Five Moons

The Five Moons ( engl. the five moons ) are five Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma who came to international prominence in the 20th century. They are Yvonne Chouteau, Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin and the sisters Maria and Marjorie Tallchief. With Five Moons is also a bronze sculpture in Tulsa is named, which portrays the five dancers.

The dancers

Yvonne Chouteau ( born 1929 ) grew up in Vinita, Oklahoma and is part of the Shawnee. At the age of 14, she was accepted as youngest ever dancer from the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She and her husband Miguel Terekhov founded the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet.

Rosella Hightower (1920-2008) was a Choctaw and was born in Durwood, Oklahoma. She studied ballet in Kansas City, Kansas, and New York City, New York. Hightower danced for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and several other ballet companies. She founded the Center for Dance in Cannes, France and was at the Marseille Ballet, the Ballet de Nancy and the Ballet de l' Opéra National de Paris before. In 1975 she was accepted as a Chevalier in the Legion of Honor.

Moscelyne Larkin (1925-2012) was born in Miami, Oklahoma. She had ancestors in Peoria, Shawnee and from Russia. Her mother trained personally in ballet. After a period in New York City she performed with 15 years in the Original Ballet Russe and the Ballet Russe de Monte later Carlo. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, she founded with her husband Roman Jansinsky the Tulsa Ballet Theatre.

Maria Tallchief (1925-2013) was an Osage and was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, to her and her sister Marjorie (* 1926) to allow for the best ballet training. Maria joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and later the New York City Ballet at. She married her director and choreographer George Balanchine. Marjorie Tallchief was the first American Indian Premiere danseuse étoile of the Ballet de l' Opéra de Paris. Tallchief led, among other things, the Dallas Civic Ballet, the Chicago City Ballet and the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida.

Honors and cultural influence

A ballet called The Four Moons was written for the Oklahoma Indian Ballerina Festival in 1967 and are the respective tribal origin of the five artists again. The music is by Louis Ballard, a Cherokee.

The Chickasaw artist Mike Larsen created a mural called Flight of Spirit for the Oklahoma State Capitol Rotunda in Oklahoma City. Another image comes from the Muskogee Jerome Tiger.

The sculpture

The Five Moons was unveiled by the Tulsa Historical Society in November 2007. 1995 Monte England had begun. After England had died in 2005, was responsible for the completion of the artist Gary Henson.