January 24: Today in Dance

Born Today: Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief (1925–2013), member of the Osage Nation, was the New York City Ballet’s first star. George Balanchine (1904–1983), her husband at the time, created his own version of The Firebird for her in 1949 and she danced the first Sugar Plum Fairy role in an obscure little ballet called The Nutcracker revived by Balanchine in 1954, popularizing it as the premier seasonal ballet. Her sister Marjorie Tallchief (1926-) also danced ballet and performed with the Paris Opera.

Also Born Today: André-Jean-Jacques Deshayes (1777–1846) was a ballet dancer at the Paris Opera Ballet who spent much of his career in the UK (1804–1842) helping to develop Romantic Ballet in Britain. Audrey De Vos (1900–1983) was a London-based ballet and modern dance teacher whose unorthodox methods combined the two techniques to honor physical uniqueness of each of her dancers, tap dancer Howard “Sandman” Sims (1917–2003) is named for the technique he perfected, dancing on a fine layer of sand. Donald Saddler (1918–2014) was an original member of ABT, performed on Broadway and directed revival musicals.

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Movie: Chicago released in 2003

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