Terekhov and his wife, Yvonne Chouteau, one of the Five Moons, a group of Native American ballet dancers, founded the School of Dance at the University of Oklahoma in 1961.
[1] His mother, Antonia Rodriguez, was a Charrúa Indian, a people indigenous to Uruguay and southern Brazil.
[2] Miguel's father taught him the basics of ballet dance until he began to train with a dancer who was with Diaghilev's company.
[2] In 1942 the Original Ballet Russe of Colonel de Basil came to Uruguay and desperately needed male dancers for their season touring South America, so Miguel Terekhov joined the company at 14; never finishing high school.
[2] His first year with the Ballets Russe's he felt as if he was a part of history, with notable dancers coming before him like Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, and Anna Pavlova.
[2] His time with the company ended in 1947 when they finished the American leg of their tour and were planning to make their way through Europe.
When everyone was leaving rehearsal one night and Danilova said "Miguel, I hear you want to marry my Yvonne," to which he replied "yes.
[2] Terekhov died at his daughter's home in Richardson, Texas, of complications from lung fibrosis on January 3, 2012, at the age of 83.