Carmen de Lavallade examines her life and career in multimedia one-woman show (photo by Christopher Duggan)
Who: Carmen de Lavallade
What: As I Remember It
Where: Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jerome Robbins Theater, 450 West 37th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves., 866-811-4111
When: February 19-21, 24, 8:00, February 25, 1:00, $25-$30
Why: Legendary dancer and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade’s one-woman show, As I Remember It, was developed during two residencies at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2012 and 2014. The production will now make its New York premiere at BAC February 19-25, with de Lavallade using archival footage, personal writings, and live dance to share her compelling story, which includes performing onscreen and/or onstage with Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, and many others; she has also choreographed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Philadanco, and the Metropolitan Opera. Sadly, since the show began its tour, de Lavallade’s husband of nearly sixty years, multidisciplinary artist Geoffrey Holder, passed away in October 2014, but the eighty-three-year-old de Lavallade has soldiered on. (Their love story was told in Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob’s 2006 documentary, Carmen & Geoffrey.) The hour-long As I Remember It is directed by longtime character actor Joe Grifasi and cowritten with dramaturg Talvin Wilks; the lighting is by James F. Ingalls, video design by Maya Ciarrocchi, set design by Mimi Lien, and costumes by Esther Arroyo. The February 25 matinee finale will be followed by a conversation with the ever-lovely Ms. de Lavallade.