We are too quick to put labels on things. It is my profession. I get up and paint. Everyone wants to put a label on it, but I am a free spirit, so I fight against that.

As a choreographer Holder has created dance pieces for many companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for which he provided choreography music and costumes for Prodigal Prince (1967) and the Dance Theatre of Harlem for which he provided choreography music and costumes for Dougla (1974) and designed costumes for Firebird (1982). He was a principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York from 1955 to 1956. S.