Edna Moscelyne Larkin Jasinski (January 14, 1925 – April 25, 2012) was an American ballerina and one of the "

Five Moons The Five Moons were five Native American ballerinas from the U.S. state of Oklahoma who achieved international recognition during the 20th century. The five women were Myra Yvonne Chouteau, Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin, and sisters Mar ...

", Native American

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

s from

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

who gained international fame in the 20th century. After dancing with the

Original Ballet Russe The Original Ballet Russe (originally named Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo) was a ballet company established in 1931 by René Blum and Colonel Wassily de Basil as a successor to the Ballets Russes, founded in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev. The company ...

and the

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and its a ...

, she and her husband settled in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

, where in 1956 they founded the Tulsa Ballet and its associated school. It became a major regional company in the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

and made its

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

debut in 1983. She is portrayed in the mural ''Flight of Spirit'' displayed in the Rotunda of the

Oklahoma State Capitol The Oklahoma State Capitol is the house of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the building that houses the Oklahoma Legislature and executive branch offices. It is located along Lincoln Boulevard in Oklahoma City and contains 452,508 ...

building.

Early life and education

Edna Moscelyne Larkin was born in

Miami, Oklahoma Miami ( ) is a city in and county seat of Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States, founded in 1891. Lead and zinc mining were established by 1918, causing the area's economy to boom. This area was part of Indian Territory. Miami is the capital of ...

in 1925, the only daughter of Eva Matlagova-Larkin, a young dancer from Russia, and Rueben Francis Larkin, an Eastern Shawnee-Peoria Indian. Her mother trained her in ballet until the girl was old enough to move to New York City to further her studies. There she studied under Vincenzo Celli, Mikhail Mordkin, and Anatole Vilzak-Shollar.Foster, Toni Annette
Moscelyne Larkin profile
, Oklahoma Historical Society ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture'' (2009); retrieved February 10, 2009.

Dancing career

In 1941, at age 15, Larkin joined Colonel

Wassily de Basil Vassily Grigorievich Voskresensky (16 September 1888 – 27 July 1951), usually referred to as Colonel Wassily de Basil, was a Russian ballet impresario. De Basil was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1888 (his year of birth is given alternately as 1 ...

.Livingston, Lili Cockerille. ''American Indian Ballerinas''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999: xix. She performed with the company in Europe and the Americas. While dancing with the company, Larkin met her future husband Roman Jasinski, a ''premier danseur'' from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

.''New York Times'' obituary for Roman Jasinski
Retrieved November 22, 2009. In 1948, she achieved the rank of a ballerina; she and her husband had both moved to the

, directed by Serge Denham.

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for th ...

often showcased her as a prima ballerina. In 1954 Larkin toured Asia, performing in

Alexandra Danilova Aleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova (''Russian'': Александра Дионисьевна Данилова; November 20, 1903 – July 13, 1997) was a Russian-born prima ballerina, who became an American citizen. In 1989, she was recognized fo ...

's "Great Movements in Dance". She excelled in comical roles as a ''

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

''. She played the can-can dancer in ''

Gaîté Parisienne ''Gaîté Parisienne'' (literally, "Parisian Gaiety") is a 1938 ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine (1896-1979) to music by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) arranged and orchestrated many decades later by Manuel Rosenthal (1904-2003) in collabor ...

''.

Agnes de Mille Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Early years Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMill ...

, the choreographer and dancer, admired Larkin's performance as the

Cowgirl A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

's ''

Rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...

'', a role which was premiered by de Mille.

Marriage and family

Larkin married Roman Jasinski in 1943. After they had a son, Roman Larkin Jasinski, on February 21, 1954, they decided to retire from performing. They moved to

, where they created a ballet school and founded the Tulsa Civic Ballet (later known as the Tulsa Ballet). It became a major company in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and made its premier in New York in 1983. Larkin introduced area schoolchildren to ballet and also taught ballet to higher level students at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin t ...

Honors

In 1967,

Quapaw The Quapaw ( ; or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley of the present-day United States. The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Ohi ...

- Cherokee composer Louis Ballard wrote the music for the ballet, ''The Four Moons'', for the Oklahoma Indian Ballerina Festival. The ballet honors the ''

'': Larkin,

Yvonne Chouteau Myra Yvonne Chouteau () (March 7, 1929 – January 24, 2016) was an American ballerina and one of the " Five Moons" or Native ''prima ballerinas'' of Oklahoma. She was the only child of Corbett Edward and Lucy Annette Chouteau. She was born March ...

Rosella Hightower Rosella Hightower (January 10, 1920 – November 4, 2008) was an American ballerina and member of the Choctaw Nation who achieved fame in both the United States and Europe. Biography Rosella Hightower was born in Durwood, Carter County, Oklahoma ...

, and sisters

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

and

Marjorie Tallchief Marjorie Tallchief (born Marjorie Louise Tall Chief; October 19, 1926November 30, 2021) was an American ballerina and member of the Osage Nation. She was the younger sister of the late prima ballerina, Maria Tallchief, and was the first Native A ...

. In its solos, the dancers evoked their four distinct tribal cultures.Everett, Dianna
Louis Wayne Ballard profile
. Oklahoma Historical Society. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture'' (2009), retrieved February 10, 2009. Larkin was inducted into the

Oklahoma Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Hall of Fame was founded in 1927 by Anna B. Korn to officially celebrate Statehood Day, recognize Oklahomans dedicated to their communities, and provide educational programming for all ages. The first Oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Cer ...

in 1978. In 1988, she received the annual ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including '' Pointe ...

'' Award. In 1993, she was inducted in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame. The Council of American Indians honored her as "Outstanding Indian" that same year.

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classified as ...

artist Mike Larsen included Larkin in his monumental mural, '' Flight of Spirit'', displayed in the Great Rotunda of the

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

Death

Larkin suffered from Alzheimer's disease and died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 25, 2012 from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

. She is survived by her son, Roman Larkin Jasinski.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Moscelyne 1925 births 2012 deaths People from Miami, Oklahoma Artists from Tulsa, Oklahoma Prima ballerinas Ballets Russes dancers Ballet teachers American ballerinas American people of Russian descent American people of Welsh descent Peoria people Native American dancers Eastern Shawnee people University of Tulsa faculty Five Moons American women academics 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women 21st-century Native American women 20th-century American ballet dancers