The magnificent partnership of Carmen & Geoffrey is on view in documentary
CARMEN & GEOFFREY (Linda Atkinson & Nick Doob, 2006)
Film: Friday, April 23, Maysles Cinema, 343 Malcolm X Blvd. / Lenox Ave between 127th & 128th Sts., 7:30
Performance & discussion: Sunday, April 25, the Philoctetes Center, 247 East 82nd St., free, 2:30
www.mayslesinstitute.org
www.philoctetes.org
CARMEN & GEOFFREY is an endearing look at Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder’s lifelong love affair with dance—and each other. The New Orleans-born de Lavallade studied with Lester Horton and went to high school with Alvin Ailey, whom she brought to his first dance class. Trinidadian Holder is a larger-than-life gentle giant who is a dancer, choreographer, composer, costume designer, actor director, writer, photographer, painter, and just about anything else he wants to be. The two met when they both were cast in Truman Capote and Harold Arlen’s Broadway show HOUSE OF FLOWERS in 1954, with Holder instantly falling in love with de Lavallade; they’ve been together ever since. Directors Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob combine amazing archival footage—of Eartha Kitt, Josephine Baker, Ulysses Dove, de Lavallade dancing with Ailey, and other splendid moments—with contemporary rehearsal scenes, dance performances, and interviews with such stalwarts as dance critic Jennifer Dunning, Alvin Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison, and choreographer Joe Layton (watch out for his eyebrows), along with family members and Gus Solomons jr and Dudley Williams, who still work with de Lavallade. The film was made on an extremely low budget, and it shows, but it is filled with such glorious footage that you’ll get over that quickly. The film is being screened at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem on April 23 as part of National Dance Week, followed by an after-party at the Harlem Brewing Company.
In addition, de Lavallade will be participating in “Moving and Playing: Jazz Improvisation and Dance Conversation” on April 25 at the Philoctetes Center, a free program that also features Jane Ira Bloom, Rufus Reid, Aaron Shafer-Haiss, and Andrea Weber discussing collaboration and performing.