CNN —The Osage Ballet overlooks a creek in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, on the Osage Indian reservation.
The Osage Ballet hopes to continue to inspire a new generations of dancers in her honor.
But Tallchief refused and insisted on dancing as Maria Tallchief, keeping her Osage name, according to a biography of the ballerina by the School of American Ballet.
Ballerina Maria Tallchief WATFORD/Mirrorpix/Getty ImagesElise Paschen, Tallchief’s daughter and a poet, told CNN her mother took great pride in her heritage.
Smith said she hopes the Osage Ballet will continue Tallchief’s pioneering legacy of dance and Native American representation in ballet.
Persons:
Elizabeth Marie Tallchief, Randy Tinker Smith, she’s, “ I’ve, ” Smith, America’s, Tallchief, Maria Tallchief, Ballerina Maria Tallchief, Elise Paschen, ” Paschen, ” Kate Mattingly, ” Mattingly, Mattingly, Tallcheif, George Balanchine, Balanchine, John Martin, “, “ Balanchine, Paschen, ”, ” Tallchief, Princess Wa, Smith, ballerinas, Maria
Organizations:
CNN, Osage Ballet, Osage, New, School of American Ballet, Ballerina Maria Tallchief WATFORD, Old Dominion University, New York City Ballet, Firebird, The New York Times, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ballet
Locations:
Pawhuska , Oklahoma, Fairfax , Oklahoma, Osage, Beverly Hills, Carlo, Oklahoma, United States, Europe, Swan Lake, An