 |
Carmen de Lavallade | |
|---|---|
 de Lavallade in 2017 | |
| Born | March 6, 1931 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, choreographer, dancer |
| Years active | 1948–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Family | Janet Collins (cousin) |
| Awards | |
Carmen de Lavallade (born March 6, 1931) is an American actress, choreographer and dancer.
De Lavallade was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 6, 1931, [1] to Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised by her aunt, Adele, who owned one of the first African-American history bookshops on Central Avenue. De Lavallade's cousin, Janet Collins, was the first Creole/African descendant prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera. [2] [3] The family was Catholic. [4]
De Lavallade began studying ballet with Melissa Blake at the age of 16. After graduation from Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, she was awarded a scholarship to study dance with Lester Horton. [5]
De Lavallade became a member of the Lester Horton Dance Theater in 1949 where she danced as a lead dancer until her departure for New York City with Alvin Ailey in 1954. Like all of Horton's students, de Lavallade studied other art forms, including painting, acting, music, set design and costuming, as well as ballet and other forms of modern and ethnic dance. She studied dancing with ballerina Carmelita Maracci and acting with Stella Adler. In 1954, de Lavallade made her Broadway debut partnered with Alvin Ailey in Truman Capote's musical House of Flowers (starring Pearl Bailey). [6]
In 1955, she married dancer/actor Geoffrey Holder, whom she had met while working on House of Flowers. [7] It was with Holder that de Lavallade choreographed her signature solo Come Sunday, to a black spiritual sung by Odetta (then known as Odetta Gordon). The following year, de Lavallade danced as the prima ballerina in Samson and Delilah , and Aida at the Metropolitan Opera. [8] [9]
She made her television debut in John Butler's ballet Flight, and in 1957 she appeared in the television production of Duke Ellington's A Drum Is a Woman . She appeared in several off-Broadway productions, including Othello and Death of a Salesman . [10] An introduction to 20th Century Fox executives by Lena Horne led to more acting roles between 1952 and 1955. She appeared in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954) with Dorothy Dandridge, Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) with Harry Belafonte, and Lone Star (1996). [10]
De Lavallade was a principal guest performer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company on the company's tour of Asia and in some countries the company was billed as de Lavallade-Ailey American Dance Company. Other performances included dancing with Donald McKayle and appearing in Agnes de Mille's American Ballet Theatre productions of The Four Marys and The Frail Quarry in 1965. At the insistence of friend John Butler, [11] she began teaching at the Yale School of Drama as a choreographer and performer-in-residence in 1970.
She staged musicals, plays and operas, and eventually became a professor and member of the Yale Repertory Theater. Students during this time includes Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, Joe Grifasi, Christopher Durang, and Wendy Wasserstein. [12] Between 1990 and 1993, de Lavallade returned to the Metropolitan Opera as choreographer for Porgy and Bess and Die Meistersinger . [8]
In 2003, de Lavallade appeared in the rotating cast of the off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom . [13] In 2010, she appeared in a one-night-only concert semi-staged reading of Evening Primrose by Stephen Sondheim. [14] In 2014 de Lavallade premiered her solo show As I Remember It. The work was a meditation on her history in dance through performance, film, and storytelling. [15]
De Lavallade had resided in New York City with her husband Geoffrey Holder until his death on October 5, 2014. [16] Their lives were the subject of the 2005 Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob documentary Carmen and Geoffrey. [17] The couple had one son, Léo. De Lavallade's brother-in-law was Boscoe Holder. [18]
In 2004, de Lavallade received the Black History Month Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rosie Award (named for Rosetta LeNoire and "given to individuals who demonstrate extraordinary accomplishment and dedication in the theatrical arts and to corporations that work to promote opportunity and diversity"), [19] [20] the Bessie Award in 2006, and the Capezio Dance Award in 2007, [9] [21] as well as an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York through Purchase College in 2006 and Juilliard School in 2008. [22]
In 2016, de Lavallade received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Obie Awards presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Village Voice for her excellence in off-broadway theater. [23]
In December 2017, she received the Kennedy Center Honors Award. [11] On August 17, 2017, two days after U.S. President Trump's third statement after the 'Charlottesville rally', she announced that she will forgo the related reception at the White House which was later cancelled, [24] [25] although she did attend the dinner at the State Department hosted by Rex Tillerson and emceed by Julie Andrews. [26]
De Lavallade was a The New Jewish Home's Eight over Eighty Gala 2017 honoree.
On August 30th 2023, De Lavallade was presented with Richmond Ballet's Lifetime Achievement in Dance Award prior to a performance of John Butler's Carmina Burana at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. [27]
Alvin Ailey Jr. was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
Walter Nicks was an African-American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher of jazz and modern dance. He was a certified master teacher of Katherine Dunham technique. He was professionally active for nearly 60 years.
Renee Robinson is a retired American dancer from Washington, D.C., who performed as a Principal Dancer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She began her dance training in classical ballet at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. She also attended the School of American Ballet, the Dance Theatre of Harlem and The Ailey School. Robinson was a member of the Alvin Ailey II, before becoming a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1981.
Geoffrey Lamont Holder was a Trinidadian-American actor, dancer, musician, and artist. He was a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet before his film career began in 1957 with an appearance in Carib Gold. In 1973, he played the villainous Baron Samedi in the Bond film Live and Let Die. He also carried out advertising work as the pitchman for 7 Up.
Arthur Mitchell was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder and director of ballet companies. In 1955, he was the first African-American dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer the following year and danced in major roles until 1966. He then founded ballet companies in Spoleto, Washington, D.C., and Brazil. In 1969, he founded a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, Mitchell was recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, and received the United States National Medal of Arts and a Fletcher Foundation fellowship.
Capezio is the trade name of Capezio Ballet Makers Inc., an American manufacturer of dance shoes, apparel and accessories.
Judith Ann Jamison is an American dancer and choreographer. She is the artistic director emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate artistic director Matthew Rushing.
Janet Collins, OblSB was an African American prima ballerina, choreographer, and teacher. She performed on Broadway, in films, and appeared frequently on television. She was among the pioneers of black ballet dancing, one of the few classically trained Black dancers of her generation.
Ernestina Ramirez was an American dancer and educator, best known as the founder and artistic director (1970–2009) of Ballet Hispanico, the premier Latino dance organization in the United States.
Margo Sappington is an American choreographer and dancer. She was nominated in 1975 for both a Tony Award as Best Choreographer and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work on the play Where's Charley?. In 1988, her ballet Virgin Forest was the subject of an award-winning documentary by PBS. In 2005 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award for choreography from the Joffrey Ballet.
Daniela Malusardi is an Italian choreographer, teacher and dancer.
Camille A. Brown is a dancer, choreographer, director and dance educator. She is the Founder & Artistic Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and has congruently choreographed commissioned pieces for dance companies, Broadway shows, and universities. Brown started her career as a dancer in Ronald K. Brown’s Evidence, A Dance Company, and was a guest artist with Rennie Harris Puremovement, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Brown has choreographed major Broadway shows such as Choir Boy, Once on This Island and Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! that aired on NBC. Brown also teaches dance and gives lectures to audiences at various universities such as Long Island University, Barnard College and ACDFA, among others.
Enzo Celli is an Italian contemporary dancer, choreographer and dance company artistic director.
George W. Faison is an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and theater producer, and winner of a 1975 Tony, a Drama Desk Award, and a 1991 nominee for the Emmy Award for choreography. He was a featured dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, founder of the George Faison Universal Dance Experience, and co-founder/producing artistic director of the Faison Firehouse Theater.
Lindsay Shearer-Nelko is a Canadian-born choreographer of such television shows as FOX's 'So You Think You Can Dance' and 'The X Factor'.
Katharine "Kat" Wildish is a ballerina from Tampa, Florida, U.S. She danced with the New York City Ballet (1981–1983), American Ballet Theatre (1985–1987), and performed as a guest artist for a number of companies worldwide before retiring from stage work in 2007.
Loretta Agatha Abbott was an American educator, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, dance captain, and actress. She was an early member and foundation builder for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. She was also a founding member of the Clark Center for the Performing Arts, and worked with the organization from 1959 to 1989.
Sue Samuels is an American dancer, choreographer, master jazz teacher and performer. She is the founder and artistic director of Jazz Roots Dance Company.
Karel Shook was an American ballet master, choreographer and writer. He was asked to join the Dance Theatre of Harlem. The Dance Theater of Harlem was formed by Arthur Mitchell, Cicely Tyson and Brock Peters.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
