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Miss Larkin
Published: 4/27/2012 5:14 PM
Last Modified: 4/27/2012 5:14 PM

To me – as to thousands of other Tulsans – she is, was and will always be “Miss Larkin.”

Moscelyne Larkin, who died Wednesday at the age of 87, had many names. She was born Edna Moscelyne Larkin. As a Shawnee Peoria, she was known as “Little Running Turtle.” In her early dance career, was a member of the Original Ballet Russe, she was billed as Moussia Larkina. After her marriage in 1943, she was Mrs. Roman Jasinski.

Moussia was also what her close friends and, most importantly, her husband, called her as a term of endearment.

Once, when I had been writing about Tulsa Ballet for about a decade or so, she said to me, “You should call me ‘Moussia.’”

I replied, “Thank you, Miss Larkin.”

And that was how I would always address her. No other honorific seemed appropriate.

That she would go by “Miss Larkin” is all part of the formality of the ballet studio, where all the men are “boys,” all the women are called “girls,” all the female teachers are addressed as “Miss.”

But calling her “Miss Larkin” went beyond mere tradition. It was an acknowledgement of what one experienced whenever this petite woman entered a room.

Thanks to a combination of the physical beauty that was a product of her American Indian and Russian heritage, and the lifelong discipline of a dancer that her every move an elegant strength, Moscelyne Larkin possessed an almost regal stage presence – even long after she left the stage to raise a family in Tulsa, open a dance studio and help create what is now one of the country’s leading ballet companies.

The first major story I wrote after I was hired in 1987 by the Tulsa World was about Tulsa Ballet Theatre’s work to re-create a ballet by George Balanchine, choreographed in 1942 in Argentina and thought to be lost.

The premiere of “Mozart Violin Concerto” was a major event in the dance world that fall, bringing critics and dance fans from around the world to Tulsa to see this long-forgotten ballet. Tulsa Ballet would later take its production to New York City, where was again lauded.

That production was also my introduction into the world of dance and the world of Tulsa Ballet Theatre, as the company she and Jasinski had founded in 1956 was then called.

And while that production was an undeniable high point in the ballet’s history, in another sense the development of “Mozart Violin Concerto” from a collection of memories into a fully staged performance was – from a behind-the-scenes perspective – simply business as usual for the Jasinskis.

That is because, in the studio, whether working with dozens of tiny children in preparation for the annual production of “The Nutcracker” or dealing with the professional dancers of the company on a high-profile production, Miss Larkin’s attitude toward dance was the same – that the beauty of ballet comes from a great deal of very disciplined hard work.

One memorable example of this philosophy in action, for me, came about three years later, when Miss Larkin went to Tulsa’s Central High School to work with some of its student athletes.

Miss Larkin began by telling these 30 or so high school basketball players – all of whom towered over her – that “Ballet dancers really are the best athletes in the world. Nothing done by man is more demanding physically or mentally.”

Not surprisingly, a few of the teenagers greeted this statement with chuckles. But Miss Larkin continued: “The reason you think ballet is wimpy is because we make it look easy. What would you do if someone threw you a 116-pound ball that you had to catch and put down in one smooth motion? That's what our male dancers have to do when they lift a girl dancer.”

Then, Miss Larkin proceeded to put these very fit young people through a basic series of ballet exercises. At first, many of these student athletes acted as if these steps and stretches were no challenge. But they went on. And on and on, with Miss Larkin duplicating every move.

As the afternoon went on, the teenagers were sweating and panting. The laughter ceased as they struggled to concentrate to hold an arabesque as effortlessly, or execute a plie as smoothly, as Miss Larkin did.

At the end of the session, the students looked completely spent – and no one was making any jokes about ballet dancers.

As for Miss Larkin herself, she had hardly drawn a labored breath the entire hour. And she said to me, with a mischievous smile, “Today, I was just warming them up. Tomorrow, I’ll really make them work.”

The family of Moscelyne Larkin requests that any donations in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association 2448 E. 81st St., Suite 3000, Tulsa, OK 74137.






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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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