DID YOU KNOW? for October 5 - 19, 2021:  

Did You Know...Maria Tallchief was the first Native American woman to break into ballet.  Elizabeth Marie Tallchief was born in 1925 in Oklahoma; her father was a member of the Osage Nation.  At 17, she moved to New York City to pursue her dreams of becoming a dancer.

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Maria Tallchief went from dance company to dance company looking for work.  Many discriminated against her because of her Native American ancestry.  She was eventually selected as an understudy in the Ballet Russe, the premier Russian ballet company in the USA.  In 1942, when one of the lead ballerinas abruptly stepped down, Tallchief was called to stand in.  Her performance received positive reviews from top critics.  As her career began to take off, many tried to persuade her to change her last name so that dance companies would not discriminate against her.  She refused and continued to perform as Maria Tallchief.  In 1947, after marrying choreographer George Balanchine, she became the first prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet - a title that she would hold for the next 13 years.  She became the first American to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet and perform at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

Prior to her death in 2013 Maria Tallchief received a Kennedy Center Honors, was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

For further reading: https://www.biography.com/performer/maria-tallchief