TBT: A 1959 Carmen de Lavallade Double Feature

November 7, 2024

The November 1959 issue of Dance Magazine offered a Carmen de Lavallade double feature.

A black and white archival image of Carmen de Lavallade. She balances in back attitude, looking over her shoulder toward the front corner of the studio. Her arms are outstretched to either side, palms pushing out. She wears a long, textured skirt that swirls around her.
Carmen de Lavallade was photographed by Zachery Freyman for the November 1959 Brief Biographies column. From the DM Archives.

She was celebrated in the Brief Biographies column (“a monthly series about dancers you should know”), for which de Lavallade was photographed by Zachary Freyman; “Lovely is the word for Carmen!” writer Saul Goodman began the profile.

And she appeared on the cover with Glen Tetley in their roles in New York City Opera’s Carmina Burana, which was reviewed in the issue: “The high point was an exquisite solo for Carmen de Lavallade,”­ Doris Hering wrote of John Butler’s choreography. “And Miss de Lavallade brought to it that quality so uniquely hers of technical finish clothed in the artlessness of a forest creature.”

As that issue went to print, de Lavallade­ was already a veteran of Lester Horton’s company; had danced in multiple Hollywood films; had debuted on Broadway opposite Alvin Ailey, at Radio City Music Hall with her husband, Geoffrey­ Holder, and with the Metropolitan Opera; was performing on television and in Europe in Butler’s choreography; and could be seen opposite Harry Belafonte in her first nondancing role in the film Odds Against Tomorrow—and was mother to a toddler.