Monday, September 10, 2007

Carmen & Geoffrey

An Evening with Carmen De Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder

One Night Only Special Event

8 PM, Monday, September 10 at Film Forum

New documentary followed by in-person interview with couple

For more info or to buy tickets visit http://www.filmforum.org/

A one-night only special event paying tribute to the careers of wife-and-husband dancers, actors and choreographers Carmen De Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder, will take place on Monday, September 10 at Film Forum at 8 pm. A screening of Carmen & Geoffrey, an entertaining new portrait of the couple by filmmakers Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob, will be followed by an onstage interview conducted by Jennifer Dunning, dance critic of The New York Times and author of Geoffrey Holder: A Life in Theater, Dance, and Art (2001, Abrams).
Married 53 years, Carmen De Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder met in the company of the Truman Capote/Harold Arlen musical House of Flowers — and wed a month later. And ever since, Holder (originally from Trinidad) and De Lavallade (from L.A.) have teamed as dancers, actors and choreographers, while pursuing their distinguished individual careers.
Born in New Orleans, De Lavallade has been dancing since she was a young girl. While still in her teens, she was discovered by Lena Horne and began appearing as a dancer in Hollywood movies of the 1950s, including Carmen Jones, Lydia Bailey and Odds Against Tomorrow. But she became a star in the dance world, as a soloist for the Lester Horton, John Butler and Alvin Ailey companies, as well as prima ballerina for the Metropolitan Opera. De Lavallade is also a top choreographer. She joined the Yale School of Drama in 1970, soon becoming a professor, and is a member of the Yale Repertory Theater.
In addition to his extraordinary theatre career, 6-foot-six Geoffrey has also had a separate one in movies and on television, with such roles as Baron Samedi in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, Punjab in the movie version of Annie, and most recently as the narrator of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To a generation of baby boomers, he’s also famous as the“Uncola Man” in 7-Up commercials from the 70s and 80s. A true renaissance man, Holder is a Tony award-winning director and set designer (for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz), musician, choreographer, costume designer, and a prolific artist with paintings and sculptures in museums and private collections around the world.

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