Throwback Thursday and Geoffrey Holder
Last week the world lost a great artist and performer. Geoffrey Holder, probably best known for the
commercials he did in the 1970s and 1980s, died from complications of pneumonia. He was 86.
Geoffrey Holder was a native of the West Indies, and he used
this background and his bigger-than-life personality (he was also 6’6”) to rise
to fame in dance, choreography, design and painting. To say that he was multi-talented would be an
understatement!
He directed a dance company in Trinidad and Tobago,
performed on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1975 he won a Tony Award for costume
design for the musical “The Wiz”. He
choreographed for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and the Dance Theater of
Harlem. In addition to his performing
arts career, he was also an accomplished photographer, painter and
sculptor. He also published a cookbook.
As a child, this pitchman for the “Uncola” struggled with a
stutter, and was often laughed at when he had to read aloud in school. It was his older brother Boscoe who taught
Geoffrey to dance, paint and act, and had him join the folkloric group he
formed called the Holder Dancing Company.
Geoffrey was seven years old at the time.
Geoffrey Holder said this about his philosophy on his
artistic life: “I create for that
innocent little boy in the balcony who has come to the theater for the first
time. He wants to see magic, so I want
to give him magic.”
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Dance History Factoid #51:
Link of the Day:
Quote
of the Day:
“I paint a slice of life, whatever it is
that day.”
-
Geoffrey Holder
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