Dance legend Carmen de Lavallade turns 81 today! Here she is in the October 1964 issue of Harper’s Bazaar in a beaded necklace by Coppola e Toppa.
Duke Ellington in 1952 with dancers Carmen de Lavallade, James Truitt and Don Martin in a photo by Constantine. de Lavallade, Truitt and Martin were Lester Horton dancers at the time.
Chorus girls at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, photographed in 1936 by Lucien Aigner. Aigner, who photographed everyone from Hitler and Mussolini to Gandhi and Haile Selassie, was originally from Hungary. He emigrated to the United States to avoid Nazi persecution. Technically an “enemy alien,” he was prohibited from photographing war-related subjects. He noted that he “photographed black people when it was not good manners.” He was also the brother of designer Etienne Aigner.
Janet Collins, the first Black prima ballerina at The Metropolitan Opera on the night of her debut, November 1, 1951. Ms. Collins, who died in 2003 at age 86, was also a cousin of Carmen de Lavallade.
Legendary dancer Carmen de Lavallade on the cover of the June 30, 1954 issue of Hue magazine, a Johnson publication.
