Barbie honors Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief #shorts

Mattel has released a new Barbie doll that pays tribute to Native American ballet dancer Maria Tallchief. The doll’s release coincides with Native American Heritage Month and is part of the company’s Barbie Inspiring Women series.

Born in 1925 on an Osage reservation in Oklahoma, Tallcheif took her first ballet lesson at age 3. At 17, Tallchief joined the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in New York City. Later, she became the first American to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet and eventually became a muse of choreographer George Balanchine. It was Balanchine who bestowed the title of prima ballerina on Tallchief at New York City Ballet. She was the first American and Native American to earn that honor at a professional ballet company.

But Tallchief never turned her back on where she came from. At one point in her career, she refused to change her name to Tallchiva, as some friends advised, to sound more Russian or European.

After retiring from stage, she received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime contributions to American culture, an induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the National Medal of Arts award. She was also honored on a $1 coin and quarter.

Later in life, she became a ballet instructor and founded the short-lived Chicago City Ballet alongside her sister, Marjorie. Tallchief died in 2013 at age 88.

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