Myra Yvonne Chouteau () (March 7, 1929 – January 24, 2016) was an American ballerina and one of the "
Five Moons" or
Native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
''
prima 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'' of Oklahoma. She was the only child of Corbett Edward and Lucy Annette Chouteau. She was born March 7, 1929 in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
. In 1943, she became the youngest dancer ever accepted to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she worked for fourteen years. In 1962, she and her husband,
Miguel Terekhov, founded the first fully accredited university dance program in the United States, the School of Dance at the
University of Oklahoma
, mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State"
, type = Public research university
, established =
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.7billion (2021)
, pr ...
.
A member of the
Shawnee Tribe
The Shawnee Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma. Formerly known as the Loyal Shawnee, they are one of three federally recognized Shawnee tribes. The others are the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and t ...
, she also had French ancestry, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Maj.
Jean Pierre Chouteau
Jean-Pierre Chouteau (10 October 1758 – 10 July 1849) was a French Creole fur trader, merchant, politician, and slaveholder. An early settler of St. Louis from New Orleans, he became one its most prominent citizens. He and his family were promi ...
. From the Chouteau family of
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, he established Oklahoma's oldest European-American settlement, at the present site of
Salina, in 1796.
[Vincent, Melissa. "Chouteau, Myra Yvonne (1929-2016 )" ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.''](_blank)
2009. Accessed February 2, 2009. She grew up in
Vinita, Oklahoma
Vinita is a city and county seat of Craig County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,743, a decline of 11.22 percent from the figure of 6,469 recorded in 2000.
History
Vinita was founded in 1870 by Elias C ...
.
Career
Chouteau was born in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
on March 7, 1929. Her father, Corbett Chouteau, worked for an oil company, while her mother, Lucy Annette (née Taylor), was a schoolteacher.
[Livingston, Lili Cockerille. ''American Indian Ballerinas.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999: 56.] Inspired to dance at age four after seeing the great
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 ...
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 f ...
dance in
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 ...
, Chouteau studied at the
School of American Ballet in New York before Danilova recommended her in 1943 to
Serge Denham Serge may refer to:
*Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric
*Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme
*Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name)
*Serge (post), a hitchi ...
for the
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. At 14, she was the youngest dancer ever accepted.
Her first solo role was as
Prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...
in ''
Coppelia''. (1945). At age 18, she was the youngest member inducted into the Oklahoma
Hall of Fame.
In 1956, Chouteau married dancer
Miguel Terekhov. Her first husband was flutist and conductor
Claude Monteux, though their brief marriage was annulled. After she had her first child with Terekhov, they moved to Oklahoma City. Together they organized the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet (now
Oklahoma City Ballet). In 1962, they established the first fully accredited dance department in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
at the
University of Oklahoma
, mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State"
, type = Public research university
, established =
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.7billion (2021)
, pr ...
at
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, b ...
.
She was featured in ''
Ballets Russes'', a
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller that premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival in 2005.
She died after a long illness on January 24, 2016.
During her career, she worked with such noted choreographers as
George Balanchine,
Leonide Massine Leonide or Léonide is a masculine given name which may refer to:
* Leonide or Leonid of Georgia (1861–1921), Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
* Leonid Berman (1896–1976), Russian Neo-romantic painter and theater and opera designer
* Léo ...
,
Antony Tudor
Antony Tudor (born William Cook; 4 April 1908 – 19 April 1987) was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer. He founded the London Ballet, and later the Philadelphia Ballet Guild in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., in the mid-195 ...
,
Agnes de Mille, and
Bronislava Nijinska
Bronislava Nijinska (; pl, Bronisława Niżyńska ; russian: Бронисла́ва Фоми́нична Нижи́нская, Bronisláva Fomínična Nižínskaja; be, Браніслава Ніжынская, Branislava Nižynskaja; – Febr ...
.
Legacy and honors
Governor
Frank Keating
Francis Anthony Keating II (initially born as David Rowland Keating) (born February 10, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 25th governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003.
, Keating is one of only five governors in Okl ...
designated her an Oklahoma Treasure on October 8, 1997.
She is portrayed in the mural ''Flight of Spirit'', by Chickasaw artist Mike Larsen in the Oklahoma Capitol Rotunda, and in ''
The Five Moons,'' a set of bronze sculptures by artist Gary Henson on the west lawn of the Tulsa Historical Society.
When the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
's
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers.
The museum has three ...
opened in
Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
in 2004, Chouteau was honored with the inaugural National Cultural Treasures Award, celebrating her contribution to the nation's cultural heritage.
Further reading
*
ideorecording
References
External links
Obituary: Smith Kernke Funeral HomeVideo by OkNews: Five Native American BallerinasPhoto: Yvonne Chouteau, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, c. 1948-1949, National Library of AustraliaPhoto: The Indian Ballerinas"Chouteau, Yvonne" ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''
Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chouteau, Yvonne
1929 births
2016 deaths
People from Fort Worth, Texas
People from Vinita, Oklahoma
Artists from Oklahoma City
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers
Prima ballerinas
American ballerinas
American people of French descent
Shawnee people
Native American dancers
Five Moons
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native Americans
20th-century Native American women
21st-century Native American women
20th-century American ballet dancers