Nov 1, 2023 - News

Maria Tallchief, America's first prima ballerina, now featured on U.S. quarters

Alayna Alvarez

The Maria Tallchief Quarter is the 10th coin in the U.S. Mint's American Women Quarters Program. Image: Courtesy of U.S. Mint

A prima ballerina with a Colorado connection is now featured on the face of a U.S. quarter.

Driving the news: The late Maria Tallchief — considered the country's first prima ballerina and one of the most notable Native American figures of the 20th century — was selected as one of two dozen people to be included in the U.S. Mint's American Women Quarters Program.

Her coin was released in late October.

Of note: Although Tallchief was born in Oklahoma's Osage Nation, her dancing career kicked off in Colorado.

At age 3, she began ballet classes in the basement of the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, according to the first chapter in her 1997 autobiography.
"What I remember most is that the ballet teacher told me to stand straight and turn each of my feet out to the side, the first position. I couldn't believe it. But I did what I was told," she wrote.

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Maria Tallchief, America's first prima ballerina, now featured on U.S. quarters

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