Maria Tallchief, American Ballerina Has Died [Videos]

Maria Tallchief in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) with Ester Williams

She is considered the first American prima ballerina, when Russian and European dancers prevailed. A trailblazer with a stage presence and energy never seen before on U.S. stages.

I’ve become fascinated with her story. Her father was Native American and her mother was of Scottish-Irish descent. Her mom started her on piano lessons at three, dreaming she would become a concert pianist, but destiny had other plans for Maria.

As a farewell tribute to this highly musical and energetic ballerina whom left us this week, I dedicate this article to her and all her fans.

Maria Tallchief, American Ballerina Has Died

Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief (January 24, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was the first person of Native American descent to become the prima ballerina of a major company. From 1942, at age 17, until 1947, she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is even better known for her time with the New York City Ballet, from its founding in 1947 through 1965.

Though her surname was originally “Tall Chief”, she was known professionally as Maria Tallchief.

Read more on her fascinating life in wikipedia.org.

Maria Tallchief, American Ballerina Has Died

This is what Sarah Halzack from the Washington Post wrote about Ms. Tallchief on the day of her death.

[She was] a dancer of electrifying passion and technical ability who forged a path breaking career that took her from an Oklahoma Indian reservation to world acclaim and who was a crucial artistic inspiration for choreographer George Balanchine, her first husband, died April 11 at a hospital in Chicago. She was 88.

In addition to her work with New York City Ballet, Ms. Tallchief danced on television programs, including “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and in 1952 she played Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova in the Technicolor musical “Million Dollar Mermaid,” which starred Esther Williams.

In 1960, Ms. Tallchief performed in Russia with Danish ballet sensation Erik Bruhn, making her the first American dancer to appear at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

Maria’s energy is so evident in the following 1961 televised performance of Don Quixote’s pas de deux with Erick Bruhn. Enjoy!

From Nick Wallace-Smith’s archival YouTube Channel. Thanks Nick!

Jack Anderson of The New York Times wrote:

The choreographer Jacques d’Amboise, who was a 15-year-old corps dancer in Balanchine’s “Firebird” before becoming one of City Ballet’s stars, compared Ms. Tallchief to two of the century’s greatest ballerinas: Galina Ulanova of the Soviet Union and Margot Fonteyn of Britain.

“When you thought of Russian ballet, it was Ulanova,” he said an interview on Friday. “With English ballet, it was Fonteyn. For American ballet, it was Tallchief. She was grand in the grandest way.”

Here’s another video with Maria Tallchief and Conrad Ludlow in the Balcony Scene from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (1966)

Nick Wallace-Smith Channel on YouTube.

And finally, Maria shows her acting skills in this scene from Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) with Ester Williams performing as Anna Pavlova in The Dying Swan. Listen to her deliver her lines flawlessly!