“North American companies tend to shy away from black female dancers wh...” — Michaela DePrince Quote

“North American companies tend to shy away from black female dancers who are darker than a brown paper bag.”

“Being adopted by the DePrince family has brought me everything I have in life. It has given me love, hope, and the opportunities to make my dreams come true. From them, I also learned about courage, compassion, and sacrifice.”

“I am striving to reach the stars as a prima ballerina, but my most important reason for wanting this is because of the effect this will have on the world of ballet and the very young ballet dancers that come after me.”

“Sometimes I want to clean up my desk and go out and say, respect me, I'm a respectable grown-up, and other times I just want to jump into a paper bag and shake and bake myself to death.”

“I used to carry Everlast's duffle bag with all his North Faces in it. I used to clean his Ewings with a toothbrushes before he hit the stage and I used to wash his Celtic's jersey. Basically, I rolled with them and I was the little guy down with them. If they needed me to do whatever, I would do it.”

“I've had toiletries explode in my bag and go all over my clothes a few times but I wouldn't let something like that ruin a holiday for me.”