Eleo Pomare

Choreographer and dancer Eleo Pomare was born in Santa Marta, Colombia. At New York’s famed High School of Performing Arts, he was mentored by Verita Pearson and exposed to guest teachers like Uta Hagen and Martha Graham. While still a student, Pomare taught dance to other youth at the Police Athletic League (PAL). Soon, his pupils were performing at churches, schools, and nearby Fort Dix. After graduating from high school in 1953, Pomare maintained his own dance company as he continued his training with Louis Horst, José Limón, Asadata Dafora, Pearl Reynolds, and Curtis James. He also befriended author James Baldwin, whose writing greatly influenced him. 
 
In 1960, Pomare gave his first major performance at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA to favorable reviews. The following year, he was awarded a John Hay Whitney Fellowship to study dance with Kurt Jooss in Essen, Germany. Pomare left the Jooss School and went on to reestablish the Eleo Pomare Dance Company, based in Amsterdam, becoming a sensation in Europe. Using his own approach to choreography and teaching, he created his most celebrated works: Missa Luba, which combined the Catholic Mass with the music and voices of the Congolese Boys’ Choir; Blues for the Jungle, which depicted the history of African Americans from the earliest days of enslavement to the fight for equal rights in the 1960s; and Las Desenamoradas, which was inspired by Garcia Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba. 
 
Over the years, Pomare received a number of dance fellowships including the John Hay Whitney Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972. The Eleo Pomare Dance Company toured North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa. The company also performed in Lagos, Nigeria for FESTAC ’77, the World Festival of African Arts. In 1986, Pomare created Morning Without Sunrise, set to music by Max Roach, in honor of the heroism of Nelson Mandela. 
 
In 1968, along with Carole Johnson, Rod Rodgers, Gus Solomon, and Pearl Reynolds, Pomare formed the Association of Black Choreographers and THE FEET, a black dance magazine. The Eleo Pomare Dance Company celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1983. January 7, 1987, was declared Eleo Pomare Day by Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins. 
 
Pomare was a highly sought after teacher and choreographer until his death on August 8, 2008, at the age of 70.