[5] Joining the Joffrey Ballet, Holder remained with the company from 1966 to 1979,[8] becoming one of their most acclaimed principal dancers, performing as a soloist with choreographers including Kurt Jooss (who personally trained Holder for the lead role of "Death" in a revival of his 1932 anti-war ballet, The Green Table),[9][10][11][12] Leonid Massine, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, and Agnes De Mille.
[5][13] A New York Magazine review in 1971 typically commented: "...Christian Holder, lithe, tremendously powerful and totally individual, dominates the stage whenever he is given solo work to do.... Up the Joffrey!
[7][25] A recent project is writing the book and lyrics for a theatre piece called Verse of Fortune (in collaboration with Noa Ain)[26] inspired by the life and work of French poet Baudelaire.
[3][7] In April 2015 Holder made his debut as a singer in his one-man cabaret entitled "At Home and Abroad", with music direction by Philip Foster, playing a sold-out show at The Crazy Coqs in London's Piccadilly, where he performed his own compositions as well as songs by Cole Porter, Noël Coward, Stephen Sondheim, Peter Allen and Rodgers & Hart.
[27][28] A subsequent show in May 2016 at the same venue was entitled SUITE 60 and received a four-star review from BritishTheatre.com, where Douglas Mayo commented: "Holder succeeds in weaving a spell over his audience.
It’s a blend of live performance and multi-media, that is perfectly placed in the intimacy of a venue like Crazy Coqs....his ability to deliver truth and drama through song enables him to captivate an audience for nearly two hours and leave them wanting more.