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| Ballerina and trailblazer of dance |
Another in a long list of women I'd never heard of but am glad I got the chance to find out about she was born in 1925 as Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief she would go on to eventually change it Maria Tallchief in an attempt to Europeanize it to further her career aspirations. And those aspirations were incredible. They would lead her to some incredible firsts and she'd grow to be a fixture and powerful force in the ballet world. Her father as a member of the Osage First Nations tribe in Oklahoma and she studied both piano and ballet from an early age. Though her mother desired her children to focus on piano Maria Tallchief and her sister Marjorie were more drawn to dance. Eventually the family moved to California to take advantage of opportunities for Maria. She'd work with numerous notable ballet instructors and even dance in a ballet one of her teachers had choreographed in the Hollywood Bowl.
After highschool she ended up going to New York and attending the Ballet Ruse. Unsurprisingly racism reared it's ugly head and some folks thought she couldn't cut it when her Native American background was known. She only had one thing to say to that bullshit.
Yeah, it didn't take long for her skills to shut those fools up and she proceeded to dance away from their negativity. She even caught the attention of George Ballanchine who would eventually become the group's ballet master and her husband. Say what you will about favoritism but he increased her solo roles and even adjusted them to ensure they played to her strengths.
At one time the two travelled to Paris and she became the first American to dance at the Paris Opera before returning home to become the first American to ever hold the title Prima Ballerina when her and Ballanchine founded the New York City Ballet.
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| And she was FABULOUS! |
Through the 40s-60s she proved herself an incredibly competent and popular ballerina even performing as a guest dancer with numerous other troupes in Europe. She became a well known and sought after teacher after she retired from the stage around 1965. Settling in Chicago she taught and trained ballerinas at a new school of her own founding for many years. She passed away in 2013 after being inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Alright. One more to do until I'm caught up. Next up we're sticking with Native American women and looking up someone with an... admittedly kind of ominous name. Join me in the next post for a look at Wilma Mankiller.
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