{"id":13266,"date":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T16:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=13266"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:22","slug":"american-ballet-theatre-leonore-azelean-cox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2021\/12\/02\/american-ballet-theatre-leonore-azelean-cox\/","title":{"rendered":"American Ballet Theatre’s Orbit: Leonore “Azelean” Cox"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual<\/em> and Leonore \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Click to view American Ballet Theatre; Negro Unit and Black Ritual Orbit<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American Ballet Theatre\u2019s all-Black Negro Unit, which was founded in 1940 as part of the Federal Theatre Project, included Leonore \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox<\/a><\/strong>, along with Lawaune Kennard<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Lavinia Williams<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Anne Jones<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Dorothy Williams<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Elizabeth Thompson<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Evelyn Pilcher<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Edith Ross<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong>\u00a0Edith Hurd<\/strong><\/a>, Mabel Hart<\/a><\/strong>, Maudelle Bass<\/strong><\/a>, Clementine Collinwood<\/strong><\/a>, Carole Ash<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> Bernice Willis<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> and Muriel Cook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0The Negro Unit only performed one ballet during its existence\u2014Black Ritual<\/em> or Obeah<\/em>, which was choreographed by Agnes de Mille and premiered in 1940.<\/p>\n

Leonore \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox <\/span>performed with members of <\/span>Black Ritual<\/span><\/i> in other works. <\/span>Cox was a member of the original Broadway cast of <\/span>Flying Colors<\/span><\/i>, which opened in 1932, along with Muriel Cook.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More about Leonore \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"Flying
Flying Colors Playbill \u2013 September 1932.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2019s City College.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a member of the Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre, Cox was in the original 1940 cast of Agnes de Mille\u2019s <\/span>Black Ritual<\/span><\/i>. Cox was also a member of the original Broadway cast of <\/span>Flying Colors<\/span><\/i>, which opened September 15, 1932.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/span>The Proceedings of the First National Dance Congress and Festival <\/span><\/i>called \u201cOn a Few Aspects of Negro Dancing.\u201d Her 1933 essay \u201cScanning the Dance Highway\u201d for <\/span>Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life<\/span><\/i> can be read <\/span>here<\/b><\/a>. Cox also worked as a Red Cross hospital recreation worker in Arizona.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cox passed away in 1981.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Black Ritual (Obeah), American Ballet Theatre<\/a><\/strong>
\nLeonore Cox, Playbill<\/a><\/strong>
\nMaher, Erin K. \u201cBallet, Race, and Agnes de Mille\u2019s Black Ritual.\u201d\u00a0The Musical Quarterly<\/em>, vol. 97, no. 3, Fall 2014, pp. 390-428.
\nModern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion, by Susan Manning<\/a><\/strong>
\nOpportunity: Journal of Negro Life<\/a><\/strong>
\nThe Omaha Guide<\/a><\/strong>
\nFighting for Hope, by Robert F. Jefferson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Caprice Turchiano<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Madeline Crawford<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABT Negro Unit\u2019s Black Ritual and Leonore \u201cAzelean\u201d Cox The American Ballet Theatre\u2019s all-Black Negro Unit, which was founded in 1940 as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"universe-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[284,253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abt-negro-unit-constellation","category-universe"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13266"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15551,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13266\/revisions\/15551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}