Carmen de Lavallade

Carmen de Lavallade
Carmen de Lavallade with her husband, Geoffrey Holder, in 1955 (photo by Carl Van Vechten)
Born	(1931-03-06) March 6, 1931 (age 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Dancer, choreographer, actress
Years active	1948–present
Spouse(s)	Geoffrey Holder (m. 1955–2014; his death)
Children	1
Family	Janet Collins (cousin)

Carmen de Lavallade (born March 6, 1931) is an American actress, dancer and choreographer.

Carmen de Lavallade was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 6, 1931, to black Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised by her aunt, Adele, who owned one of the first African-American history bookshops on Central Avenue. De Lavallade's cousin, Janet Collins, was the first African-American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera.

De Lavallade began studying ballet with Melissa Blake at the age of 16. After graduation from Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles was awarded a scholarship to study dance with Lester Horton.

De Lavallade became a member of the Lester Horton Dance Theater in 1949 where she danced as a lead dancer until her departure for New York City with Alvin Ailey in 1954. Like all of Horton's students, de Lavallade studied other art forms, including painting, acting, music, set design and costuming, as well as ballet and other forms of modern and ethnic dance. She studied dancing with ballerina Carmelita Maracci and acting with Stella Adler. In 1954, de Lavallade made her Broadway debut partnered with Alvin Ailey in Truman Capote's musical House of Flowers (starring Pearl Bailey).

In 1955, she married dancer/actor Geoffrey Holder, whom she had met while working on House of Flowers. It was with Holder that de Lavallade choreographed her signature solo Come Sunday, to a black spiritual sung by Odetta (then known as Odetta Gordon). The following year, de Lavallade danced as the prima ballerina in Samson and Delilah, and Aida at the Metropolitan Opera.