Rosella Hightower

Rosella Hightower ( born January 10, 1920 in Durwood, Oklahoma, † November 4, 2008 in Cannes, France) was an American ballet dancer who was known both in the U.S. and in Europe.

Origin

Rosella Hightower was born in Durwood, Oklahoma near Ardmore. She was the only child of Charles Edgar Hightower and his wife, Eula May Flanning. Her father belonged to the tribe of Choctaw. When he accepted a new job at the Missouri - Kansas - Texas Railroad Company, the family moved to Kansas City. Here Rosella began her training as a dancer at Dorothy Perkins.

Europe

As of 1937, the Russian choreographer and dancer Léonide Massine occurred in Kansas City, he invited Hightower to join his new ballet company in Monte Carlo. As Hightower went there at its own expense, she realized that she should initially only participate in another audition. She was then but still included in the company and met her future partner André Eglevsky know. After the outbreak of the Second World War Hightower returned to New York and took an engagement at the American Ballet Theatre.

In 1946 she joined the Ballet of de Basil, which occurred under the name Original Ballet Russe. After a performance of Giselle in March 1947 at the Metropolitan Opera, she was hailed by the critic John Martin. Originally Alicia Markova was provided for the lead role. However, she fell ill and had to Hightower rehearse the role in just five hours. Martin wrote then: "The Original Ballet Russe had planned any news for the opening night ... nonetheless, there was a greater piece of news on the program. Such was the unheralded first appearance of Rosella Hightower in the title role of Giselle " He called her performance " a thoroughly admirable performance that earned her an ovation from the audience. "

Three days later, Martin wrote in his critique of Swan Lake: " The newest star in the ballet heaven."

In the same year she accepted an invitation from the Marquis de Cuevas at George, a member of his new company Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas (short: Cuevas Ballet) to be. A crucial factor in their change was the collaboration with the choreographer Bronislava Nijinska in the new company. Nijinska designed for the ballet Rondo Capriccioso Hightower. In another piece, Piège de Lumière by John Taras, Hightower danced a butterfly in a tropical forest, the enchanted a group of escaped prisoners.

As Cuevas died in 1961, the band broke up and Hightower, now over 40 years old, moved gradually from the stage. In 1962, she appeared several times on, including Erik Bruhn and Rudolf Nureyev with and opened the Ballet School Centre de Danse Classique in Cannes.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she stood in front of several ballet companies: the Ballet of Marseilles 1969-72, the Ballet of the Grand Théâtre in Nancy from 1973-74, the Paris Opera Ballet from 1980-83 and the La Scala Ballet in Milan from 1985 -86.

Honor

Together with four other dancers of Indian descent ( Yvonne Chouteau, Moscelyne Larkin, Maria Tallchief and Marjorie Tallchief ) Hightower was with a statue called The Five Moons, honored. The statue is located in the garden of the Tulsa Historical Society (Tulsa, Oklahoma).

Rosella Hightower was found dead at her home in Cannes on November 4, 2008. It is believed that she died in the early morning or the previous night of a stroke.

Hightower was in 1952 with Jean Robier, a French artist and designer, married. They had a daughter, Dominique ( * 1955).