Maria Tallchief Essay

Maria Tallchief had parts in some ballet routines specifically choreographed for her. Some including Firebird, the Nutcracker and Swan Lake (4). Maria Tallchief faced many challenges in her life, from her childhood to becoming famous and her death in 2013 (1,2,3,4,5).

Maria Tallchief was a famous Native American ballet dancer (opinion). Maria Tallchief became famous through hard work (opinion). She was the first Osage Tribe woman to break into ballet (1). She was one of five dancers from Oklahoma. They became known as the Oklahoma Indian Ballerinas. A few of the others were her sister Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin, and Yvonne Chouteau (5). Maria Tallchief was one of the country's leading ballerinas from the 1940’s to the 1960’s (1). In 1947 she became the first New York City Ballet prima ballerinas and held that title for the next 13 years (1). In 1996 she was one of only five artists to get the Kennedy Center Honor contribution (1). She was inducted to the national women’s hall of fame and awarded the National Medal of Arts (1). She

She was originally named Marie Elisabeth Tall Chief but she changed her name to Maria Tallchief to make look herself more European (2). She quickly became a ranking soloist and then joined the New York City Ballet (2). Later in 1996 she left the New York City Ballet (2). Maria Tallchief founded the Chicago City Ballet and served as the artistic director (2). Soon Maria married George Balanchine but it didn’t last long (1). In 1957 Maria married Henry Paschen (1). They had a daughter named Elise in 1959 and she took time off of dance (1). She went back to dance after her daughter was old enough (1). Maria was proud of her indian heritage (4). When she was told that she should change her name she refused (5). Her option was to change Tallchief into Tallchief (5). Maria Tallchief was an amazing dancer who was famous for many things