{"id":6914,"date":"2020-12-10T22:27:35","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T22:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/?p=6914"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:16:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:16:27","slug":"carmen-de-lavallade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobballet.org\/index.php\/2020\/12\/10\/carmen-de-lavallade\/","title":{"rendered":"Carmen de Lavallade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carmen de Lavallade<\/b><\/h2>\n

Lester Horton Dance Theater (1950-1954)<\/b>
\nMetropolitan Opera Ballet: Principal<\/b>
\nCapitol Ballet: Guest (1962)<\/b>
\nAlvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Principal Guest<\/b>
\n(American) Ballet Theatre: Guest<\/b>
\nBill T. Jones\/Arnie Zane Dance Co: Guest (1993)<\/b><\/h2>\n

\"Film<\/span><\/p>\n

Carmen de Lavallade, born in New Orleans in 1931 and raised in Los Angeles, was inspired by her cousin Janet Collins<\/a> to take up dancing. She studied under Melissa Blake and Italian ballerina Carmelita Maracci, and her performance career began at age 17 with Lester Horton Dance Theater, where she danced with her high school friend Alvin Ailey. She also studied acting, painting, sculpting, music, and design, as Horton encouraged his dancers to interact with other art forms as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Explore the orbits of Carmen de Lavallade in The Constellation Project<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also alongside Ailey, de Lavallade performed in <\/span>House of Flowers<\/span><\/i> on Broadway, the musical that introduced her to her husband, Geoffrey Holder<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>In 1956, she was featured in <\/span>Samson and Delilah<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Aida<\/span><\/i> at the Metropolitan Opera.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

De Lavallade also appeared in several television shows, off-Broadway productions, and films including <\/span>Carmen Jones<\/span><\/i> (which featured several members of Negro Unit of Ballet Theatre<\/a>) and <\/span>Odds Against Tomorrow<\/span><\/i>, among others.<\/span><\/p>\n

She toured with Ailey\u2019s company in Europe and Asia, a tour which was sometimes billed as \u201cde Lavallade-Ailey American Dance Company,\u201d and performed in Agnes de Mille\u2019s <\/span>The Four Marys<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Frail Quarry<\/span><\/i> with Ballet Theatre (now known as American Ballet Theatre). She was a principal dancer with both John Butler\u2019s company and with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, following in the footsteps of cousin Janet Collins.<\/span><\/p>\n

De Lavallade taught at the Yale Repertory Theater and Yale School of Drama as its resident choreographer and performer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her choreography credits include <\/span>Porgy and Bess<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Die Meistersinger<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Rusalka<\/span><\/i> for the Metropolitan Opera as well as pieces for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Agnes de Mille, Alvin Ailey, Glen Tetley, Lester Horton, John Butler, and Geoffrey Holder have all created roles for de Lavallade. She also \u201cholds the record for the longest performing career at Jacob\u2019s Pillow,\u201d which ran from 1953 to 2014. Her awards include the Dance Magazine<\/em> Award (1964), an honorary doctorate from Juilliard (2007), the Duke Ellington Fellowship Award, and the Dance USA Award (2010).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ailey said of her, \u201cWhatever you want her to dance, she will find a way to do it. Choreographers also love her because she has a solid technique and a brilliant, unsurpassable talent for interpreting a ballet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Carmen
De Lavallade with Alvin Ailey, 1961. Photo by John Lindquist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n