Maria Tallchief

My hero is Maria Tallchief. I believe Maria Tallchief is a hero and always will be because of her courageous thinking and her brave soul. Maria Tallchief was the first major prima ballerina from the United States. A prima ballerina is the lead role in the ballet. She also was distinguished as one of five people to hold that rank, prima ballerina, as a Native American. Maria was born in Oklahoma. Her mom was Irish and Scottish. Maria's dad was full Native American. Maria loved dancing ever since she was born. She always kicked and danced through the tall grass in the meadows. She had a younger sister, whose name was Marjorie. Marjorie was taken by the love of dance too. As the sisters grew up, they inspired each other to learn more and be more as a person. Maria Tallchief died last year on April 11, 2013. She might be gone in life, but in our hearts she will always be with us. Maria Tallchief was a woman who was a leader, persistent, and overcame adversity.

I am fortunate, because I can only imagined what adversity she faced to fulfill her dreams. Maria Tallchief actually went through it and overcame it. As a Native American, she was put down, bullied, and was thought of as dirt. Through her life, Maria had to learn to deal with this treatment. She was constantly hearing the words "no" or "I don't like it." For example, dance teachers weren't willing to teach her because of her race. People wanted her to change her last name because they didn't like it. But she had the strength to stand up and say no. When she was in school, kids would yell war chants to make fun of her. She just ignored it because she knew they wouldn't matter later on in her life. Sometimes people would boo her when she was on stage dancing because they thought she didn't deserve to be proud. But it didn't get to her, she still performed on stage. Maria went through this all her life.

Maria Tallchief is a persistent person. She always kept going, never looking back. She had to be persistent if she wanted to make it in the dance world as a Native American. She was harassed on stage by crowds of people. But Maria didn't stop, she danced harder and finished with a great big smile on her face. She was constantly discriminated against. Still she tried to make it through and be strong. Maria did not let the behavior of others affect her life and dreams. Ultimately, her hard work paid off as people stopped thinking of her as a Native American ballerina rather, they thought of her as the first major prima ballerina.

Maria Tallchief is a leader. She is a role model that I look up to and one day hope to be like. Her braveness is very impressive. She had the confidence to believe in herself and stand up to people. She is a leader because she worked hard for the leading roles that she got. She became the lead in the Nutcracker and Swan Lake because of this character trait. She founded the Chicago Ballet and was a teacher there. She wanted to teach young artists and make sure they stayed on track. She wanted them to learn from her life's experiences. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall and she received a Kennedy Award in 1996. Most importantly, she lead Native Americans to understand that they can be whatever they want to be, if they believed in themselves.

Maria Tallchief was a woman who faced the obstacles in her life head on, rather than running away from them. She took the mean hatred that people forced on her and used it to her advantage to make herself more persistent. She didn't let people hold her back. She forgave and forgot. Maria knew everyone was not perfect and she knew sometimes people made mistakes. She wanted people to learn from her life. As Maria Tallchief once said, "If anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away."