Primavera Bowman inherited her mother Hilde Holger’s London home over 20 years ago and was amazed to see each item. “I’m learning who my family is,” Bowman said.
Bowman knew that his mother was a prominent expressionist dancer and choreographer in Vienna, Bombay and London. But she didn’t know the extent of Holger’s influential dance career. At first she performed with her group Gertrud Bodenwieser Dance, then with her own touring company Hilde Her Holger Her Tanzgruppe, all before World War II. was.
“Before Hitler, I had no idea my mother was so famous in Vienna,” Bormann said. “I’m becoming more of a historian, a conservationist, an archivist.”
However, after years of trying, Bowman has yet to place the collection. Opportunity is ready. Even if the archive is willing to show interest, the initial work is largely a family responsibility and requires patience.
Son of artist, dancer, and choreographer Jeffrey Holder and dancer Carmen de Lavarado, Leo Holder said that when Holder died in 2014, some of the items he stored hadn’t been seen for 30 years. “They lived in a 5,000-square-foot loft,” Leo said of his parents. “By the time he moved out of that loft, he probably had 500 square feet of walking space left.”
Until then, he didn’t understand the scope of the material. “This is cinema history, black history, black theater history,” he said. “It’s not just about it.”
