Prima dancer Maria Tallchief prepared to perform in the New York City Ballet’s premiere of Firebird on November 27, 1949, while waiting for her cue in the City Center’s wings in downtown Manhattan.
The Osage ballerina in this production, which was a reinterpretation of a well-known ballet based on a Russian folktale, made the dance community rethink who could be one of their biggest stars. Tallchief was unaware at the time that she would be making history—not just for the New York City Ballet, but also for herself as the country’s first prima ballerina.
Tallchief’s captivating portrayal as the Firebird demonstrated her command of technique, artistry, and stage presence, all of which are essential for being a prima ballerina, or the female first principle dancer of a company.
Maria Tallchief is one of the artists and works I frequently introduce my students to in my role as a professor of Indigenous literatures and cultures. I want to draw attention to Tallchief’s crucial contribution to the introduction of ballet to the United States in November in observance of Native American Heritage Month and the 75th anniversary of the New York City Ballet’s Firebird premiere.
During the 1940s and 1960s, when the majority of Americans mistakenly believed that Indigenous people could not engage in contemporary life, she and her younger sister Marjorie were both celebrated ballerinas who wowed audiences worldwide. Scholars contributed to the myth that Indigenous people would lose their political and cultural traditions during this time, and Congress established laws intended to eradicate the rights of Indigenous countries to self-governance.
In vibrant motion, artists such as the Tallchief sisters dispelled those prejudices while following their love of dance and respecting their common ancestry.
Early life
Elizabeth Betty Maria Tall Chief was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1925. She was brought up in a well-known family immersed in Osage customs by her parents, Ruth Porter and Alexander Tall Chief.
Both Maria and Marjorie had a talent for dancing as young girls, and the family chose to relocate to California in order to have access to the best instructors for their instruction. Maria would later join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, a renowned dancing company that traveled throughout Europe and the United States, and the Tallchief girls, who by that time had combined their two last names, flourished under their new teachers.
She was a standout member of Ballet Russe’s corps de ballet (ensemble dancers), developing the stage presence and technique required to become a soloist. However, there was one practice that other famous dancers had adopted that Tallchief rebuffed, and that was changing her last name to Tolchieva, or Tallchieva to sound more Russian, as Russians were thought to be the most talented dancers. She refused to give in to pressure from the firm to fit in because she was proud of her heritage and last name.
Becoming the Firebird
It was during her time with Ballet Russe that Tallchief met the choreographer George Balanchine, who noticed her talent and began to create new roles for her.
After a brief courtship, Balanchine offered Tallchief a dual proposal: become his wife and join his new company that he was establishing in New York. This would be Balanchine s second attempt at founding a company with the American philanthropist Lincoln Kirstein.
Tallchief s energetic style and technical brilliance would bring Balanchine s choreography to life, so she was a key to this endeavor s success. From their partnership, Ballet Society Inc., later renamed New York City Ballet, was created.
In her memoir America s First Prima Ballerina, Tallchief recalls that the premiere of Firebird was a make-or-break moment for the fledgling ballet company, for whom seasons were brief, [and] money was tight.
Moreover, while 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 execute a complex jump that she and her partner hadn t mastered yet.
However, when the curtain rose, Tallchief turned in an electric performance that embodied the magical Firebird of lore, completing the difficult jump with such grace that, as she recounted in her memoir, an audible sigh rose in the audience.
Far from being the disaster Tallchief feared, the ballet proved to be one of the company s greatest accomplishments. She recalled that once the performance concluded, the New York City Center erupted into applause, sounding like a football stadium after somebody s made a touchdown.
A new marvel
Critics raved about the ballet and Tallchief in particular. Dance critic John Martin of The New York Times declared that Balanchine had choreographed a role perfectly tailored to match Tallchief s skills, and she dances it like a million dollars. On second thought, make it two million.
The composer of Firebird, Igor Stravinsky, sent Balanchine a telegram congratulating him on the new marvel that 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 American Ballet Theatre 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, alluding to her status as a prima ballerina and an Osage citizen. Also, as captured in this name, she showed that despite assumptions to the contrary, Indigenous people could both exceed the standards of Western arts and culture, and then set new standards along the way.
As 2024 draws to a close, we are nearing the centenary anniversary of Maria Tallchief s birth. Tallchief once said a ballerina takes 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 ingenuity and resilience.
By Shannon Toll, University of Dayton. This story was supplied by The Conversation for AP customers. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.
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