Carmen Paula de Lavallade was born in Los Angeles to a Hispanic/Creole family and grew up in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood in East L.A. Her aunt Adele strongly encouraged her ambition to become a dancer, and her idol and role model was her older cousin Janet Collins, a trailblazer who broke the color barrier to become the first African-American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera.
De Lavallade studied ballet from the age of sixteen and received a scholarship to pursue dance classes with renowned teacher and choreographer Lester Horton. Between 1950 and 1954, she was the lead dancer with the Lester Horton Dance Theatre, performing ballet and various styles of contemporary and ethnic dance, including traditional Native American.
During this period, she also learned other art forms, such as painting and set decoration, and took acting classes under Stella Adler. To stamp her own measure of individuality upon them, De Lavallade collaborated on the design of her many intricate costumes.
In December 1954, De Lavallade made her debut on Broadway alongside Alvin Ailey, Pearl Bailey, and Diahann Carroll in Truman Capote's musical House of Flowers. She met her future husband, Geoffrey Holder, during production, and they married in 1955.
De Lavallade was featured as prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera in 1956 productions of Aida and Samson and Delilah. Off-Broadway, she appeared in Othello and Death of a Salesman. She toured Europe and Asia as principal guest performer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company during the early 1960s.
With the help of Lena Horne, De Lavallade broke into motion pictures, appearing as exotic specialty dancers in productions like Lydia Bailey, Demetrius and the Gladiators, The Egyptian, and Carmen Jones. She was cast in a rare dramatic role in Robert Wise's film noir Odds Against Tomorrow.
In 1970, De Lavallade became choreographer, performer-in-residence at the Yale School of Drama and member of the Yale Repertory Company and the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard. She taught movement to stars like Meryl Streep, Sigourney Weaver, and Joe Grifasi, choreographed Porgy and Bess and Die Meistersinger for the Metropolitan Opera, and staged productions for the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
De Lavallade's numerous accolades include the Bessie Award, Capezio Dance Award, Duke Ellington Fellowship, Dance USA Awards, Obie Lifetime Achievement Award, and Kennedy Center Honors Award. She also received an honorary Fine Arts doctorate degree from the State University of New York/Juillard School in 2007.
In June 2014, De Lavallade staged an autobiographical solo retrospective of her life and career, 'As I Remember It', which premiered at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.
