Barbie Honors Prima Ballerina Maria Tallchief with Doll for Native American Heritage Month (Exclusive)

Maria Tallchief is a fixture in ballet history.

The dancer, who died in 2013, was America’s first prima ballerina, which is why Mattel is honoring her with the Inspiring Women Barbie doll. Tallchief’s Barbie will join the likes of Florence Nightingale, Sally Ride, Maya Angelou, Susan B. Anthony and many other women in history.

“I love that it celebrates historical and present-day female role models to inspire future generations of girls through doll play,” Tallchief’s daughter, Elise Paschen, told PEOPLE about the new doll, which is available now.

Maria Tallchief Barbie.

Mattel

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For the past year and a half, Paschen has been working with Mattel to create this Barbie in honor of her mother. The doll wears Tallchief’s outfit from her performance in Firebird at the New York City Ballet: as Paschen describes it, “a fiery red dress with a bejeweled hairpiece, her silver earrings, sheer leggings, ballet slippers with satin ribbons.”

But beyond her clothes, Paschen also made sure her mom’s doll got every detail right, right down to posture and hand placement (although she admits she’s no ballet expert).

“Mattel has been so thoughtful throughout this whole process,” she says. “I would tell them, ‘No, the hand is not like this. It’s more like this,’ and they were very sensitive and compliant with all the recommendations I had as her daughter.”

Maria Tallchief Barbie.

Mattel

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Tallchief was of the Osage Nation, and Paschen tells PEOPLE she wanted to make sure her heritage was clear from the moment someone picked up the Barbie box, which is why she included the name Tallchief in the Osage spelling.

“Her name is Wa-Xthe-Thonba, which means two standards,” says Paschen. “I’m very excited. This is the language that the Osage Nation brought to life, and it’s on the American Quarter, and now it’s on the packaging of Barbie, and now it’s also going to be in the hands of millions of kids.”

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Paschen says her mother was “so proud” of her name, her Native American heritage and everything she stood for, and it meant a lot to her to represent her community in the world of dance. As she progressed, other famous dancers were primarily Russian, Paschen says, and there was pressure to conform. As a young woman, she was asked to change her name to sound more Russian while she was part of the Ballet Russo Monte Carlo.

“She was not only the first Indian prima ballerina, but also the first American prima ballerina,” Paschen points out. “Her birth name was Elizabeth Marie Tallchief. When she was young, [the ballet company] she asked my mother to change her name to Maria Tallchiev, and my mother said, ‘I’ll change my name to Maria, but I’ll keep my name Tallchief.'”

Paschen continues, “For me, as her daughter, ever since I could understand the language, I knew how proud she was to be Osage and to be Native American and how proud she was of her culture.”

Maria Tallchief Barbie.

Mattel

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Tallchief was born in Oklahoma in 1925 and died in Chicago in 2013. She danced in the New York City Ballet for several years and inspired choreographer George Balanchine Firebird. She danced all over the world before retiring in Chicago with her husband, Henry Paschen Jr. (who died in 2004), the couple’s daughter, Elise Paschen, who is an award-winning poet, and Tallchief’s stepdaughter, Margaret Wright.

Tallchief and her sister, Marjorie Tallchief, founded the Chicago City Ballet and remained influential in the world of dance—especially Native American children.

In Tallchief’s honor, Mattel is helping make a DreamGap donation to the Center for Native American Youth.

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“The Center for Native American Youth is a national education and advocacy organization that works alongside Native American youth on reservations in rural villages and urban areas across the country to improve their health, safety and overall well-being,” says Paschen. “This donation will support initiatives dedicated to empowering young Native Americans to lead full and healthy lives.”

Paschen will also celebrate the occasion in Oklahoma with the young dancers, which she is especially excited about.

“I know the Osage Nation is thrilled that all of this is going to happen where my mother was born and raised in Oklahoma.”

Buy Maria Tallchief Barbie now.

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Source: HIS Education