NORMAN — Miguel Terekhov, a longtime dancer, choreographer, OU professor and leader in the Oklahoma arts community, died Jan. 3 following a long illness.
Terekhov and his wife, Yvonne Chouteau, founded one of the first fully-accredited dance departments in the United States at the University of Oklahoma, in 1963.
A private family ceremony will be held in Oklahoma City, with a public memorial planned for Spring 2012.
Terekhov, born Aug. 22, 1928 in Montevideo, Uruguay, to Miguel Terekhov and Antonia Rodriquez, began his career at age 14 when he joined Col. de Basil's Original Ballet Russe in 1942 while the company was on tour in his native Uruguay.
He also was featured as principal dancer in the Teatro Sodre Ballet Company in Montevideo. He later joined the Boris Kniaseff Ballet in Buenos Aires, Argentina as a principal dancer, before becoming a choreographer and leading dancer for a weekly television show in Havana, Cuba.
Terekhov joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1954 where he performed as a soloist, principal dancer and regisseur of the company until 1958. In 1956, he married Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo ballerina Yvonne Chouteau. Besides the OU department, they also founded the Oklahoma City Civic Ballet, precursor to Ballet Oklahoma.
Upon his retirement in 1991, he was named Professor Emeritus of Dance by the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. His numerous honors and awards include Outstanding Educators of America, the University of Oklahoma Regents' Award for Superior Teaching, the Standard Oil Award for Outstanding Teaching, Oklahoma Governor's Arts Award, Arts Citation from the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the CORPS de Ballet International Lifetime Achievement Award.
Survivors include his wife, Yvonne Chouteau-Terekhov, Oklahoma City, OK; daughter Elizabeth A. Impallomeni of Oklahoma City, OK; daughter Christina and her husband Kevin S. Conway of Richardson, TX; grandsons Sean Conway of Dublin, CA and Ryan Conway of Bloomington, IN.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to The OU Foundation's Chouteau-Terekhov Scholarship Fund or the Ballet Russes Archive; send to OU School of Dance, 560 Parrington Oval, Room 1000, Norman, OK 73019-0319, attention: Mary Margaret Holt, Director.
