Maria Tallchief

By Angelica Rivera

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Introduction

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Hello!Today you will be reading about Maria Tallchief. Maria was a Native-American ballerina who often got discriminated by companies.To learn more about this ballet legend keep reading.

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Maria Tallchief Childhood

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Maria grew up in Los Angeles,California.She studied ballet for years while working with Bronislava Nijinska and Ernest Belcher.During her early career in 1940 Maria danced ballet with the Ballet Ruse de Monte Carlo.

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Maria Tallchief was born January 24,1925 in Fairfax,OK.

Career

Tallchief made regular appearance on tv shows before she retired in 1966. After Maria Tallchief retired dance,she was promoting ballet in Chicago. She debuted the Chicago City Ballet in 1981 and served as a director of ballet for the Lyric Opera of Chicago for most of the 1970s.

In 1947,Maria became the first American to dance with Paris Opera Ballet.

Family

Maria Tallchief's parents were Alexander Joseph Tallchief and Ruth Porter. Maria's siblings were Jerry Tallchief and Majorie Tallchief. Maria Tallchief's grandmother is Eliza big Heart .Maria Tallchief was married to George Balanchine from 1946-1951 . Then she married Elmourze Natirboff from 1952-1954.After, she married Henry D. Paschen Jr. from 1956 -2004.

Maria Tallchief's father is a Osage Indian.Her father was a wealthy real estate executive. Maria's mother was of Irish and Scottish ancestry.

Maria Tallchief's grandmother,usually took little Maria and her sister,Majorie, to the ceremonial tribal dances.

Maria's family usually called her "Betty Marie".

Education

Maria Tallchief went to Beverly Vista Middle School for middle school.

For High School she went to Beverly Hills High School where she graduated in 1942, it was apparent that ballet would be Tallchief's life. Instead of college she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a highly acclaimed Russian ballet troupe based in New York City.

This is Beverly Vista Middle School

!!!FunFacts!!!

~Her sister Marjorie Tallchief also became a famous ballerina and was the first Native American to become the "premiere danseuse etoile", or the prima ballerina, in the Paris Opera Ballet.

~She was famous for her role as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker and for the lead role in the ballet Firebird. ~She appears in the 2005 award winning documentary Ballet Russes about the dancers of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

~She had a long career and is credited with making the Nutcracker as famous as it is today.

~Their mother could never afford to have dance lessons when she was younger, so she enrolled her two daughters into dance classes at the age of three years old.

This is Maria's Sister

This is Maria