Side A. [Music and announcements.] Christian Holder speaks with Kyra Lynn Kaptzan about his family's performing arts background; his early training in London in dance and theater; seeing Jerome Robbins' musical comedy West Side Story and Ballets: U.S.A. as an influence on his decision to dance; moving to New York City in l964; his scholarship to the Martha Graham School [Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance]; attending the New York City High School of the Performing Arts; joining the Joffrey Ballet in 1966; his theatrical experience as a child; his favorite role, Death, in Kurt Jooss's The green table; other roles he enjoys, including in [José Limón's] Moor's pavane, [Robert Joffrey's] Astarte, and the narrator in [Frederick Ashton's] Wedding bouquet; roles he and Gary Chryst perform; his preference for a diverse repertory [short gap]; working with Leonide Massine; dancing in Massine's work Parade; dancing in the Joffrey Ballet's program titled Homage to Diaghilev [Parade, Petruschka, Spectre de la rose, and Afternoon of a faun], including the difficulty of performing the same roles every night; working with Rudolf Nureyev; the Joffrey repertoire and how works are selected for performance; the attempted censorship of certain works when the Joffrey toured in the former Soviet Union; touring in the U.S., including audience reactions; Holder's choreographing, including his work Five dances; how working with Jerome Robbins and other choreographers has helped him as a choreographer; his experience with costume design. [Music and announcements.] Side B is blank.
Repository/Collector:
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Repository/Collector Type:
Municipal
City:
New York
State:
New York
Country:
United States
Extent:
1 recording
Content types:
Sounds
Formats:
Audiocassette
Historical relevance:
Interview with Christian Holder conducted by Kyra Lynn Kaptzan for the radio program Ballet beat on WNYU-FM and broadcast on June 29, 1979.