Richard Holden (dancer)
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Richard Holden (b. Braintree, Massachusetts August 8, 1927) is a dancer, choreographer, choreologist, teacher, musician and writer.
Initially a pianist, he discovered dance at age 14 and began lessons in Boston with Senia Russakoff. At 16 he went to New York to study with George Chaffee and later at the American Ballet Theater school. After dancing in Summer stock theatre and operating a dance school in Elmira, New York, he went to England to study the Royal Ballet repertory. In England he danced for a year with Ballets Minerva, a small touring ballet company, and then spent time in the former USSR, studying folk dance, Soviet ballet technique and repertory.
After graduating from the London Institute of Choreology in 1966 with an Associate degree in Benesh movement notation, Dame Alicia Markova offered him a contract with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet (Met) where she was Director. He danced during the first season of the new Met at Lincoln Center, becoming a soloist and later the Met's resident choreologist. He later joined the Harkness Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theater as the first American choreologist and certified Labanotator.
With regular leaves of absence from the New York companies, he started the Tucson Civic Ballet as director and choreographer, which subsequently became Ballet Arizona. He appeared in several Hollywood motion pictures in specialized dancer roles - most recently as "Dr. Faust" in the 1993 movie Tombstone (film). He has choreographed and staged dance works and ballets for companies all over the USA, including his "Firebird", "Upstairs Downstairs", "Khatchaturiana", "Chakra" and his award winning "Alice". Settling in Tucson, he became resident choreographer for the Arizona Opera and formed a Russian dance ensemble to perform with the Arizona Balalaika Orchestra. His writing has appeared in various magazines including Dance Magazine and Opera News as well as the Christian Science Monitor and other newspapers.
