On November 27, 1949, prima ballerina Maria Tallchief waited for her cue in the wings of downtown Manhattan, preparing to take the stage at the New York City Ballet’s premiere of “Firebird.”
This production was a reinterpretation of a famous ballet based on a Russian folktale and featured an Osage ballerina who forced the dance world to reimagine who one of their biggest stars could be. At the time, Tallchief had no idea she was about to make history, not only for the New York City Ballet, but in her journey to become America’s first prima ballerina.
To be a prima ballerina, or the female “first principal dancer” of a company, means recognition for one’s superior technique, artistry, and stage presence, and Tallchief’s “exciting appearance,” as the Firebird reflected her mastery of these elements.
In my work as a professor of indigenous literatures and cultures, I often introduce my students to works and artists they have never heard of, including Maria Tallchief. This November, in honor of Native American Heritage Month and in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the premiere of New York City Ballet’s “Firebird,” I would like to highlight the integral role Tallchief played in bringing ballet to the United States .
She and her younger sister Marjorie were both acclaimed ballerinas who dazzled audiences around the world from the 1940s to the 1960s, a time when most Americans wrongly assumed that native people were incapable of participating in modern life. During this time, Congress passed legislation aimed at erasing the rights to self-government of indigenous nations, and scholars contributed to the stereotype that indigenous peoples would lose their cultural and political traditions.
Artists like the Tallchief sisters vividly rejected these stereotypes and pursued their passion for dance while honoring their shared heritage.
Early life
Tallchief was born Elizabeth “Betty” Maria Tall Chief on January 24, 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma. Her parents were Ruth Porter and Alexander Tall Chief, and she grew up in a prominent family steeped in Osage traditions.
As young girls, Maria and Marjorie both showed an aptitude for dance, and the family decided to move to California to gain access to the best teachers to train them. The Tallchief girls, who had now merged their two surnames, excelled under their new instructors, and Maria would join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a prestigious dance company that toured Europe and the United States.
She excelled in Ballet Russe’s corps de ballet (ensemble dancers), mastering the technique and stage presence necessary to earn the rank of soloist. However, there was one practice that other famous dancers had adopted that Tallchief disapproved of, and that was changing her surname to ‘Tolchieva’ or ‘Tallchieva’ to sound more ‘Russian’, as Russians were thought to be the most talented dancers were. She was proud of her last name and her heritage and refused to bow to corporate pressure to conform.
Becoming the Firebird
It was during her time at Ballet Russe that Tallchief met the choreographer George Balanchine, who noticed her talent and began creating new roles for her.
After a brief courtship, Balanchine offered Tallchief a double proposal: become his wife and join his new company that he founded in New York. It would be Balanchine’s second attempt to establish a company with American philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein.
Tallchief’s energetic style and technical brilliance would bring Balanchine’s choreography to life, so she was a key to the success of this endeavor. Their partnership created Ballet Society Inc., later renamed New York City Ballet.
In her memoir “America’s First Prima Ballerina,” Tallchief recalls that the premiere of “Firebird” was a defining moment for the young ballet company, for whom “the seasons were short and (and) money was tight.”
Furthermore, although Tallchief was Balanchine’s muse, she did not feel like a source of artistic inspiration that evening. She was recovering from a tonsillectomy, wearing a costume that had only just arrived that morning, and preparing to perform a complex jump that she and her partner had not yet mastered.
When the curtain rose, however, Tallchief delivered an electric performance that embodied the magical Firebird of antiquity, completing the difficult jump with such grace that, as she recounted in her memoir, “an audible gasp went up in the audience.”
Far from being the disaster Tallchief feared, the ballet turned out to be one of the company’s greatest achievements. She recalled that as soon as the performance ended, the New York City Center erupted in applause, sounding like a football stadium “after someone scores a touchdown.”
‘A new miracle’
Critics raved about the ballet and Tallchief in particular. Dance critic John Martin of The New York Times stated that Balanchine had choreographed a role perfectly suited to Tallchief’s skills, and “she dances it like a million bucks.” On second thought: make that two million.”
The composer of ‘Firebird’, Igor Stravinsky, sent Balanchine a telegram congratulating him on the ‘new wonder’ he and Tallchief had created with his ‘old Firbird’. The ecstatic response legitimized the New York City Ballet as a successful company.
Tallchief’s work was not limited to the New York City Ballet, as she headlined a successful tour with the American Ballet Theater to Russia during the Cold War and danced for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower during ‘An American Pageant for the Arts’. ” In 1954, she rejoined the Ballet Russe for a tour and became the highest-paid ballerina in the world.
Back in Oklahoma, June 29 was dubbed “Maria Tallchief Day” and the Osage Nation honored her as “Princess Wa-Xthe-Thonba, Woman of Two Standards,” referring to her status as a prima ballerina and Osage citizen. Furthermore, as expressed in this name, she showed that, despite assumptions to the contrary, indigenous peoples could both surpass the norms of Western art and culture and set new norms along the way.
As 2024 draws to a close, we approach the centenary of Maria Tallchief’s birth. Tallchief once said that a “ballerina takes the steps given to her and makes them her own.” As America’s first prima ballerina, her steps included establishing a new American ballet tradition while also reflecting Osage’s ingenuity and resilience.
— By Shannon Toll, University of Dayton. This story was provided by The Conversation for AP customers. The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Het Gesprek is entirely responsible for the content.
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