ABT Negro Unit’s Black Ritual and Leonore “Azelean” Cox

The American Ballet Theatre’s all-Black Negro Unit, which was founded in 1940 as part of the Federal Theatre Project, included Leonore “Azelean” Cox, along with Lawaune Kennard, Lavinia Williams, Anne Jones, Dorothy Williams, Elizabeth Thompson, Evelyn Pilcher, Edith Ross, Edith Hurd, Mabel Hart, Maudelle Bass, Clementine Collinwood, Carole Ash, Bernice Willis, and Muriel Cook. The Negro Unit only performed one ballet during its existence—Black Ritual or Obeah, which was choreographed by Agnes de Mille and premiered in 1940.

Leonore “Azelean” Cox performed with members of Black Ritual in other works. Cox was a member of the original Broadway cast of Flying Colors, which opened in 1932, along with Muriel Cook.

 

More about Leonore “Azelean” Cox

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. Cox was also 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.

 

Sources:

Black Ritual (Obeah), American Ballet Theatre
Leonore Cox, Playbill
Maher, Erin K. “Ballet, Race, and Agnes de Mille’s Black Ritual.” The Musical Quarterly, vol. 97, no. 3, Fall 2014, pp. 390-428.
Modern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion, by Susan Manning
Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life
The Omaha Guide
Fighting for Hope, by Robert F. Jefferson

Caprice Turchiano

 

 

Madeline Crawford