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“A dancer of great radiance and lyricism, Ms. Chouteau was one of five prominent Native American dancers who were raised in Oklahoma. The others were Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin, Maria Tallchief and her sister Marjorie Tallchief, now the last survivor.
The women were sometimes called the state’s “Five Moons,” which became the title of a set of bronze sculptures by Monte England and Gary Henson that were installed on the lawn of the Tulsa Historical Society. They are also depicted in a mural by Mike Larsen that hangs in the rotunda of the Oklahoma State Capitol.
Part French and part Shawnee-Cherokee, Myra Yvonne Chouteau was born into a pioneering Southwestern family in Fort Worth on March 7, 1929, the only child of Corbett Edward Chouteau and the former Lucy Annette Taylor. The family soon moved to Vinita, Okla., and her father, who was known as C. E. Chouteau, became a prominent American Indian figure in the state.
Ms. Chouteau was a direct descendant of Maj. Jean Pierre Chouteau (1758-1849), who established Oklahoma’s oldest white settlement in 1796.
A child prodigy as a dancer — she liked to joke that if one reversed the syllables in her surname, “Chou-teau” became “Toe-shoe” — Ms. Chouteau started dancing when she was 2 1/2 years old. She received early training in Oklahoma and then in New York City, where she attended the School of American Ballet.”
– NY Times, Yvonne Chouteau, Native American Ballerina, Dies at 86.
“Five dancers who started their careers in the 1940s redefined dance in the United States, becoming some of the first American prima ballerinas in the world’s top companies, from the Ballets Russes to the Paris Opera Ballet. And they were all American Indians from Oklahoma.
Yvonne Chouteau, one of the “Five Moons,” as they were anointed, died this past Sunday at the age of 86. Along with Moscelyne Larkin (Shawnee, 1925–2012), Rosella Hightower (Choctaw, 1920–2008), Marjorie Tallchief (Osage, b. 1926), and, most famously, Maria Tallchief (Osage, 1925–2013), she rose in the ranks of dance when ballet was still not widely appreciated in this country. The women had distinct careers, but they all danced when they were young at powows and caught performances by the traveling Ballets Russes and other companies, propelling them to study professionally.”
– Hyperallergic, How Five American Indian Dancers Transformed Ballet in the 20th Century.
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Download the 18″x24″ poster (.pdf), Indian Country 52 #3 – Prima Ballerina (Yvonne Chouteau).
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
