announced on Friday, Sept. 13 in an Instagram post, as Daily Voice previously reported. Her family has since reached out to Daily Voice and confirmed that Michaela passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Michaela did not know about her mother's suddenly declining health and Elaine did not know about Michaela's death when she passed, the family's representative told us.
A full statement from a representative of the family has been posted on Facebook.
The mother-daughter duo quickly become known to the world in the popular documentary "First Position." This followed young dancers preparing for the Youth America Grand Prix, which was released in 2011.
Michaela, who Elaine and her husband had adopted from Sierra Leone at the age of 4 back in 1999, was a stand-out in the movie. For many audience members, the lengths Black dancers had to go to match their tights, shoes, and mesh of costumes to their skin tones was unknown — Elaine explained she made and altered all of Michaela's performance outfits to customize her daughter's looks to match her perfectly.
Michaela went on to train in Philadelphia at the ROCK school, then to perform with the Boston Ballet, and finally joined the Dutch National Ballet. She gained even more fans after performing in Beyonce's 2016 film "Lemonade."
Elaine was a woman of many talents of her own, as a teacher, an author, and a lyricist. She wrote "Cry Bloody Murder," a book about hemophilia and HIV, and co-authored "Taking Flight," a book about Michaela's life.
She was a mother of 11, who often spoke about the importance of adoption.
She is survived by her children Mia, Beelee, Jaye, Mariel, Amie, and her two sons, Erik and Adam.
Funeral details for both DePrince women have yet to be released. Michaela's cause of death remains unknown.
Editor's Note: This article originally was published stating Elaine had passed two days before Michaela's death based on the death announcements initially posted, but Daily Voice since has corrected this error and updated this article with details shared by the DePrince family.
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