Encyclopedia

Tallchief, Maria

Tallchief, Maria (b. Betty Marie)

(1925–  ) ballet dancer, teacher, artistic director; born in Fairfax, Okla. Raised in Los Angeles, she studied with Ernest Belcher and Bronislav Nijinska. One of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo's four Native American stars in the early 1940s, she married George Balanchine and returned with him to the United States. Known for her elegance and brilliance as a dancer, she performed with New York City Ballet until 1965. The ballet troupe and school she formed to serve the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1974 became the Chicago City Ballet in 1980.
The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.
References in periodicals archive
OKLAHOMA CITY--Oklahoma celebrated its rich dance heritage on October 8, 1997, when Governor Frank Keating designated as Oklahoma Treasures the five Native American ballerinas who were born there in the 1920s and went on to achieve international renown--Yvonne Chouteau, Marjorie Tallchief, Maria Tallchief, Rosella Hightower, and Moscelyne Larkin.
Oklahoma salutes its five Native American ballerinas
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