“Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina,” by Maria Tallchief with Rosemary Wells
Viking Press, New York, 1999, 32 pages, Grades K-3.
Ballet is a wonderful combination of music, dance, artistry and athletic strength. In the early 1900s, ballet was dominated by a number of brilliant Russian dancers. In fact, so many Russians were great dancers that the entire art form became identified with Russia.
The most famous ballet company in the world was the renowned Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow. Into this very European setting, a young American girl began to show great ballet promise. Born in Oklahoma of an Osage Indian father and a Scot-Irish mother, this young girl would later gain world-wide prominence. Her name was Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief, but would later be changed to Marie Tallchief.
Marie Tallchief, with the assistance of famous children’s literature author Rosemary Wells, writes the remarkable story of her life.
Elizabeth Maria Tall Chief is born in 1925 on the Osage Indian Reservation in Fairfax, Okla. In a stroke of good fortune, vast amounts of oil are discovered on the reservation. In short order, the Osage Indian Tribe have wealth beyond imagining. Elizabeth Maria’s father, Alexander Tall Chief, is also quite wealthy and owns a number of businesses in Fairfax. His mother lives with the family and does not understand these new American ways and the wealth that has flowed over the tribe.
Maria’s mother, Ruth Tall Chief, becomes the artistic driving force in her life and insists that she and her sister Marjorie take piano and dance lessons. Both girls begin to excel in the arts, with Elizabeth Maria being exceptionally talented in both the piano and dance.
But gifted dance instructors were not to be found in Fairfax, so the mother decides that the family must move to Los Angeles so that the girls can receive better instruction. By the time Elizabeth Marie is 10 years old, she is dedicated to music and dance but reaches a crossroad in her young life. Alexander Tall Chief tells his daughter that she needs to choose between dance and the piano. Her father thinks that she will excel in one of the arts but will be unable to achieve greatness if she tries to do both.
With this advice, Elizabeth Marie chooses dance. Shortly thereafter, she begins being trained in ballet by the renowned teacher Madame Nijinska. She is the sister of the most famous ballet dancer in the world, Vaslav Nijinska. Through Madame Nijinska, Elizabeth Marie, learns the hard discipline and work involved in becoming a prima ballerina. While in her late teens, Elizabeth Marie makes the final decisions that will lead her to becoming the greatest American ballerina of all time.
What were these decisions? How does this young Oklahoma girl become a world-renowned ballet dancer? Who helps her in becoming an exquisite ballerina? Have you ever helped anyone achieve something? Why is it so important to support others?
To find out the answers to these questions, go to the library and check out the book, “Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina” by Maria Tallchief and Rosemary Wells.
The life of Maria Tallchief has been the subject of a number of books and films. This autobiography is concerned with her early years, so readers will also want to read other biographies about her adult life.
Oklahoma will declare Maria Tallchief and her sister Marjorie to be “state treasures.” The story of Maria Tallchief is a story of hard work, beauty and triumph. I hope you get the opportunity to read this book about the life of this exceptional woman. Enjoy!
