The Five Moons: Legendary Native American Ballerinas
Maria Tallchief in George Balanchine’s Firebird. Photo by George Lynes, 1949. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. © George Platt Lines
In the USA, every Friday after Thanksgiving is Native American Heritage Day, a day to pay tribute to Native Americans and their achievements. This year, TWoA would like to celebrate five Native American ballerinas who shaped the history of American, and also of French ballet: Maria Tallchief, her sister Marjorie Tallchief, Rosella Hightower, Yvonne Chouteau and Moscelyne Larkin. Known collectively as the Five Moons, all five ballerinas came from the state of Oklahoma.
Maria Tallchief (1925-2013)
How fitting that the woman widely considered America’s first prima ballerina had Native American roots! Tallchief’s father was a member of the Osage tribe, her mother was Scottish-Irish. Maria Tallchief was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, but the family soon moved to Los Angeles, where Maria trained with the legendary Ballets Russes choreographer Bronislava Nijinska. Later, she studied at the School of American Ballet in New York and danced with Serge Denham’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Maria was married to New York City Ballet’s founding choreographer George Balanchine from 1946 until 1951. She was with New York City Ballet from the company’s very beginnings and remained its leading ballerina for almost twenty years. George Balanchine created more than 25 roles for her. She enthralled the public in roles such as the firebird in Balanchine’s Firebird. But Tallchief’s path to success was thorny and filled with racist remarks:
Marjorie Tallchief (1926-2021)
Marjorie Tallchief in Mikhail Fokine’s Les Sylphides. Photo by Roger Wood, 1949. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Marjorie Tallchief was Maria’s younger sister. Like Maria, she trained with Nijinska, and later with the former imperial Russian ballerina Olga Preobrajenska in Paris. Marjorie was one of the leading ballerinas of the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in Monte Carlo. From 1957 until 1962, she was a principal dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet, the first American to hold the prestigious title of étoile.
Rosella Hightower (1920-2008)
Rosella Hightower in Ballet Theatre production of Pas de Quatre. Photo by Alfredo Valente, 1941 - 1946. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. ©Richard Valente
Rosella Hightower (Choctaw) was born in Durwood, Oklahoma. She danced with several important companies such as the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Ballet Theatre (American Ballet Theatre) before becoming a star of the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas in Monte Carlo. Later, she founded the Centre de Dance Classique in Cannes and directed ballet companies in Marseille and Nancy. Hightower was the second female director of the Paris Opera Ballet (Violette Verdy was the first), and the first American to hold this position.
Moscelyne Larkin (1925-2012)
Solo shot of Moscelyne Larkin. Photo by Maurice Seymour, 1950 (approximate). Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. © Ronald Seymour
Moscelyne Larkin was born in Miami, Oklahoma, and danced with Colonel de Basil’s Ballets Russes and Denham’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She and her husband founded Tulsa Ballet Theatre. In 1967, Larkin organised the first Oklahoma Indian Ballerina Festival. Four of the Five Moons performed at the festival.
Yvonne Chouteau (1929-2016)
Solo shot of Yvonne Chouteau. 1945 (approximate). Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Yvonne Chouteau was born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma. She danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She also founded Oklahoma City Ballet and established the Department of Dance at the University of Oklahoma.