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BackTallchief – America’s Prima Ballerina
By Maria Tallchief and Rosemary Wells
Illustrated by Gary Kelley
Published by Puffin Books
ABOUT TALL CHIEF
Growing up on the Osage Indian reservation, Maria Tallchief was a gifted pianist and dancer. According to Osage tradition, women are not permitted to dance, but Maria’s parents recognized her gifts and allowed her to break the rule. Then when Maria reached the age of twelve, her father told her it was time to choose between her two loves. Maria chose ballet. It was a decision that would change not only the course of her life, but the face of classical ballet in America. The fascinating story of Maria Tallchief’s rise to become America’s prima ballerina will captivate young readers.
ABOUT Maria (Marjorie) Tallchief
Maria (Marjorie) Tallchief, the daughter of a full-blooded Osage Indian father and a mother of Scotch-Irish descent, was the queen of American ballet in its glory years; and her life story reads like a fairy tale, but one in which the princess must pay a high price for her magical gifts. Tallchief devoted herself to ballet at an early age, achieving instant recognition when she went to New York in 1942 at age 17. Immediately accepted as a member of the Ballet Russe, she caught the fervent attention of the controversial and brilliant choreographer George Balanchine. He made Tallchief not only his prima ballerina – creating unforgettable roles for her that called for “pyrotechnical virtuosity and limitless stamina” – but also his wife. Tallchief, adeptly assisted by coauthor Larry Kaplan, who also cowrote Edward Villella’s autobiography, Prodigal Son (1991), is mod- est about her own stupendous talent but expresses undiminished awe for Balanchine’s genius. Her descriptions of working with Balanchine and Stravinsky are fascinating and exhilarating, but her accounts of the terrible strain of 14-hour days of practice and performance are sobering. At the height of her career, Tallchief suffered from “perpetual exhaustion” and a fractured personal life, but she has no regrets–only sterling memories and much to be proud of. Donna Seaman.