When will someone make a biopic about Maria Tallchief, America’s first prima ballerina? A member of the Osage nation, she was key to the success of the New York City Ballet, danced with Ballet Russe (which tried to make her change her last name to Tolchieva) and became the highest paid ballerina in the world. Tallchief once said a ballerina “takes steps given to her and makes them her own.” Learn more about her in this story from @TheConversationUS

theconversation.com/75-years-a…

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75 years ago, Maria Tallchief made the ballet world reimagine itself and find a place for a Native American prima ballerina

Despite assumptions to the contrary, Tallchief showed that Indigenous people could not just exceed the standards of Western arts but also set new ones, writes a scholar of Indigenous cultures.

^{The Conversation}