April 13, 2013

  • Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina

    Maria Tallchief was born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief on January 24th, 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma. She is Osage and Scots-Irish. 

    Maria Tallchief was a Ballerina. At age 17 she went to New York to audition. She joined Ballet Russe. She was also married to George Balachine, a choreographer, and he had even wrote some of his most famous works for her. Maria was the first Native American Ballerina and America's first Prima Ballerina. She retired from dancing ballet in 1965, but still continued to work in the world of ballet, for a while as a director and later an advisor.
    I first learned of Maria Tallchief last year. It's not a surprise I hadn't heard of her before since I've never been in ballet. But I decided to read her biography. I love reading biographies and hers was very good.
    Yesterday Maria Tallchief passed away at the age of 88. I think she was an amazing and inspiring woman. She accomplished much during her career and she won't be forgotten. 

Comments (7)

  • The loss of a beautiful, talented woman-so sad.

  • She was always an inspiration to me even though I never met her and only read about her. In my heart she will be missed too.

  • It's sad to lose such talent!

  • She was obviously amazing and talented. I've not heard of her before your post. Thank you for posting this. 

    Walter Raines was proud of his Native American heritage. He was part Native American. He was a good friend of mine. I met him through another wonderful dancer, Denise Jefferson. When I met Walter he was Director of the Dance Theater of Harlem School. After he died I attended a memorial service held at Hunter College. Among other speakers some of his students performed and spoke of such love for him and appreciation for his influence in their lives. A great man he was and a dear friend. I'm lucky to have known him. We had a lot of laughs together. Here is a link to his obituary from the New York Times. 

    LINK

  • Maria's family was "lucky" in that they got oil royalties, unfortunately her father started to drink up that money.

    They moved to Los Angeles and got lucky breaks finding a ballet teacher. Maria and her sister became great ballerinas.

  • @TheSutraDude - He sounds like a great guy. I see from the link he was from Pennsylvania.

    Thank you for the rec.
    @slmret - It is sad.

    @Ikwa - She really is an inspiration. She went after her dream and didn't let anything stop her. Thank you for the rec.

    @Grannys_Place - It is very sad. 

  • @Shining_Garnet - He was a great guy. I only knew him for maybe 3 years. He was very serious about teaching and the school and social issues. After all, Gregory Hines put his trust in Walter. He also had a great sense of humor. We had many discussions over dinners, other gatherings with mutual friends and over the phone.  

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