Never miss another hot celeb story The juiciest celebrity news from all around the web on a single page. Hawaii FiveO showrunner Peter Lenkov weighed in on the exits of series regulars Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim on Thursday. Watch The Dream Factory Online Hulu. Maria Tallchief Wikipedia. Elizabeth Marie Betty Tall Chief Osage family name Ki He Kah Stah Tsa 2 January 2. April 1. 1, 2. 01. American ballerina. She was considered Americas first major prima ballerina,3 and was the first Native American to hold the rank. Almost from birth, Tall Chief was involved in dance, starting formal lessons at age three. When she was eight, her family relocated from her birth home of Fairfax, Oklahoma, to Los Angeles, California, to advance the careers of her and her younger sister, Marjorie. At age 1. 7, she moved to New York City in search of a spot with a major ballet company, and, at the urging of her superiors, took the name Maria Tallchief. She spent the next five years with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she met legendary choreographer George Balanchine. When Balanchine co founded what would become the New York City Ballet in 1. Tallchief became the companys first star. The combination of Balanchines difficult choreography and Tallchiefs passionate dancing revolutionized the ballet. Maria Full Of Grace Full Movie Part 1' title='Maria Full Of Grace Full Movie Part 1' />Her 1. The Firebird catapulted Tallchief to the top of the ballet world, establishing her as a prima ballerina. Her role as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker transformed the ballet from obscure to Americas most popular. She traveled the world, becoming the first American to perform in Moscows Bolshoi Theater. Human Interest Prime Minister of Dominica Live Blogs During Hurricane Maria as Roof Blows Off The Winds Are Merciless By Char Adams CiCiAdams. Maria Menounos has been named coanchor of E News. Her role follows the news of current anchor Giuliana Rancic departing the daily news show. Maria Callas, Commendatore OMRI Greek December 2, 1923 September 16, 1977, was a GreekAmerican soprano, and one of the most renowned. She made regular appearances on American TV before she retired in 1. After retiring from dance, Tallchief was active in promoting ballet in Chicago. She served as director of ballet for the Lyric Opera of Chicago for most of the 1. Maria Full Of Grace Full Movie Part 1' title='Maria Full Of Grace Full Movie Part 1' />Chicago City Ballet in 1. Tallchief was honored by the people of Oklahoma with multiple statues and an honorific day. She was inducted in the National Womens Hall of Fame and received a National Medal of Arts. In 1. 99. 6, Tallchief received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievements. Her life has been the subject of multiple documentaries and biographies. Early lifeeditTall Chief, known as Betty Marie to friends and family, was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on January 2. Alexander Joseph Tall Chief 1. Osage Nation, and his wife, Ruth ne Porter, of Scottish Irish descent. Porter had met Tall Chief, a widower, while visiting her sister, who was his mothers housekeeper at the time. Elizabeth Tall Chiefs paternal great grandfather, Peter Bigheart, had helped negotiate for the Osages concerning oil revenues that enriched the Osage Nation. Her father grew up rich as a result, never working a day in his life. In her autobiography, Tall Chief explained As a young girl growing up on the Osage reservation in Fairfax, Oklahoma, I felt my father owned the town. He had property everywhere. The local movie theater on Main Street, and the pool hall opposite, belonged to him. Our 1. 0 room, terracotta brick house stood high on a hill overlooking the reservation. The family spent summers in Colorado Springs to escape the Oklahoma heat. Life was far from perfect, though, as her father was a binge drinker and her parents often fought about money. Tall Chief had five siblings, three from her fathers first marriage to a German immigrant Alexander Frances 1. Thomas 1. 91. 91. University of Oklahoma, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers Gerald 1. Her sister Marjorie, an accomplished ballerina in her own right, was Ruths second child and Betty Maries best friend. As a child, Ruth Porter had dreamed about becoming a performer, but her family could not afford dance or music lessons. She was determined that her daughters would not suffer the same fate. Betty Marie was enrolled in summer ballet classes in Colorado Springs at age 3. She and other family members performed at rodeos and other local events. Tall Chief studied piano and contemplated becoming a concert pianist. In 1. Tulsa, Mrs. Sabin, visited Fairfax looking for students and took on Betty Marie and Marjorie as students. Looking back on Sabin many years later, Tall Chief wrote She was a wretched instructor who never taught the basics, and its a miracle I wasnt permanently harmed. In addition to the problems in her teaching technique, Sabin had put Tallchief on pointe shortly after she joined the school at 5 years old while she was far too young to be able to dance on pointe without injury. At age five, Tall Chief was enrolled at the nearby Sacred Heart Catholic School. Impressed by her reading ability, the teachers allowed her to skip the first two grade levels. Between piano, ballet, and school work, Tall Chief had little free time, but loved the outdoors. In her autobiography, she reminisced about time spent wandering around our big front yard and rambling around the grounds of our summer cottage hunting for arrowheads in the grass. In 1. Los Angeles with the intent of getting the children into Hollywood musicals. The day they arrived in Los Angeles her mother asked the clerk at a local drugstore if he knew any good dance teachers. The clerk recommended Ernest Belcher, father of dancer Marge Champion. An anonymous man in an unfamiliar town decided our fate with those few words, Tall Chief later recalled. California moved Tall Chief back to the proper grade for her age, but put her in an Opportunity Class for advanced learners. Opportunity Class or not, I was still way ahead, she recalled. With nothing to do, I often wandered around the school yard by myself. She also removed Tall Chief from pointe, probably saving Tallchief major injury. Bored with school, Tall Chief devoted herself to dance in Belchers studio. In addition to ballet, which she had previously been doing all wrong and went back to square one, she learned tap, Spanish dancing, and acrobatics there. She found tumbling very difficult, and eventually quit the class, but later in life put the skills to good use. The family moved to Beverly Hills where schools offered better academics. At Beverly Vista School, Tall Chief experienced what she described as painful discrimination and took to spelling her last name as one word, Tallchief. She continued to study piano, appearing as a guest soloist with small symphony orchestras throughout high school. At age 1. Tallchief began to work with Bronislava Nijinska, a renowned choreographer who had recently opened her own studio in Los Angeles, and David Lichine, a choreographer and former dancer. Nijinska was a personification of what ballet was all about, Tallchief recalled.