0:00:16.755,0:00:19.105
My name is Michaela DePrince.

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When I first started to write my speech,

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I thought, maybe, I could give it[br]a fairytale kind of twist.

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But only because most people[br]tell me that my life is a fairytale.

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But I have to say I strongly disagree.

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Yes, I got what I've always dreamed of,[br]but I have to fight for it.

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I wasn't always called Michaela DePrince.

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My original name is Mabinty Bangura,

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and I was born in Sierra Leone,[br]West Africa in 1995,

0:00:48.432,0:00:52.191
four years after the bloody civil war.

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This war would displace thousands of men,

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it would cause thousands of women[br]and children to be raped,

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and over 50,000 people would be killed.

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My parents were among them.

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I was born with vitiligo,[br]a skin condition.

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It left white patches all over my body.

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I was different.

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In Sierra Leone, they didn't understand

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the fact that just because I had[br]white patches on my skin,

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that I was just born this way,

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they thought I was a curse.

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They started to call me[br]"the devil's child,"

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because anybody who would look like this[br]would be the child of the devil.

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I was ridiculed and harassed,

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because I looked different.

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My parents tried to defend me[br]as much as they could,

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but they understood[br]I'd never get married

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because of the way I looked.

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They tried to educate me,[br]they taught me to read,

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and they started to save[br]money for my education.

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But when my parents passed away,[br]I was defenseless and alone.

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I've never been so scared in my life.

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My uncle took me to the orphanage,

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knowing that he could never get[br]a good price for me as a bride,

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and never came back for me.

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In the orphanage[br]we were taken care of by aunties,

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not like the aunties you have at home,[br]the aunties who love you.

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They care about you[br]no matter what you do.

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These aunties were uneducated women,

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who only take care us to bring[br]food home for their kids.

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They would wash our clothes[br]and give us food.

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But these aunties had their favorites.

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There were 27 kids in the orphanage.

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Number 1 got the biggest portion[br]of food and the first choice of clothes.

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Number 27 got the smallest portion[br]of food and the last choice of clothes.

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I was number 27.

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Everyday in the orphanage,[br]I was starving.

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I have never felt so alone before.

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How could this happen to me?

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This is when I realized it was much easier[br]to not care about anybody

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because they always ended up leaving me.

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But then I made a friend in the orphanage.

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Her name was Mabinty, Mabinty Suma.

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Number 26 was always in ill health,[br]sick, but she always had a kind heart.

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And she was always [full of good cheer].

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Number 26 would always listen[br]to all my fears, and all my dreams.

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Whenever I was scared,[br]she would sing to me.

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When I couldn't fall asleep,[br]she would tell me a bedtime story.

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And Number 26 is still doing that[br]15 years later, as my sister Mia.

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And one day,

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the big wind threw a magazine[br]right onto the gate at the orphanage.

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I reached out, and I grabbed it.[br]

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And I saw something.

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This amazing creature, this person[br]I have never seen before,

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she is on her tippytoes,[br]and in this beautiful pink costume.

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But what really struck me the most[br]was the fact that she looked so happy.

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I hadn't been happy in a long time.

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So I thought to myself, if she is happy[br]because this is what she is doing,

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then, maybe, I could be happy too someday.

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I had to be this person, I just had to be,

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in order to become something.

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So I ripped the cover off the magazine,[br]and put it in my underwear

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because I had nowhere else to put it.

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Because as number 27,[br]I didn't have anything to do,

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they would never give me [br]toys or any clothes,

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so where else could I put it?

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And then, a teacher came[br]to the orphanage to teach us English.

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She was also pregnant at that time.

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I showed teacher Sarah the magazine cover,

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and she explained to me[br]this person was dancing ballet.

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She was a ballerina.

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I was going to be this ballerina,[br]I just had to be.

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I'd always go onto my tippytoes everyday[br]and practice just like the ballerina.

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I thought, maybe, one day,[br]with everything going so well,

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I finally had somebody who cared about me,

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maybe one day I could be this ballerina.

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Teacher Sarah cared about me so much,

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and she knew how important it was[br]for me to get a good education,

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so she would always give me extra lessons.

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After a few extra lessons, teacher Sarah[br]and I started to walk towards the gate.

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Me twirling around, trying to be[br]the ballerina on the magazine.

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And all of a sudden,[br]two rebels come towards the gate,

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[with] a little rebel lagging behind them.

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And around the corner,[br]a truck full of them.

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They were laughing and cheering.

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They must have been drinking a lot[br]or under some type of drug.

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And they saw us.

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They saw that teacher Sarah was pregnant.

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They started betting on[br]whether or not it was a girl or a boy.

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And so they decided to find out.

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They took their machetes out [br]and cut her stomach.

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It was a baby girl.

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If it was a boy, [br]maybe she would have lived

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because they would taught him[br]to become a rebel when he was older.

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But it was a girl, so they cut[br]her arms and legs off in front of me,

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and I tried to go save her[br]so I went underneath the gate.

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The little boy thought[br]he should try to copy the older rebels.

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He took his machete out[br]and cut my stomach.

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Now that you've heard my story,[br]the beginning of my life,

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do you think it's a fairytale?

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But soon, my life would turn around.

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Soon, I would have positivity in my life.

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I would find out I was going to be adopted[br]by an American family.

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It took me a while[br]to get to my adopted family.

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We had to walk, all the orphanages,[br]all the orphan kids had to walk

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from Makeni, Sierra Leone,[br]all the way to New Guinea,

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and from New Guinea[br]we took a plane to Makeni.

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I was very sick when I got off the plane,[br]and just miserable, and you know...

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How could my life get any better?

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I was a devil's child; of course[br]nothing good could happen to me.

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And also I was miserable because I thought[br]I would never see my best friend again.

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But then I saw her,[br]the lady in the bright red shoes.

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With the bright white, white, white hair;[br]I have never seen anything like it before.

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She was my new mamma.

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She reached out and said,[br]"I'm your new mamma."

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She grabbed my hand,[br]and my best friend's hand,

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and walked us away.

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I was getting adopted with my best friend.

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We got to the hotel,

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and once my mum put her luggage down,[br]I looked through everything,

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I looked through every nook and cranny

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trying to find my pointe shoes,[br]my tiara, and my tutu,

0:08:02.908,0:08:06.157
because isn't that[br]what always happens in a fairytale?

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But they weren't there.

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I didn't speak any English,

0:08:09.589,0:08:13.804
so I thought the only way I could show her[br]was to show her the magazine.

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I took it out of my underwear,[br]and I showed her,

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and she understood right away.

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She said: "You will dance."

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When I got to the U.S.,[br]I started taking ballet classes.

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My mum drove me every single day.

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Except before my first ballet class,

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I was so scared to show my spots[br]for the kids to make fun of me.

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I begged my mamma to please buy me [br]a leotard to hide all my spots.

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It was a long sleeved leotard[br]that went all the way up to my neck.

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It was so hot in it[br]she had to take it off right away.

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And I put on[br]my pink leotards and tights.

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I went to class once a week, twice a week,

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and then, eventually,[br]by the time I was 10 years old,

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I was dancing five times a week.

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I worked as hard as I possibly could[br]because I had to be this ballerina;

0:09:00.801,0:09:03.802
it was the only way for me to be happy.

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But while I was working hard,[br]I lost somebody.

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I lost my 24-year-old brother, Teddy.

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He was the person who made me[br]be able to trust men again,

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to not be scared of black men[br]who were shouting,

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to not be scared of men in general,[br]to not be scared of my own father.

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And again, this is what always happens[br]when I care about people.

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They always die and leave me.

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I decided to push my family away

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because if they died and left me[br]I don't know what I could do.

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I didn't want them to die[br]because I cared about them.

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But my parents were able to convince me

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that even though the people[br]I love may die,

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their love will always stay with me.

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Their love is a part of who I am today.

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I worked hard for many, many years.[br]and then, finally, my hard work paid off.

0:10:03.331,0:10:06.861
I got accepted[br]into a professional ballet company.

0:10:06.861,0:10:11.102
I had become the ballerina[br]that I've always dreamed of.

0:10:11.102,0:10:12.244
I couldn't believe it.

0:10:12.244,0:10:15.739
How could this happen to me?[br]Again, I was the devil's child.

0:10:17.808,0:10:19.975
With all this hard work going on,

0:10:21.282,0:10:24.533
I didn't think that any dream[br]like this could ever come true.

0:10:25.520,0:10:28.748
I was very happy, finally. For once.

0:10:30.546,0:10:35.140
But the reason why I am here today,[br]the reason why I am telling you my story

0:10:35.140,0:10:39.258
is because I want to encourage[br]young people to aspire to dream.

0:10:39.258,0:10:40.993
I want people to understand

0:10:40.993,0:10:45.250
that it is OK to be different,[br]it is OK to stand out.

0:10:45.250,0:10:47.018
I'm different.

0:10:47.018,0:10:49.867
And I want you to understand[br]to believe in yourself,

0:10:49.867,0:10:53.509
to believe that you have talent[br]even if you don't think you do.

0:10:53.509,0:10:55.574
No matter what circumstances[br]you are under,

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no matter how poor, or how sad[br]you are at any given moment,

0:10:59.160,0:11:00.992
believe.

0:11:00.992,0:11:03.925
And dare to dream.[br]Dare to push boundaries.

0:11:03.926,0:11:08.110
Dare to be different, dare[br]to stand out, and all above.

0:11:09.283,0:11:14.381
And last but not least,[br]don't be afraid of living and loving.

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And this is how I express myself.

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(Ballet dancing)

0:12:23.511,0:12:25.581
(Applause)