On Dec. 29, 2025, Carmen de Lavallade, the first Creole/African descendant prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera, died at the age of 94, following a short illness at a hospital in Englewood, New Jersey.

Born on March 6, 1931 in Los Angeles, California to Creole parents from New Orleans, Louisiana, she studied ballet with Melissa Blake at the age of 16. After graduation from Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, she was awarded a scholarship to study dance with Lester Horton.

In 1949, de Lavallade became a member of the Lester Horton Dance Theater and in 1954 joined the New York City with Alvin Ailey. In 1955, she made history by becoming the first Creole/African descendant prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera, dancing in a production of “Aida.” She would remain with the company performing in productions of “Samson and Delilah,” and “Faust.” Between 1990 and 1993, de Lavallade returned to the Metropolitan Opera as choreographer for “Porgy and Bess,” “Die Meistersinger,” and “Lucia di Lammermoor.” She later returned to choreograph productions of “Rusalka.”

Outside of opera, she was well-known for appearing in several off-Broadway productions, including “Othello” and “Death of a Salesman” and such films as “Carmen Jones,” “Odds Against Tomorrow,” and “Lone Star.”

De Lavallade was a principal guest performer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and staged musicals, plays, and operas, before eventually becoming a professor and member of the Yale Repertory Theater. She taught such actors as Meryl Streep.

For her work in the performing arts de Lavallade received the Black History Month Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rosie Award as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Obie Awards. She also received the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2017.