When Michaela DePrince was living in an orphanage during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the late 1990s, death was all around her: Her parents were gone, her uncle had abandoned her, and she witnessed the murder of her teacher.

Ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince, who came to the United States from an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone and performed on some of the world's biggest stages, has died, her family said in a statement. She was 29.

Elaine DePrince, the mother of ballerina Michaela DePrince, died within 24 hours of her daughter, having no idea she had died. Michaela DePrince, born Mabinty Bangura, came to the United States from an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone after being adopted by the DePrince family.