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Christian Holder
Arthur Christian Holder (18 June 1949 – 18 February 2025) was a British-Trinidadian dancer. He was renowned for being "one of the most iconic dancers of the Joffrey company in the 1970s, perhaps in its history." Holder's artistic endeavors were as diverse. He was also a choreographer, cabaret singer, painter, theater director, and playwright.
Arthur Christian Holder was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 18 June 1949, into an artistic family, the son of Boscoe Holder and his wife Sheila Clarke Holder, who were both professional dancers. His maternal grandmother was the actress and radio personality Kathleen Davis – known as "Aunty Kay" – and his uncle was the actor Geoffrey Holder.
His family moved to London when he was an infant. His father, who later became a renowned painter, at the time ran a company called Boscoe Holder and his Caribbean Dancers, and throughout childhood Christian appeared with them, and on British television and in repertory theatre. As a four-year-old Christian danced with his father's company at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and by the age of seven he had begun training in ballet, and aged 11 attended the Corona Academy Stage School. In an unfinished 1955 production of Moby Dick, directed by Orson Welles, Holder had the role of Pip the Cabin Boy.
In 1963, Holder was one of a select group of young dancers to be offered scholarships by Martha Graham to study at her school in New York City, so as to return to London "to be charter members of what was to become London Contemporary Dance Theatre". The following year his parents saw him off to the United States.
He went on to enrol as a student at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, where he was spotted by Robert Joffrey. Joining the Joffrey Ballet, Holder remained with the company from 1966 to 1979, becoming one of their most acclaimed principal dancers, performing as a soloist with choreographers including Kurt Jooss (who personally trained Holder for the lead role of "Death" in a revival of his 1932 anti-war ballet, The Green Table), Leonid Massine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, and Agnes De Mille. A New York Magazine review in 1971 typically commented: "...Christian Holder, lithe, tremendously powerful and totally individual, dominates the stage whenever he is given solo work to do.... Up the Joffrey! Onward, Christian Holder!" Measuring in height 6 feet and 4 inches, he was "majestic and pantherlike" onstage, as described by choreographer Margo Sappington.
In 1973, Holder attended an Ike & Tina Turner concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall in Lincoln Center and anonymously left a dress he had made for Tina Turner in her dressing room. Turner was wearing his dress when he went to her show in 1974. Holder wrote to Turner, who replied by inviting him to her recording studio complex, Bolic Sound, in Inglewood, and requesting him to design additional outfits. They became friends and Holder created stage costumes for her until 1984. He also designed costumes for Ann Reinking, Peter Allen, and Bette Midler.
From 1979 to 1981, he appeared as a guest solo dancer with San Francisco Opera, dancing in productions starring Luciano Pavarotti, and Placido Domingo, and choreographed their productions of The Merry Widow with Dame Joan Sutherland and Aida (2001).
In 2006, he performed in the Joffrey Ballet's production of Sir Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, as one of the ugly stepsisters along with Gary Chryst, which roles Joffrey (who died in 1988) had always wanted them to play.
Christian Holder
Arthur Christian Holder (18 June 1949 – 18 February 2025) was a British-Trinidadian dancer. He was renowned for being "one of the most iconic dancers of the Joffrey company in the 1970s, perhaps in its history." Holder's artistic endeavors were as diverse. He was also a choreographer, cabaret singer, painter, theater director, and playwright.
Arthur Christian Holder was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 18 June 1949, into an artistic family, the son of Boscoe Holder and his wife Sheila Clarke Holder, who were both professional dancers. His maternal grandmother was the actress and radio personality Kathleen Davis – known as "Aunty Kay" – and his uncle was the actor Geoffrey Holder.
His family moved to London when he was an infant. His father, who later became a renowned painter, at the time ran a company called Boscoe Holder and his Caribbean Dancers, and throughout childhood Christian appeared with them, and on British television and in repertory theatre. As a four-year-old Christian danced with his father's company at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and by the age of seven he had begun training in ballet, and aged 11 attended the Corona Academy Stage School. In an unfinished 1955 production of Moby Dick, directed by Orson Welles, Holder had the role of Pip the Cabin Boy.
In 1963, Holder was one of a select group of young dancers to be offered scholarships by Martha Graham to study at her school in New York City, so as to return to London "to be charter members of what was to become London Contemporary Dance Theatre". The following year his parents saw him off to the United States.
He went on to enrol as a student at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, where he was spotted by Robert Joffrey. Joining the Joffrey Ballet, Holder remained with the company from 1966 to 1979, becoming one of their most acclaimed principal dancers, performing as a soloist with choreographers including Kurt Jooss (who personally trained Holder for the lead role of "Death" in a revival of his 1932 anti-war ballet, The Green Table), Leonid Massine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, and Agnes De Mille. A New York Magazine review in 1971 typically commented: "...Christian Holder, lithe, tremendously powerful and totally individual, dominates the stage whenever he is given solo work to do.... Up the Joffrey! Onward, Christian Holder!" Measuring in height 6 feet and 4 inches, he was "majestic and pantherlike" onstage, as described by choreographer Margo Sappington.
In 1973, Holder attended an Ike & Tina Turner concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall in Lincoln Center and anonymously left a dress he had made for Tina Turner in her dressing room. Turner was wearing his dress when he went to her show in 1974. Holder wrote to Turner, who replied by inviting him to her recording studio complex, Bolic Sound, in Inglewood, and requesting him to design additional outfits. They became friends and Holder created stage costumes for her until 1984. He also designed costumes for Ann Reinking, Peter Allen, and Bette Midler.
From 1979 to 1981, he appeared as a guest solo dancer with San Francisco Opera, dancing in productions starring Luciano Pavarotti, and Placido Domingo, and choreographed their productions of The Merry Widow with Dame Joan Sutherland and Aida (2001).
In 2006, he performed in the Joffrey Ballet's production of Sir Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, as one of the ugly stepsisters along with Gary Chryst, which roles Joffrey (who died in 1988) had always wanted them to play.