This is not the first time I have mentioned TED (Technology Entertainment Design). I embedded the presentation of the educationalist Ken Robinson in Dance is as important as Maths on 17 Aug 2014 because he told a wonderful story about Gillian Lynne, choreographer of A Simple Man and Miracle in The Gorbals. Robinson's talk had received more hits than any other.
Here is another TED presentation that should run and run. Michaela DePrince gave this talk at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam where I saw her dance a year ago (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). Much of her speech is about her life. The appalling things that happened to her in Sierra Leone. Her adoption. Growing up and learning to be a dancer in America.
But there was a message.
"10:32 the reason why I'm telling you my stories because I want to encourageThose words have moved me as much as her pas de deux with Sho Yamada from Diana and Actaeon in the same theatre.
10:36 young people to aspire to dream I want people to understand that
10:40 is okay to be different it is OK
10:43 to stand out I'm different I want you to understand to believe
10:48 yourself to believe that you have talent even if you don't think you do"
I saw her dance that pas de deux with Yamda again again in May in the Linbury Theatre and this time I brought Vlad's mum and my sister in law. Both are Sierra Leonean. Vlad's mum came to us during the same civil war that DePrince mentioned in her talk.
DePrince has another message. Her life itself is a message of hope. Having emerged from the ordeal of war 20 years ago Sierra Leone is now tested with another. Its people need hope. They need such a message.
Further Reading
About De Prince
8 July 2015 Michaela's Masterclass
29 June 2015 Going Dutch
31 March 2015 Dégagé
30 March 2015 Another Beautiful Picture of Michaela DePrince
26 March 2015 "Taking Flight" in more ways than one
2 March 2015 Dance with DePrince
20 Jan 2015 Cafe 164 to screen "First Position"
30 May 2014 And can they fly! The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company at Covent Garden
28 May 2014 The Flying Dutchmen are coming to London
9 Dec 2013 Dutch National Ballet Junior Company: "Twelve Outstanding Talents" and "Stars of the Future"
25 Nov 2013 The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013
20 Nov 2013 The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company - more than just dePrince
4 Oct 2013 No Holds Barred
4 April 2013 Michaela DePrince
About Africa
7 Jan 2015 Back to Africa
8 Oct 2014 Could the Arts not do something about this horrible Scourge
20 May 2014 A Ballet School for Freetown
4 Feb 2014 Gala for Ghana
10 March 2013 Happy Mothers' Day
3 March 2013 What can be achieved by a good teacher
18 April 2007 Sierra Leone (from my law blog)
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