On November 27, 1949, dancer Maria Tallchief waited for her cue in the wings of City Center in midtown Manhattan, preparing to take the stage for the New York City Ballet’s premiere of “Firebird.”
This production was a reimagining of a famous ballet based on a Russian folk tale and featured an Osage dancer who forced the dance world to reimagine who could be one of its biggest stars. At the time, Tallchief had no idea that she was about to make history, not just for the New York City Ballet, but in her journey to become America’s first ballerina.
To be a prima ballerina, or the “first principal dancer” of a company, is to be recognized for her superior technique, artistry and stage presence, and Tallchief’s “electrifying appearance,” as the bird of fire reflected his mastery of these elements.
In my work as a teacher 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 Indigenous Heritage Month and in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the New York City Ballet’s premiere of “Firebird,” I want to highlight the integral role Tallchief played in bringing ballet to America.
She and her younger sister Marjorie were acclaimed dancers who dazzled audiences around the world from the 1940s to the 1960s, a time when most Americans mistakenly assumed that Native Americans could not participate in modern life . During this time, Congress passed legislation aimed at erasing indigenous nations’ rights to self-government, and scholars contributed to the stereotype that indigenous peoples would lose their cultural and political traditions.
Artists like the Tallchief sisters rejected these stereotypes in live movement, pursuing 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. His parents were Ruth Porter and Alexander Tall Chief, and he was raised in a prominent family steeped in Osage traditions.
As children, Maria and Marjorie showed an aptitude for dance, and the family decided to move to California to access the best teachers to train them. The Tallchief girls, who by then had joined their two surnames, excelled with their new instructors, and Maria would join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a prestigious dance company that toured Europe and the United States.
He excelled in the corps de ballet (group of dancers) of the Ballet Russe, mastering the technique and stage presence necessary to gain the rank of soloist. However, there was one practice that other famous dancers had adopted that Tallchief rejected, and that was to change her last name to “Tolchieva” or “Tallchieva” to sound more “Russian”, as Russians were thought to be the dancers more talented She was proud of her last name and her heritage and refused to give in to the company’s pressure to conform.
Becoming the firebird
It was during her time with the Ballet Russe that Tallchief met choreographer George Balanchine, who noticed her talent and began creating new roles for her.
After a brief courtship, Balanchine offered Tallchief a double proposition: to become his wife and to join his new company he was establishing in New York. This would be Balanchine’s second attempt to found a company with American philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein.
Tallchief’s energetic style and technical brilliance would bring Balanchine’s choreography to life, so he was key to the success of this endeavor. From their partnership, Ballet Society Inc. was created, later renamed New York City Ballet.
In her memoir “America’s First Prima Ballerina,” Tallchief recalls that the opening of “Firebird” was a watershed moment for the fledgling ballet company, for whom “seasons were short, [and] money was tight.”
Also, while Tallchief was Balanchine’s muse, she didn’t feel like a source of artistic inspiration that night. She was recovering from a tonsillectomy, dressed in a costume that had just arrived that morning, and was preparing for a complex jump that she and her partner had not yet mastered.
However, when the curtain rose, Tallchief gave an electrifying performance embodying the magical firebird of tradition, completing the difficult leap with such grace that, as he recounted in his memoirs, “an audible gasp stood up in the audience.”
Far from being the disaster Tallchief feared, the ballet turned out to be one of the company’s greatest successes. He recalled that once the performance concluded, downtown New York erupted in applause, sounding like a football stadium “after someone had scored a touchdown.”
‘A new wonder’
Critics praised 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 abilities, and “she dances it like a million bucks. Come to think of it, make it two million.”
“Firebird” composer 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 he headlined a successful tour with the American Ballet Theater in 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 joined the Ballet Russe for a tour and became the highest paid ballerina in the world.
Back in Oklahoma, June 29 was named “Maria Tallchief Day” and the Osage Nation honored her as “Princess Wa-Xthe-Thonba, Woman of Two Standards,” alluding to her status as slim dancer and Osage citizen. Also, as captured in that name, it showed that, despite assumptions to the contrary, indigenous people could exceed the standards of Western arts and culture and then set new standards along the way.
As 2024 draws to a close, we are approaching the centenary of Maria Tallchief’s birth. Tallchief once said that “a dancer takes the steps given to her and makes them her own.” As America’s first ballerina, her “steps” included establishing a new tradition of American ballet while reflecting Osage ingenuity and resilience.
— By Shannon Toll, University of Dayton. This story was provided by The Conversation for AP clients. The Conversation is an independent, not-for-profit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The conversation is fully responsible for the content.