Geoffrey Holder- a true renaissance man. Includes rare footage and interviews with wife Carmen de Lavallade and son Leo Holder. Continue reading
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Tag: Geoffrey Holder
12/31/21 O&A NYC Shall We Dance Friday (Repost): Banda (excerpt)- Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade
Geoffrey Holder’s Banda dance debuted in the 1954 Truman Capote/Harold Arlen musical House Of Flowers. Holder the Baron of The Cemetery (based on the Haitian Loa of Death Baron Samedi) and received both a performer and choreographer credit in the program. The Broadway musical takes place somewhere in the West Indies during Mardi Gras weekend. Continue reading
2/12/15 O&A Reposted: Clive Thompson- The Graham Years
By Walter Rutledge
The life of a bank clerk at the Government Savings Bank in Kingston, Jamaica was not going be Clive Thompson’s fate; he had been a performer for most of his life. Clive and his sister Norma had been childhood favorites in the local talent shows and were part of the “opening act” in Children’s Corner Club at the Saturday matinees. After seeing the Katherine Dunham Dance Company perform and a chance encounter with modern dance teacher Ivy Baxter he began formal dance classes. Continue reading
10/11/14 O&A: Broadway Lights Dim To Honor Geoffrey Holder
By Bruce Hawkins
Last night was another magical night orchestrated by Carmen De Lavallade and Leo Holder to celebrate the home going of her husband and his Father, the brilliant and talented Geoffrey Holder. Everyone was instructed to wear colorful clothing. No black. Continue reading
Geoffrey Holder 1930- 2014: From His Son Leo
10/3/14 O&A Shall We Dance Friday: Banda (excerpt)- Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade
Geoffrey Holder’s Banda dance debuted in the 1954 Truman Capote/Harold Arlen musical House Of Flowers. Holder the Baron of The Cemetery (based on the Haitian Loa of Death Baron Samedi) and received both a performer and choreographer credit in the program. The Broadway musical takes place somewhere in the West Indies during Mardi Gras weekend. Continue reading
9/16/14 Reflections on Katherine Dunham and Lavinia Williams (part two)
By Noel Nantambu Hall
On her passing Mme. Williams was recognized by the Haitian government with an official national funeral and a posthumous award, Grand Officer De L’ Ordre National Honneur et Merite. She is survived by daughters Sharon and Sara, both of whom are active in the dance field. Sharon, a master percussionist and Sara, a former leading dancer with the Harkness and Atlanta ballets, the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Continue reading
9/15/14 Reflections on Katherine Dunham and Lavinia Williams (part one)
By Noel Nantambu Hall
Katherine Dunham laid some sturdy foundations in arts and education that would not only benefit her era, but mushroom through the years and inspire new foundations and further growth. Education and the self-reaffirming power it wielded on an individual, group or society had clearly evidenced itself on her development and growing consciousness in the mid-nineteen thirties, and at the forefront were dance and anthropology. Continue reading
8/16/17 (REPOST) O&A WILDIN OUT WEDNESDAY: Grace Jones in Boomerang
Who else but Grace Jones could have played the over the top model/fashion icon Helen Strangé in the 1992 romantic comedy Boomerang. The model turned song stylist and actress used her exotic and erotic persona to create Strangé. Jones dominates these two scenes with outragous, broad humor. Continue reading
1/9/16 O&A NYC (REPOST) Bambi and Thumper – Diamonds Are Forever featuring Trina Parks- The First African American Bond Girl
Trina Parks was born on December 26, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York. Her father Charles Frazier, was a renowned tenor saxophonist with Cab Calloway’s orchestra. Parks majored in modern dance at the New York High School of Performing Arts. She also studied with Katherine Dunham and subsequently joined Dunham’s professional dance company in 1964. Additional concert dance credits include Donald McKayle, Anna Sokolow, Talley Beatty, Geoffrey Holder, Eleo Pomare and Rod Rodgers. Parks performed in numerous Broadway productions as a vocalist and dancer, including a lead role in the 10th anniversary touring production of Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies. She was the first African- American Bond girl Thumper in the 1971 James Bond classic Diamonds are Forever. Continue reading
