MARIA TALLCHIEF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

David H. Koch Theate
Feb. 5, 8, 11, 13, 18

The 2025 Winter Season will pay triibute to the 100th anniversary of the 100th birth of the legendary American ballerina Maria Tallchief, a founding member of NYCB and George Balanchine’s first wife. Tallchief, of Osage descent, was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma on January 24, 1925, and moved to New York at the age of 17, first dancing with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she met Balanchine, and later with Ballet Society, a precursor to New York City Ballet. 

With the founding of NYCB in 1948, Tallchief became the Company’s best-known dancer during its early years, and went on to create some of Balanchine’s most important roles, including the Sugarplum Fairy in the choreographer’s production of The Nutcracker in 1954. 

For the Tallchief centennial program, which will debut on Wednesday, February 5, NYCB will dance three Balanchine ballets created for and closely associated with the ballerina: Scotch Symphony, choreographed in 1952 to music by Felix Mendelssohn; Sylvia: Pas de Deux, from 1950 with music by Léo Delibes and last performed by NYCB in 1994; and Firebird, choreographed in 1949 to Stravinsky’s score, and the role that made Tallchief a star.

Don’t miss these programs: The romanticism and highland perfume of Scotch Symphony; the historic Sylvia Pas De Deux and the grande, sumptuous Firebird to Stravinsky’s driving score.

C. Ipiotis

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