Maria Tallchief

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Tallchief redirects here; for the armored car robber see Heather Tallchief.

Maria Tallchief (January 24, 1925) is a retired American ballerina.

From 1942 to 1947 she danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but she is best known for her time with the New York City Ballet from 1947 to 1965.

She was born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief in Fairfax, Oklahoma on January 24, 1925, to an Osage Nation father and a Scotch-Irish mother. Her father was a chief of the tribe Osage.

Of her childhood she wrote, "I was a good student and fit in at Sacred Heart (Catholic school). But in many ways, I was a typical Indian girl — shy, docile, introverted. I loved being outdoors and spent most of my time wandering around my big front yard, where there was an old swing and a garden. I'd also ramble around the grounds of our summer cottage hunting for arrowheads in the grass. Finding one made me shiver with excitement. Mostly, I longed to be in the pasture, running around where the horses were..." (Tallchief & Kaplan 1997).

She enjoyed music and dancing; her desire to pursue a career in the arts constituted a considerably challenging dream for a Native American child in those days. The family moved to Beverly Hills, California, where she studied ballet with Bronislava Nijinska for five years. Madame Nijinska's philosophy of discipline made sense to Tallchief. "When you sleep, sleep like ballerina. Even on street waiting for bus, stand like ballerina" (Tallchief & Kaplan 1997). Betty Marie continued to work hard and mastered technical skills well beyond her years. She premiered, nervously, at the Hollywood Bowl.

A refined professional, Maria Tallchief, as she called herself, left Los Angeles at the age of 17 and auditioned in New York City. She joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and quickly rose to the status of featured soloist.

Choreographer George Balanchine wrote several of his most famous works for her. The two were married on August 16, 1946; the marriage ended in 1952. They had no children. She was the first prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet from 1947 to 1960, where Balanchine was the principal choreographer. Her performance of Balanchine's The Firebird in 1949 and their earlier collaboration at the Paris Opera elevated Maria Tallchief onto the world stage. She also originated the role of the Sugarplum Fairy in Balanchine's version of The Nutcracker.

Much of the world had never seen anything like Maria Tallchief. Admired by millions, she became America's preeminent dancer. In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower declared her Woman of the Year.

When the Governor of Oklahoma honored her that same year for her international achievements and her proud Native American identity, Maria Tallchief was named Wa-Xthe-Thomba ("Woman of Two Worlds").

Maria briefly married Elmourza Natirboff, "a handsome young aviator," and later married Henry "Buzz" Paschen, a "blue-eyed" Chicago builder, on June 3, 1956. The latter marriage lasted until his death in 2003. They had one daughter, Elise Paschen (born 1959), an award-winning poet who served as the Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America from 1988 to 2001, and currently teaches in the writing program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Tallchief continued to dance with the New York City Ballet and with other groups until her retirement in 1965. With her sister Marjorie, she founded the Chicago City Ballet in 1981 and served as its artistic director until 1987.

She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996.

Marie Tallchief's younger sister, Marjorie Tallchief, also had a successful career as a ballet dancer and was for several years the "première danseuse étoile" of the Paris Opera Ballet.