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She was the last of Oklahoma's "Five Moons." Marjorie Tallchief — one of the five Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma who rose to global fame in the 20th century — died Nov. 30 at her home in Delray Beach, Florida. She was 95.  

 

The younger sister of famed fellow prima ballerina Maria Tallchief, Marjorie Louise Tallchief was born in Oct. 19, 1926, in Denver, Colorado, during a family vacation. Her parents were Alexander Joseph Tall Chief, a member of the Osage Nation, and his wife, Ruth Porter Tall Chief.

 

Her paternal great-grandfather had helped negotiate with the U.S. government for oil revenues that brought the Osage Nation vast wealth, and she grew up in Fairfax until her family moved to California when she was a girl so that she and her sister could further their ballet training.  

 

Marjorie Tallchief (Osage) is one of the five Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma to become known as the Five Moons.

 

She studied under prominent choreographers Ernest Belcher, Bronislava Nijinska and David Linchine, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.  

 

She accepted a position of leading soloist in the Original Ballet Russe, a traveling company that took ballet to small towns across America. She went on to perform with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas and the Chicago Opera Ballet.

 

She joined the Paris Opéra Ballet in 1957, and she was the first American ever to become première danseuse étoile, or "star dancer," the highest rank a performer can reach in the legendary company.  

 

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