Maria Tallchief

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Maria Tallchief on the cover of Dance Magazine 1954.
v. l. No. Maria Tallchief, Yvonne Chouteau, Moscelyne Larkin.
v. l. No. Marjorie Tallchief, Rosella Hightower.

Maria Tallchief (born January 24, 1925 in Fairfax , Oklahoma , † April 11, 2013 in Chicago , Illinois ) was the first American prima ballerina . She danced with the Ballets Russes from 1942 to 1947 , but is best known for her time with the New York City Ballet , where she was engaged from 1947 to 1965. With Yvonne Chouteau , Moscelyne Larkin , Rosella Hightower and her sister Marjorie Tallchief , she is one of the Five Moons , important dancers of Indian descent from Oklahoma.

Life

Her full name is Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief or Ki He Kah Stah Tsa ; her family called her "Betty Marie". She was born on January 24, 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma. Her father Alexander Joseph Tall Chief (1890-1959) was an Osage chief, her mother Ruth (née Porter) of Irish-Scottish descent.

Elizabeth Tall Chief's great-grandfather Peter Bigheart had provided the Osages with large revenues from oil production through skillful negotiation. Her father never had to work, Maria grew up in great wealth, even though her father's alcoholism, like many parental quarrels, shaped her childhood.

She wrote later in her biography: “I was a good student and fit into the community at the Catholic Sacred Heart School. But I was a typical Indian girl in many ways: shy, introverted, and calm. I loved being outside and spent my time in our yard where there was a swing. I also enjoyed wandering the property of our vacation home looking for arrowheads in the grass. When I found one, I would shiver with excitement. Most of all I wished to be out in the pastures, to walk around where the horses were… ”.

She liked music, dance, and ballet. But her desire for an artistic career was a challenge for a child of Native American origin in those days. Her family supported her endeavor and in 1933 moved to Beverly Hills , California , where she studied ballet with Bronislava Nijinska . Madame Nijinska's discipline spurred Tallchief on: “When you sleep, sleep like a ballerina. When you wait for the bus, stand like a ballerina. ”Maria continued to work hard and was soon technically superior to her peers. She had her premiere as a dancer at the Hollywood Bowl .

new York

Tallchief left Los Angeles when she was 17 to attend an audition in New York City . She received an engagement with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo , where she quickly rose to become a soloist. At the suggestion of Agnes de Mille , she took the name Maria Tallchief.

In 1947 she received an engagement with the New York City Ballet as a prima ballerina , a position she held until 1960. Chief choreographer of the company was from Georgia native George Balanchine , many of his pieces for Tallchief designed. Her 1949 performance of Balachine's The Firebird, as well as an earlier collaboration at the Paris Opera, made Tallchief famous around the world. She also designed the role of Sugarplum Fairy in Balanchine's choreography of The Nutcracker .

Tallchief danced with the New York City Ballet and other companies until she left the stage in 1965. Together with her sister Marjorie Tallchief , another prima ballerina and long-time “Première Danseuse Étoile” at the Paris Opera , she founded the Chicago City Ballet in 1981 , the she was artistic director until 1987. Since 1990 she has been an artistic advisor for Von Heidecke's Chicago Festival Ballet .

Private life

Maria married George Balanchine on August 16, 1946, and in 1952 the couple divorced without children. A brief marriage to Elmourza Natirboff, an aviator, followed. On June 3, 1956, she married Henry "Buzz" Paschen, a Chicago building contractor . This marriage lasted until Paschen's death in 2003. They had a daughter, Elise Paschen (* 1959), who became known as a poet and "Executive Director" of the Poetry Society of America .

honors and awards

Documentation

In 2007, a one-hour documentary entitled Maria Tallchief was produced. The film contains 180 photographs from Tallchief's personal archive from her marriage to Balanchine and from her childhood in Oklahoma. In addition, excerpts from various performances can be seen, among others from Swan Lake , Pas de Dix , Le Baiser de la Fée , The Nutcracker , The Firebird and from the Black Swan .

Movie

Tallchief made a guest appearance as Pavlova in the film Million Dollar Mermaid with Esther Williams . She also appeared in a documentary about the Ballets Russes .

Web links

Commons : Maria Tallchief  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jack Anderson: Maria Tallchief, a Dazzling Ballerina and Muse for Balanchine, Dies at 88 , New York Times. April 12, 2013. Accessed April 13, 2013. 
  2. ^ A b Maria Tallchief with Larry Kaplan, Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina , Holt (1997), ISBN 0-8050-3302-5 .
  3. ↑ Kennedy Center Biography ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kennedy-center.org
  4. ↑ Dawn, Aulet. "Around Town: a high honor" Joliet Herald News , November 19, 2006.
personal data
SURNAME Tallchief, Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief (maiden name); Ki He Kah Stah Tsa (Indian name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ballet dancer
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Fairfax , Oklahoma , USA
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 2013
Place of death Chicago