Yvonne Chouteau

Yvonne Chouteau
Born	March 7, 1929 Fort Worth, Texas
Nationality	American
Field	Ballet
Training	School of American Ballet Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
Influenced by	Alexandra Danilova
Awards	National Cultural Treasures Award Oklahoma Hall of Fame

Myra Yvonne Chouteau (born March 7, 1929 in Fort Worth, Texas^[1][2]) is one of the "Five Moons" or Native prima ballerinas of Oklahoma. In 1962 she and her husband founded the first fully accredited university dance program in the United States, at the University of Oklahoma. A member of the Shawnee Tribe, she is also of ethnic French ancestry, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Maj. Jean Pierre Chouteau. From the Chouteau family of St. Louis, he established Oklahoma's oldest European-American settlement, at the present site of Salina, in 1796.^[3] She grew up in Vinita, Oklahoma.^[1]

Career

Inspired to dance at age four after seeing the great ballerina Alexandra Danilova dance in Oklahoma City, Chouteau studied at the School of American Ballet in New York before Danilova recommended her in 1943 to Serge Denham for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. At 14, she was the youngest dancer ever accepted.^[4] Her first solo role was as Prayer 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. 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 at the University of Oklahoma at Norman, Oklahoma.^[5] She was featured in Ballets Russes, a documentary film by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.^[6][7]

Legacy and honors

Governor Frank Keating designated her an Oklahoma Treasure on October 8, 1997.^[8] 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.^[9]

When the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian opened in Washington D.C. in 2004, Chouteau was honored with the inaugural National Cultural Treasures Award, celebrating her contribution to the nation's cultural heritage.^[10]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Livingston, Lili Cockerille. American Indian Ballerinas. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999: 56.
2. ^ Vincent, Melissa. Chouteau, Myra Yvonne (Terekhov) (1929- ) . Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. 2009. Retrieved on 2009-02-09.
3. ^ "Oklahoma Historical Society". http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH059.html. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
4. ^ "Tulsa People, The Indian Ballerinas, May 2007". http://www.tulsapeople-digital.com/tulsapeople/200705/?pg=60. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
5. ^ "Revolver Group - Balle Russe". Archived from the original on 2007-12-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20071228111736/http://www.revolvergroup.com/balletsrusses/chouteau.html. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
6. ^ "Zeitgeist Films". http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/films/balletsrusses/balletsrusses.presskit.pdf. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
7. ^ Foundas, Scott (2005-02-17). "Variety Feb. 17, 2005". http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117926270.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
8. ^ Hardy, Camille (1998). "Dance Magazine, February 1998". Dance Magazine. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1083/is_n2_v72/ai_20187601. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
9. ^ "Tulsa Historical Society, "Five Moons Rising"". http://www.tulsahistory.org/visit/5moons.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-26. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "Oklahoma Arts Council, News release, September 14, 2004". http://www.state.ok.us/~arts/news/2004/091404NatlIndian.html. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 

External links

• Photo: Yvonne Chouteau, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, c. 1948-1949, National Library of Australia
• Photo: The Indian Ballerinas
• "Chouteau, Yvonne", Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Persondata
Name	Chouteau, Yvonne
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1929-03-07
Place of birth	Fort Worth, Texas
Date of death
Place of death