Lithe, graceful American dancer, actress and choreographer Carmen Paula de Lavallade was born in Los Angeles of Hispanic/Creole parentage to Grace Grenot and Leo Paul De Lavallade. She grew up in a predominantly Mexican neighbourhood in East L.A., raised by her aunt Adele who strongly encouraged her ambition to become a dancer. Her idol and role model was her older cousin Janet Collins, a trailblazer who broke the colour barrier to become the first African-American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera.
De Lavallade studied ballet from the age of sixteen. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School (where she befriended future dance partner Alvin Ailey) she received a scholarship to pursue dance classes with the renowned teacher and choreographer Lester Horton. Between and , she was lead dancer with the Lester Horton Dance Theatre, performing both ballet and various styles of contemporary and ethnic dance, including traditional Native American. During this period, she learned other art forms, such as painting and set decoration and eventually took acting classes under Stella Adler. To stamp her own measure of individuality upon them, De Lavallade also collaborated
Carmen de Lavallade
Carmen de Lavallade (present) was born in raised in Los Angeles. Inspired by her older cousin Janet Collins, she began taking formal dance lessons at the age of 14 with Melissa Blake. Two years later, Carmen received a scholarship to study with Lester Horton. While dancing with Horton, she studied ballet with Carmelita Maracci. In , Horton offered her the lead role in &#;Salome,&#; in which she was well received by critics. When Lester passed away in , Carmen and her fellow dancer Alvin Ailey moved to New York City to perform on Broadway in &#;House of Flowers.&#; In New York she met her husband Geoffrey Holder, a dancer-choreographer-actor, and they married in She went on to have a successful career in dance, television, and film collaborating with many artists including: Alvin Ailey, Agnes de Mille, Martha Graham, Erza Pound, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, and Robert Brustein. In she debuted her one woman memoir show &#;As I Remember It&#; at Jacobs Pillow.
Carmen has received many distinctions including: The Dance Magazine Award (), Black History Month Lifetime Achievement Award (), The Rosie Award (), The Bessie Award (), Capezio Da
Carmen Paula de Lavallade ( )
Legendary dancer, choreographer, and actor Carmen de Lavallade came to prominence in the early s when black artists came into their own in the world of American dance on Broadway, in film, and on television.
De Lavallade was born on March 6, , in Los Angeles, California, to Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father, Leo de Lavallade, was a postman and bricklayer, and her mother, Grace Grenot de Lavallade, was in ill health for most of de Lavallade’s childhood. With sisters Yvonne and Elaine, de Lavallade was situated as the middle daughter. Due to Grace de Lavallade’s illness and subsequent death when de Lavallade was still a teenager, it was her father, Leo, and her aunt, Adele de Lavallade Young, who reared her. Interestingly, Young owned the Hugh Gordon Book Shop, one of the first African American bookstores in Los Angeles.
An enormous inspiration in de Lavallade’s early life was her cousin, Janet Collins, who became the first full-time African American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City, New York. In , de Lavallade began ballet training with Melissa Blake, and two years later she won a scholarshi
Carmen Lavallade
| American dancer, choreographer, and theater and film actress Date of Birth: Country: USA |
Content:
- Early Life and Training
- Broadway and Beyond
- Film and Television
- Later Career and Recognition
Early Life and Training
Carmen De Lavallade, a prominent American dancer, choreographer, and actress, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 3, Raised in Los Angeles by her aunt, who owned the first African-American bookstore on Central Avenue, De Lavallade began ballet lessons at the age of After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, she joined the Lester Horton Dance Theater in , where she remained a principal dancer until she relocated to New York in
Broadway and Beyond
De Lavallade's debut on the Broadway stage came in , when she performed alongside Alvin Ailey in Truman Capote's musical "House of Flowers." In , she married dancer and actor Geoffrey Holder, whom she met while working on "House of Flowers." The following year, De Lavallade became a prima ballerina in productions of "Samson and Delilah" and "Aida." She also made her television debut in John Butler's ballet "Flight" and appeared in Duke Ellington's
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