Michaela DePrince is a professional ballerina currently with the Dance Theatre of Harlem company, who was adopted as a young child from Africa by a US family.
By virtue of the colour of her skin, she is challenging long-held stereotypes.
DePrince lost both her parents during the war in Sierra Leone and was taken in by a couple from New Jersey.
Now she is a professional dancer in Harlem and wants to set an example to other young black ballerinas, even as she deals with discrimination.
Al Jazeera's Cath Turner reports from New York.
