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At our next Extraordinary Women event, we explore the life and influence of American Prima Ballerina Maria Tallchief (1925-2013) with a documentary and discussion. Maria Tallchief was born to the Osage nation in Fairfax, Okla., in 1925 during the period called the “Reign of Terror” when many tribe members were murdered for their oil wealth. (It was the setting for Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.)
She was to become America’s first Prima Ballerina, the first indigenous ballet dancer to achieve that level of recognition and a muse to choreographer George Balanchine. Her artistry played an important role in the founding of the New York City Ballet.
So deep was her talent, she might well have become a concert pianist had she not, after her family moved to Los Angeles, begun ballet training with and been inspired by Bronislava Nijinska, former dancer, choreographer and sister to famed male dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.
Produced and written by Sandra Osawa (Makah Tribe) with her partner Yasu Osawa, the film traces Tallchief’s life from her childhood days in Oklahoma, her move to Los Angeles and her early professional life in New York City with the Ballet Russe. It also explores how Tallchief’s embrace of dance finds roots in her indigenous heritage and how her talent and partnership with Balanchine changed the course of ballet in America.
The Osawas have included interviews with Tallchief, who died in 2013; her sister Marjorie, also a ballet dancer; other relatives; former colleagues from the dance world, critics and ballet historians. You’ll also see archival clips and stills of Tallchief’s performances in Swan Lake, Orpheus, Firebird, Les Sylphides among others.
The Osawas will join us on Zoom from Washington State for our Q&A about Tallchief’s life and this important period for ballet and American Indigenous history. Also joining us is Pia Bouman, founder of the Pia Bouman School of Ballet and Creative Movement -- an institution in west-end Toronto!
Buy tickets on the Revue Cinema Website!
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Ave, Toronto, ON M6R 2M9, Canada,Toronto, Ontario
Tickets