Who Was Maria Tallchief Page 4

  Her father’s horses running through a meadow of goldenrod on the reservation—that was perfection. A grove of blackjack trees looking ghostly in the Oklahoma sunset—that was perfection, too.

  Once . . . long, long ago, the voices of trumpeter swans echoed co-ho, co-ho across the prairie skies. The ancient Osage admired the trumpeter’s graceful beauty and endurance. Migrating south, the huge birds were a spectacular display. They slept with their long, curved necks tucked under their feathers. Then suddenly, they beat their wings and lifted into the sky again to continue their journey.

  Sadly, by the time Maria was a child growing up on the reservation, the trumpeters were all but gone. Maria had never seen one. The swans Maria knew were from the fairy tales she danced. In the world of ballet, swans were part-bird, part-woman. They lived in two worlds. So had Maria.

  She died on April 11, 2013 at the age of eighty-eight.

  TIMELINE OF MARIA’S LIFE

  1925 — Maria is born, January 24, in Fairfax, Oklahoma

  1926 — Maria’s sister Marjorie is born

  1933 — The Tall Chief family moves to Los Angeles

  1937 — Maria begins dance lessons with Madame Nijinska

  1940 — Madame Nijinska stages Chopin Concerto

  Maria is cast as one of the corps

  1942 — Maria goes to New York City and joins the Ballet Russe

  1943 — Maria performs as soloist in Chopin Concerto with the Ballet Russe; George Balanchine joins the Ballet Russe as the new choreographer

  1946 — Maria marries George Balanchine in New York City

  1949 — Maria thrills audiences with her performance in Firebird

  1951 — Maria and George’s marriage ends

  1956 — Maria marries Henry Paschen

  1959 — Maria’s daughter Elise is born; Maria’s father dies

  1966 — Maria retires from performing

  1983 — George Balanchine dies

  1996 — Maria receives the Kennedy Center Honors

  1997 — Maria publishes her autobiography

  1999 — Maria receives a National Medal of the Arts & Humanities from president Bill Clinton

  2013 — Maria dies on April 11

  TIMELINE OF THE WORLD

  1925 — John Baird transmits recognizable faces in an early form of television

  1926 — Martha Graham, the American pioneer of the modern-dance revolt, gives her first New York performance

  1928 — First Mickey Mouse talking film, Steamboat Willie, releases

  1932 — Amelia Earhart makes history as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

  1939 — Outbreak of World War II

  1941 — Attack on Pearl Harbor

  1945 — World War II ends

  1947 — Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play Major League Baseball

  1954 — Segregation by race in schools is unanimously declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

  1955 — Albert Einstein dies

  1959 — Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states

  1968 — Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated

  1982 — The compact disc or “CD” is launched

  1996 — Madeleine Albright becomes the first female US Secretary of State

  1997 — Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule

  1999 — John F. Kennedy, Jr. dies

  2009 — Barack Obama becomes first African-American president of the United States

  What’s next on

  your reading list?

  Discover your next

  great read!

  Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.

  Sign up now.