February 22, 2025, Telegraph obituary We have featured an article about Christian Holder (born June 18, 1949 and passed away on February 18, 2025). Here is an excerpt. Read the full obituary at Telecommunications.
Christian Holder, who passed away at the age of 75, was born into a highly talented and artistic Trinidadian family and grew up in London, giving him his name as a dancer, choreographer, actor, costume designer, writer, artist and singer.
The late 1960s and 1970s holder was founded in Chicago by Robert Joffrey in 1956 and was one of the stars of the New York Joffrey Ballet, which grew into one of the most exciting ballet companies in the world. Joffrey made that mark by combining modern dance with traditional ballet techniques to set ballet in rock and pop music, reviving works like Nijinski’s Spring Ritual, which were thought to have been lost. Along with Gary Christ, Holder helped make Joffrey Ballet the hottest company in New York during an era of political and cultural upheavals.
The company first visited the UK in 1971 and carried out the 1932 revival of Kurt Joss’ anti-war ballet the Green Table. Jooss was personally trained for the main role of death, and as the Telegraph reviewers observed, “everything was controlled”: “He commanded, as the situation demanded, he was sinister, kind, violent, and in fact the best death I’ve ever seen.”
A few days later, a telegraph interviewer said, “While he is tall for the dancer, about 6 feet and five inches, he exudes a sense of leopard-like control, and the so-called English voice becomes a sort of surprise from the black features covered in a flowing caftan and copper bracelet.” [. . .]
Arthur Christian Holder was born in Trinidad on June 18, 1949. Boscoe Holder and his wife Sheila and son of Ne Clark are both professional dancers. Like his son, Bosco Holder can enjoy an international career as a designer, dancer, choreographer and musician, including hosting his own BBC television show, “Bulcreole” in 1950.
Other well-known families include Christian’s maternal grandmother, actress and radio personality Kathleen Davis (known as “Auntie Kay”) and his uncle Jeffrey holderactor and artist best known for his role as Baron Samedy, a terrifying Haitian voodoo priest in the 1973 Bond Movie Live and Let Die. [. . .]
In 1963 he won a scholarship to the Martha Graham School in New York and soon moved to the city’s high school for the performing arts, and in 1966 he was quickly discovered by Robert Joffrey, who offered to apprenticeship with his company.
Like his death at the Green Table, Holder’s 13-year role with Joffrey Ballet included command-roved figures Gerald Alpino’Based on S Trinity and The Moor in Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane, Othello. When he played a role in Sadler’s Wells in 1981 as part of the “Ballet Stars of America” ​​season, Telegraph reviewers singled out “Super Performance.” [. . .]
After retiring from Joffrey Ballet, he appeared as a guest solo dancer at the San Francisco Opera from 1979 to 1981. Luciano Pavarotti And Placido Domingo. During his time on stage, he worked behind the scenes as a choreographer and costume designer. After he went to freelance, this part of his work envisioned greater excellence.
He choreographed Mary Widow’s San Francisco Opera Production Dame Joan Sutherlandand Aida, and were we not fools? and the Laiersons Dangues for American ballet theatres, and the transcendence of Atlanta Ballet. He designed the costumes, including Margo Sappington’s Toulouse-Lautrec (2000) for Toulouse’s Ballet du Capitole, as well as a work that included performers. Tina Turner and unlink.
Holder wrote and directed a play entitled Ida Rubinstein: The Final Act, and wrote a book and lyrics about musical plays inspired by Baudelaire’s life. He taught ballet in the United States and in 2006, as part of the Joffrey Ballet’s 50th celebration, he stepped on stage with Gary Christ in Isle Frederick Assington’s Cinderella production.
In 2009, Holder returned to live performances in London, where his paintings and designs were displayed in 2010 along with the work of his father and family friend Oliver Messle. [. . .]
In 2016, V&A held an event entitled “Christian Holder: Life of Performance, New York, London,” and in 2020 an exhibition of his paintings and father’s paintings was held in Campbell, London, South Kensington. [. . .]
For the complete article, please refer to https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/02/22/christian-holder-joffrey-boscoe-obituary/
[Photo above: Christian Holder in 1976Â Credit: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images.]
