March 6
Born Today:
Carmen de Lavallade
Modern dancer Carmen de Lavallade (1931-), cousin of ballerina Janet Collins (1917-2003), studied ballet before dancing with Lester Horton (1906-1953) in the 1950s. After his sudden death, she relocated, along with Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) to New York, where she met her husband, dancer Geoffrey Holder (1930-2014), debuted on Broadway in House of Flowers (1954) and appeared in the movie Carmen Jones (1954). She danced with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Donald McKayle (1930-2018), among others, and continued performing well into her seventies.
Also Born Today: Kabuki actor/dancer Ganjiro Nakamura I (1860-1935) played both male and female roles and excelled in sewamono (domestic dramas) in the softer and more realistic wagoto style. Writer and lecturer Peter Brinson (1920-1995) worked to raise the profile of dance and dance education in the UK during the 20th century. Sardono (1945-) studied classical Javanese dance and combined traditional and contemporary dances. Choreographer Jimmy Gamonet de los Heros (1957-2021) was the resident choreographer with the Miami City Ballet from 1985–2000 and ran Ballet Gamonet in Miami for five years before returning to his native Peru to choreograph for the National Ballet of Peru. Gamonet died of COVID in 2021. Ballet dancer Julio Bocca (1967-) performed with ABT and mixes ballet with tango in his choreography.