Name: Debbie Allen
Date of Birth: 16 January 1950 Daughter of dentist Arthur Allen and Pulitzer-prize nominated Vivan Ayers ( artist, poet, playwright, and publisher). Older siblings are jazz musician Tex (Andrew Arthur Allen Jr, born 1945) and actress Phylicia Ayers-Allen (Phylicia Rashad, born 1948), and brother Hugh Allen (real estate banker in North Carolina). Her husband, Norman Nixon, is a former NBA player with the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. Received an Honorary doctorate from The North Carolina School of the Arts, the same institution that denied her admittance to its dance department when she was sixteen years old; she was told then that she had the wrong type of body for dance. ... Has an Honorary doctorate from her alma mater Howard University. Won 1992 & 1995 Essence Awards. Won the first Lena Horne Award for Career Achievement at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. Has twice been nominated for Tony Awards: in 1980, as Best Actress (Featured Role -Musical) for a revival of "West Side Story," and in 1986, as Best Actress (Musical) for playing the title character in a revival of Bob Fosse's "Sweet Charity." Received a Drama Desk Award in 1979. Her most notable role to date, that of "Lydia Grant" on the TV Series "Fame" (1982), earned her three Emmy Nominations and one Golden Globe. Founder of the Debbie Allen Dance Institute in Culver City, CA. Choreographed five Academy Award shows. Her father passed away ten days after he accompanied her to the Emmy Awards Ceremony in which she won for Best Choreography for "Fame" (1982). Authored children's books entitled, "Brothers of the Knight" and "Dancing in the Wings". Evotoo Ex-sister-in-law of Victor Willis and Ahmad Rashad. Her daughter Vivian is in the lead role of the Broadway musical "Hot Feet". Vivian was classically trained at Washington D.C.'s Kirov Academy of Ballet and at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Daughter Vivian Nixon followed in Debbie's footsteps by playing Debbie's "Anita" role in a 2006 revival of the musical Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story (1985) (TV). Debbie returned to her hometown of Houston to see her daughter perform. Her mother Dr Vivian Elizabeth Ayers attended Brainerd Institute, Barber Scotia College and Bennett College. Vivian was the first poet in the state of Texas to receive the Pulitzer Prize Award nomination in 1952. Vivian was often called the "Poet Laureate of Texas." In the late 50's, her poetry, "Hawk," attracted the attention of NASA and for twenty years was the only poetry celebrated by NASA. She worked as an apprentice librarian at the Fondren Library of Rice University and was accorded faculty status in 1965, becoming the first African American to be so qualified. During her years at Rice, she organized and published The Adept Quarterly, an important contribution to the small publications movement of the time. In 1972, her mom Vivian's work, "Workshops in Open Fields," was hailed and recommended to the nation as a "prototype of grass roots programming" by the director of NEA. Vivian established the Adept New American Museum--a museum for art and history of the American Southwest; which features "Juneteenth" Black Cowboys, American Indian Sand Painting, seminars on the Emancipation Proclamation and Mayan studies-- in Mt Vernon NY. She is known as a leader in the arts community in New York area. Mother of Norman Nixon Jr. (born 1987) and Vivian Nixon (born 1984). Read more Debbie Allen movies (actor)
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling [No links available]
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Jojo Dancer
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