Long before Misty Copeland pirouetted into the record books, Carmen de Lavallade, a child of Creole parents, was a ballerina — and, soon after, actress and choreographer. She made her Broadway debut in the 1954 Truman Capote musical “House of Flowers” partnered with Alvin Ailey. But her partner in life and love was Geoffrey Holder, the tall, basso-voiced dancer, actor and onetime James Bond villain to whom she was married for 59 years, until his death last year. On Aug. 1 at 7:30 p.m., she’ll celebrate Holder’s birthday with their son, the Garth Fagan dancers and others in performances at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Will she dance? “I’m 84,” she tells The Post. “I don’t call it dancing anymore. I call it moving!” Here’s what’s in her library.
Here’s what’s in her library:
Dialogues with the Devil by Taylor Caldwell
Taylor Caldwell said she started this as a joke but [the characters] took over. It’s a dialogue between Lucifer, the most powerful and beloved archangel, and his brothers, Gabriel and Michael, about Lucifer’s disagreement with God in creating man — and how man isn’t worthy. In this, Lucifer isn’t a funny thing with horns — his names means Light.
How to Train a Wild Elephant by Jan Chozen Bays
This book saved me when I was going through Geoffrey’s illness. I think it was Buddha who said the mind is a wild elephant and you have to train it. The writer is a Zen teacher, and these are simple exercises to help you focus and calm down. One is to look at your hands. I sent it to a friend who said, “Carmen, it saved my life.”
Monsieur de Saint-George by Alain Guédé
I found this in a music store, when I was looking for a book about my cousin, Janet Collins, the first prima ballerina of color at the Met. It’s the story of Joseph Bologne, who was born in the Caribbean and educated in France, where he became a virtuoso violinist, composer, swordsman and military man.
At Her Majesty’s Request by Walter Dean Myers
A true story about an African princess whose family were destroyed by another tribe. A British lieutenant found her just before she was to be sacrificed and took her to England, where Queen Victoria paid for her education and treated her like a princess. I keep saying it should be a movie. I asked Whoopi Goldberg, but there were no takers.