Yvonne Chouteau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
One of the "Five Moons" or Native prima ballerinas of Oklahoma, Yvonne is a Shawnee Native American born March 7, 1929, in Vinita, Oklahoma. She is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Maj. Jean Pierre Chouteau, who established Oklahoma's oldest white settlement, at the present site of Salina, in 1796.[1] Yvonne was inspired to dance at age four after seeing great ballerina Alexandra Danilova dance in Oklahoma City. While Chouteau studied at the School of American Ballet, it was Danilova who recommended her in 1943 to Serge Denham for Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. At 14 she was the youngest dancer ever accepted.[2]. Her first solo role was "Prayer in Coppelia" (1945). Here she met and married dancer Miguel Terekhov in 1956. The couple organized the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet (now Ballet Oklahoma). They also established the first fully-accredited dance department in the United States at the University of Oklahoma, Norman (1962) .[3].
Governor Frank Keating designated her an Oklahoma Treasure on October 8, 1997 [4]. Yvonne appears in the mural "Flight of Spirit", by Chickasaw Mike Larsen in the Oklahoma Capitol Rotunda and The Five Moons, bronze sculptures by artist Gary Henson on the west lawn of the Tulsa Historical Society[5]. At age 18 she was the youngest member inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. When the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian opened in Washington D.C. she was honored with the inaugural National Cultural Treasures Award. The award celebrated her contribution to the nation's cultural heritage[6]. She was featured in "Ballet Russes", a documentary film by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005[7][8].
[edit] Notes
- ^ Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Tulsa People, The Indian Ballerinas, May 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Revolver Group - Balle Russe. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Dance Magazine, February 1998. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Tulsa Historical Society, "Five Moons Rising". Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Oklahoma Arts Council, News release, September 14, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Zeitgeist Films. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Variety Feb. 17, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
