Rosella Hightower
Rosella Hightower Aboha Chaha | |
|---|---|
Prima ballerina | |
| Years active | 1937–1962 |
| Spouse |
Jean Robier
(m. 1952; died 1981) |
| Children | Dominique Monet Robier |
| Career | |
| Former groups | Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Cuevas Ballet |
| Dances |
|
Rosella Hightower (January 10, 1920 – November 4, 2008) was an American
Choctaw Nation. One of the Five Moons
, she achieved fame in both the United States and Europe, and later enjoyed a career as an instructor and opera director.
Early life
Rosella Hightower was born in
Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. Hightower began her dance training in Kansas City under the instruction of Dorothy Perkins.[2]
Career
After a 1937 appearance by Russian choreographer and ballet dancer
Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo where she was guided by Massine who recognized her hard work and ability to learn quickly. There she met André Eglevsky, her future partner at various dance companies. After the outbreak of World War II, Hightower followed the Ballet Russe to New York City, where she joined the Ballet Theater in 1941.[2]
She joined the de Basil Ballet in 1946, which was performing under the name
Metropolitan Opera House. After Alicia Markova, who had been scheduled to dance the title role, became sick, Hightower was called in as her replacement, and learned the part she had never danced before in some five hours of rehearsal with dancer/choreographer Anton Dolin. Martin's review stated that the "Original Ballet Russe had planned no novelty for the opening of its season... but there was a major one on its program nevertheless. This was the unscheduled first appearance of Rosella Hightower in the title role of Giselle", calling it "a thoroughly admirable achievement, which brought an ovation from the audience".[3] Three days later, Martin's review of Swan Lake called Hightower "the newest star on the ballet horizon" after her two performances with Dolin and then André Eglevsky as her partner[4]
In 1947, she accepted an invitation from the
balletmaster, in which she danced the role of a butterfly in a tropical forest who enchants a group of escaped convicts.[2]
The company disbanded after the 1961 death of de Cuevas, and Hightower largely retired from the stage, though she gave a series of performances in 1962 with
La Scala Ballet of Milan
in 1985–86.
Death and legacy
Hightower was briefly married to dancer
Cannes, France on November 4, 2008, aged 88, having died either earlier that morning or late the previous night. She had suffered a series of strokes.[2]
Hightower is honored alongside four other Native American ballerinas (
Oklahoma Capitol building. A portrait of her hangs among other famous Choctaw individuals in the Choctaw Capitol museum in Tuskahoma. In 1975, the French government named her a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, the country’s premier honor for her services to the opera and ballet.[5]
References
- ^ Short, Candy Franklin. Hightower, Rosella (1920–). Archived November 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. 2009 (retrieved Feb 9, 2009)
- ^ a b c d e f Anderson, Jack. "Rosella Hightower, Prima Ballerina and School Founder, Is Dead at 88", The New York Times, November 4, 2008. Accessed November 5, 2008.
- ^ Martin, John. "Rosella Hightower Scores in Giselle Role, Replacing Markova, as Ballet Russe Opens", The New York Times, March 21, 1947. Accessed November 5, 2008.
- ^ Martin, John. "THE BALLET RUSSE AT METROPOLITAN; Rosella Hightower Seen Twice in 'Swan Lake" – Monte Carlo Troupe at City Center", The New York Times, March 24, 1947. Accessed November 5, 2008.
- ^ "Hightower, Rosella | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". www.okhistory.org. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rosella Hightower.
- The Ballerina Gallery – Rosella Hightower
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Hightower, Rosella
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