Leonore Cox (also known as Azelean Cox) was born in 1905 and grew up in Richmond, Virginia to Mrs. Creole Cox and a father of an unknown name.* Cox trained at the School of Modern Dancing under Doris Humphrey and was a student at New York’s City College.
As a member of the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre, Cox was in the original 1940 cast of Agnes de Mille’s Black Ritual.
She was a member of the original Broadway cast of Flying Colors, which opened September 15, 1932.
As a dance critic and writer, Cox gave a lecture at the First National Dance Congress and Festival in 1936 as well as at the second conference in 1939. Additionally, she wrote an article for The Proceedings of the First National Dance Congress and Festival called “On a Few Aspects of Negro Dancing.” Her 1933 essay “Scanning the Dance Highway” for Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life can be read here.
Cox also worked as a Red Cross hospital recreation worker in Arizona.
Cox passed away in 1981.
*Note that another source has stated that Cox was a native of New York, though this may be a mistake as Cox previously lived in New York while a member of the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre and a student at City College.
