Who Is Maria Tallchief? (Who Was...?)
by Catherine Gourley
from Grosset & Dunlap
Born in 1925, Maria Tallchief spent part of her childhood on an Osage reservation in Oklahoma. With the support of her family and world-renowned choreographer George Balanchine, she rose to the top of her art form to become America's first prima ballerina. Black-and-white illustrations provide visual sidebars to the history of ballet while taking readers through the life of this amazing dancer.
Illustrated by Val Paul Taylor.
Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina
by Maria Tallchief
from Henry Holt and Co.
She was George Ballanchine's muse for 20 years and his wife for 6; together they made the New York City Ballet an essential part of American culture with his choreography and her dazzling, technically bravura dancing in "Firebird," "Swan Lake," and other modern classics. Maria Tallchief's dignified autobiography describes their groundbreaking artistic collaboration with satisfying thoroughness. She is reserved about their personal relationship but candid about the increasing favor Ballanchine showed to younger dancers, which led to her departure from the company in 1966. Her story captures a key moment in ballet history.
"Maria Tallchief and American ballet came of age in the same moment.... Her story will always be the story of ballet conquering America. It was and is an American romance."-Arlene Croce, The New Yorker
Bird of fire,: The story of Maria Tallchief
Maria Tallchief: Native American Ballerina (Native American Biographies)
by Paul Lang
from Enslow Publishers
American Indian Ballerinas
by Lili Cockerille Livingston
from University of Oklahoma Press
American Indian Ballerinas includes authorized mini biographies of ballerinas Rosella Hightower, Yvonne Chouteau, Maria Tallchief (who recently published her autobiography), and her sister Marjorie Tallchief. All four dancers share a common ethnicity (Native American) and state of origin (Oklahoma), and all came to prominence at the roughly the same time, the 1940s-1960s--though the four had markedly different temperaments. Without working too hard to compare them, the book shows how their common heritage of dance and spirituality suffused their respective artistic careers.
Maria Tallchief: America's prima ballerina,
Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina
by Maria Tallchief
from Viking Juvenile
Music flowed through young Maria Tallchief as naturally as the wind in her hair. She had only to hear a melody and out it came under her fingers on the piano or through her body in dance. But it was soon clear that she would have to make a choice. "Piano or dance," her father told her when she was twelve. "One or the other, but follow that one star." So Maria chose from the heart--and she chose dance. It was a decision that would change not only the course of her life, but the face of classical ballet in America forever. From her early years on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma to her dance training in Los Angeles to her departure for New York and a professional career, the fascinating story of Maria Tallchief, America's prima ballerina, is sure to captivate the hearts of young readers and dance lovers alike.
Maria Tallchief (American Indian Stories)
Maria Tallchief: American ballerina
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