Gerald Arpino (January 14, 1923 – October 29, 2008 ^[1]) was an American dancer and choreographer. He was the artistic director and co-founder of The Joffrey Ballet.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Partial choreography 3 References 3.1 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in Staten Island, New York, Gerald Arpino studied ballet with Mary Ann Wells, while stationed with the Coast Guard in Seattle, Washington. Arpino first met Robert Joffrey at Wells's school. He studied modern dance with May O'Donnell in whose company he appeared in the 1950s ^[2].

In 1956, Arpino was a founding member of the Robert Joffrey Ballet with Robert Joffrey. He served as co-director of the American Ballet Center, the school of the Robert Joffrey Ballet, was resident choreographer for the company ^[3], and, in 1965, became co-director of the Joffrey Ballet.

After the death of Robert Joffrey in 1988, Arpino became the Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet and in 1995 moved the company to Chicago. In July 2007, he was named "Artistic Director Emeritus" as a search for a successor began. Arpino suffered an illness for seven months and eventually died on October 29, 2008.

[edit] Partial choreography

Partita for Four (1961) Ropes (1961) Incubus (1962) Music by Anton Webern Sea Shadow (1963) Music by Michael Colgrass Palace (1963) Viva Vivaldi! (1965) Music by Antonio Vivaldi Olympics (1966) Music by Toshiro Mayuzumi Nightwings (1966) Music by John LaMontaine The Clowns (1968) Music by Hershy Kay Secret Places (1968) Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Trinity (1969) Music by Alan Raph and Lee Holdridge Confetti (1970) Music by Gioachino Rossini Reflections (1971) Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Valentine (1971) Music by Jacob Druckman Kettentanz (1971) Music by Johann Strauss and Johann Simon Mayer Chabriesque (1972) Music by Emmanuel Chabrier Sacred Grove on Mount Tamalpais (1972) Music by Alan Raph The Relativity of Icarus (1974) Drums, Dreams and Banjos (1975) Music by Stephen Foster Orpheus Times Light (1976) Suite Saint-Saëns (1978) Music by Camille Saint-Saëns Celebration (1980) Music by Dmitri Shostakovich Light Rain (1981) Music by Douglas Adams and Russ Gauthier Round of Angels (1983) Music by Gustav Mahler I/DNA (2003) Music by Charles Ives Ruth: Ricordi Per Due (2004) Music by Tomaso Albinoni

[edit] References

• Balanchine, George. Balanchine's Complete Stories of the Great Ballets. (Doubleday, 1977) ISBN 0-385-11381-1
• Chujoy, Anatole. The Dance Encyclopedia. (Simon and Schuster, 1967) ISBN 0-671-24027-7
• Doeser, Linda. Ballet and Dance: The World's Major Companies, 1977. ISBN 0-312-06599-X

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Joffrey Ballet Website
• Associated Press obituary in the NY Times, October 29, 2008