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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 921 TALLCHI | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A fascinating self-portrait of the fairy-tale life of a woman who understood that a committed talent could transform the world around her.
"Maria Tallchief and American ballet came of age in the same moment.... Her story will always be the story of ballet conquering America. It was and is an American romance."-Arlene Croce, The New Yorker
Author Notes
Maria Tallchief received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. She divides her time between Chicago and Florida.
Larry Kaplan writes frequently for Ballet Review and has assisted in biographies of Merrill Ashley and Edward Villella. He lives in New York City.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tallchief, whose father was a hard-drinking, oil-rich Osage chief, was born on an Oklahoma reservation. But when Tallchief was eight and had already outgrown the limited ballet instruction available in Oklahoma, her strong-willed, Scotch-Irish mother moved the family to Los Angeles, where the girl studied with Ernest Belcher and Bronislava Nijinska. At age 17, Tallchief joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and there met choreographer George Balanchine, whom she married in 1946. The marriage dissolved a few years later, but she remained devoted to Balanchine and, until her retirement in 1966, was a leading ballerina in his New York City Ballet. In this lackluster autobiography, Tallchief records all the details of her background and training and traces her career, her three marriages and her relationships with her dance partners, especially André Eglevsky and Erik Bruhn. Her accounts of the evolutions of the ballets in which she starred and of Balanchine's working methods will be of interest to balletomanes, but the book, written with Kaplan, who has also coauthored biographies of Merrill Ashley and Edward Villela, lacks the fire and excitement that characterized the dancing of one of the great ballerinas of this century. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The tastefully yet candidly told life story of one of America's most gifted dancers, a former wife of George Balanchine. Tallchief was born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief in 1925, to an alcoholic but loving Osage Indian father and a white mother in small-town Oklahoma. When the family moved to Los Angeles, she began studying ballet with Bronislava Nijinska (``It was from Madame Nijinska that I first understood that the dancer's soul is in the middle of the body''). Tallchief joined the Ballet Russe while still a teenager and changed her name to Maria at the suggestion of Agnes de Mille. She first worked with Balanchine in 1944, when he was hired as a choreographer by the Ballet Russe. A year later, the much older man of few words shocked her by saying casually that ``I would like you to become my wife.'' Although this collaboration between Tallchief and ghostwriter Kaplan (Prodigal Son, 1992) does not include much about Tallchief's firsthand view of Balanchine's revisionary classical technique, the book abounds with droll tales and with detailed descriptions of her roles in Balanchine's The Firebird, The Nutcracker, Orpheus, and Sylvia, among others. She chronicles, too sketchily, doings among her famous fellow dancers at the New York City Ballet. Her marriage to Balanchine ended in an annulment. Tallchief is equally frank and lively in describing her career after Balanchines, including an affair with the nubile Rudolf Nureyev. (``I taught him the twist . . . he picked it up right away.'') She also offers penetrating, if tactful, criticism of NYCB's post-Balanchine regime: ``The irony of George's remark that `ballet is woman' is that today most of the companies in the world are being run by men . . . the contribution former Balanchine ballerinas can make, ballerinas who worked directly with George and who created their roles, isn't being valued, not even in George's own company.'' What would happen, one wonders, if this remarkable woman were running things? (32 pages photos, not seen)
Booklist Review
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 modest 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
Library Journal Review
Livingston, a journalist and former dancer, has written the first authorized biography of Maria Tallchief (a 1996 Kennedy Center honoree), Marjorie Tallchief, Rosella Hightower, and Yvonne Chouteau. The book celebrates the accomplishments of these women, who share a state (Oklahoma), a profession (ballet), and a heritage (Native American). Livingston draws largely from interviews she conducted with the dancers, who describe their rise to fame, the touring life, and the complexities of combining professional and personal lives. The book successfully conveys the positive attitudes that played a significant part in each dancer's success, but it lacks the detail and objectivity readers have come to expect of biographies and dance histories. Ultimately this is light, enjoyable reading for balletomanes. Focusing on her remembrances of her years with choreographer George Balanchine, Tallchief's autobiography is more revealing. She met Balanchine at the start of her career, when she was with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Balanchine was about to form a company that would become a precursor to the New York City Ballet. Tallchief subsequently became Balanchine's wife, muse, and prima ballerina, and, though the marriage was short-lived, their artistic partnership endures in Balanchine's works created for Tallchief. She also writes about other stars, but the memoir sparkles when she recalls the subtlety and detail of a movement or the beauty of a musical phrase. Kaplan has coauthored biographies of Merrill Ashley and Edward Villela. Wholly satisfying fare for the seriously interested.Joan Stahl, National Museum of American Art Lib., Washington, D.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
