Ballets Russes Archive

Happy Birthday Colonel W. de Basil, Director of the famed Ballets Russes de Colonel W. de Basil (also known as Col. W. de Basil's Ballets Russes). He was born on this date, September 16th, in 1888. Photo from the Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov Collections.

Ballets Russes Archive is excited to share our newest acquisition! An autographed copy of 'Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina' authored by Maria Tallchief with Larry Kaplan.

We are so excited for this weekend. The 5 Moons Festival will be hosted at the University of Oklahoma August 27th-29th. https://fb.watch/7Drj8pMxsm/

The OU School of Dance wishes a happy birthday to the late Miguel Terekhov, who co-founded the School with his wife Yvonne Chouteau in 1961. Today would have be...en his 91st birthday. Miguel Terekhov was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1928. He danced with De Basil's Original Ballet Russe from 1942 to 1947 and as a principal dancer with the world-renowned Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1954 to 1958. Terekhov began teaching classes at the University of Oklahoma with his wife and fellow Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo principal dancer, Yvonne Chouteau, and the couple founded what is now the School of Dance in 1961. In 1963, they became the first artistic directors of the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet, now known as Oklahoma City Ballet. As Chair of the Department of Dance at OU, as it was formerly known, Terekhov designed a rigorous curriculum that is still largely followed today. He choreographed over 30 ballets, including 7 full-length ballets, operas and musicals, and taught courses in ballet technique, teaching methods, choreography, and dance history. Terekhov also donated a large collection of materials to the Ballets Russes Special Collections and Archive in May of 2011 from his time as a dancer and as the director of the OU School of Dance. The collection contains correspondence, advertisements, magazines, programs, newspaper articles, scrapbooks, A/V materials and photographs, including the 2 shown below. #BRArchiveHighlights #BalletsRussesArchiveHighlights

Happy Birthday Yvonne Chouteau. A child prodigy as a dancer she liked to joke that if one reversed the syllables in her surname, Chou-teau became Toe-shoe. From New York Times obituary (January 29, 2016)