The Life of Maria Tallchief
The Life of Maria Tallchief
By Addison McClure
One interesting book I have read is America's Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief. This autobiography follows the life of the famous dancer through her career and personal life. She began lessons in the arts around the age of three. Her father was Osage Native American and her mother was from Kansas with Scottish and Irish heritage, so she grew up on a reservation in Fairfax Oklahoma. She endured some hardships as a child including having to deal with her father's alcoholism which would lead to bad arguments between her parents. Her brother was also born with rickets and suffered a head injury from an accident when he was four. Despite this she still continued to pursue her love for dancing and performing.
If your interested in any sort of performing arts, this would be an intriguing book for you. Maria Tallchief was part of bringing ballet to America and brought many of George Balanchine's ballets to life. Just for reference, George Balanchine was a famous choreographer who co-founded the New York City Ballet. Balanchine and Maria Tallchief were actually married at one point. She was pretty young though and he was in his forties which was a little unsettling, but she talks fondly of him in her book and they seemed to have a good relationship even after divorcing. Anyways, her perspective on performing is fascinating to read about because she can describe in great detail how even the smallest steps made her feel. For example she describes a important lift in Swan Lake where she had to step onto her partner's thigh, take his hand, and extends her leg into an arabesque. The fact that she can recall this very moment is amazing.
Another important aspect of the book is Maria discussing what it was like to be Native American in a predominantly white career. At a school she attended, the teacher made her and her sister dance an "Indian dance" that made them both uncomfortable. They were forced to wear stereotypical costumes that were not at all representative of their culture and Maria says she was relieved when she was finished. She also faced racism outside of dance. Students would make fun of her last name which made her want to change it. They would also make war calls and ask her why she was not wearing feathers. I think it is important to understand how much this impacted her especially because she was young when these incidents occurred. There is a history of racism in ballet including incorrect portrayal of different cultures so her being able to openly discuss this is super important.
While I did feel that the book moved somewhat slow, I also understand that she is trying to be detailed and she can't really just summarize her life. I found her accounts of performing, training, and her own struggles with her image to be inspiring. I appreciate how open she is about her performances that didn't go well and her hardships in becoming one of the first prima ballerinas in America. You can tell in her writing that ballet was her biggest passion and I love her perspective on the ballet community.
I think your blog post was well written and did a good job highlighting the positives of the book, which also being critical where you had to. You did a good job summarizing the plot and highlighting parts of her story which were important for the reader to know. I also liked how you talked about how you found the book to be a bit slow, as its ok to point out some things you found not so great about a book. Although I probably won't read this book as I'm not that interested in performing arts, I found your blog post to be very interesting. Great job!
ReplyDeleteMaria's story sounds really inspiring! You did a good job explaining her story without going into too much detail. I enjoyed reading your opinion on the book and I liked how you didn't talk too much about any given moment in her life. Although I don't dance, I would still consider reading this book because you mentioned that it would be a suitable read for people interested in performing arts. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very intriguing. I have not read many autobiographies, but this one seems like one that would be very interesting to read based on what you said about her recalling specific moments. I also think it would be eye-opening to read about her perspectives on racism and her reactions to her personal experiences. I enjoyed reading your blog post and if I get the chance I think I will try to find time to read this book.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog post! I enjoyed how you incorporated themes you found interesting into this post, and I think you did a great job at convincing readers to read it. Performing arts is a big topic, and this book seems to have interesting aspects included with the main topic of dance, because of this I think it would be a great book to read. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I think you did a good job explaining all of the hardships Maria Tallchief faced, especially the situation she faced with her sister in school. This theme is also especially intriguing because as you mentioned dance is predominantly white. I would definitely check this book out purely to see how she tells her story of discrimination.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog post! I like how you focused on the racial aspect of the book because racism focused towards Native Americans is often not focused on in modern literature, it was very interesting and informative. Good work!
ReplyDeleteEven though I am not into performing arts as a career choice, I get the feeling like I would still appreciate Maria Tallchief’s story of success from poor origins. I found it sad that Maria was a victim of racism, but it is still important to talk about because racism remains a common problem. This blog post made me remember how different everyone's lives are from each other, and that everyone has different goals in life. Keep up the good writing!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and found it well written and easy to read. I liked the way that you provided an honest review of this autobiography, by saying that while you enjoyed it and it was an important book to read, it may also be a bit slow. I think this is a book that is important for people to read, particularly because I think when a lot of people think about racism, they don't necessarily consider native americans, and this provides insight into that. Overall great job!
ReplyDeleteIt is really inspiring and encouraging how people like Maria Tallchief can overcome circumstances, such as being bullied for race, and become an important figure in history for whatever they are interested in. I like how you acknowledge what can be seen as a bad thing, specifically the book moving slowly, into a positive thing and that she adds a lot of detail. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis was really well written and inspiring. I enjoyed seeing how your passion for this issue is prevalent through your writing. When you explained how Maria had to dance a racist dance and felt uncomfortable about that, I found it to be a really good detail that showed a specific moment that shows racism in the ballet world. I think that this is a book that I would like to read at some point as I think it will be interesting to see how her experience in the ballet world is and if it has changed at all now. Great job!
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