Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino’s uniquely American vision of dance first took form in 1956. The original company consisted of six dynamic and highly individual dancers. While Robert Joffrey stayed in New York to teach ballet classes and earn money to pay the dancers’ salaries, Gerald Arpino led the troupe as they crossed America’s heartland in a station wagon pulling a U-Haul trailer. Their repertoire of original ballets by Robert Joffrey set them apart from the other small touring companies of the time who often performed scaled-down versions of the classics. From the beginning Joffrey and Arpino wanted a company that came out of their roots, out of America.
The Joffrey Ballet’s inaugural performance occurred on the morning of October 2, 1956 at Frostberg State Teachers College in Maryland. The Joffrey’s first performance in a major city took place in Chicago in 1957 at the Eighth Street Theater. On the strength of that Chicago performance, The Joffrey began to transform itself from a fledgling company to one of the premier ballet companies in the world. The Joffrey has performed in over 400 U.S. cities and in all 50 states. International tours include Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Taiwan and Turkey. The Joffrey Ballet was the first American company to tour the former Soviet Union, and the first dance company to perform at the White House. The Joffrey also pioneered dance on television, inaugurating public television’s “Dance in America” series. In 2003, director Robert Altman made a feature film called “The Company,” based on The Joffrey Ballet.
Together, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino created a uniquely American company of dancers for whom they choreographed original and socially relevant ballets. They were the first to commission ballets by modern dance and contemporary choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, Laura Dean, William Forsythe, Mark Morris and Twyla Tharp. They amassed the largest repertoires in the U.S. of works by such choreographers as Sir Frederick Ashton, John Cranko and Leonide Massine. They also reconstructed “lost” ballets of the early 20th century, primarily from Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, including Nijinsky’s Le Sacre Du Printemps, Massine’s Parade, and Balanchine’s Cotillon. One of the most recognized names in dance, The Joffrey Ballet is known around the world for its repertoire of historical ballets as well as ground-breaking works, such as Billboards, a full-length work created to the rock music of Prince.
Originally established in New York in 1956, The Joffrey was the resident ballet company at City Center for many years. The Joffrey was also the resident ballet company of the Los Angeles Music Center from 1982 to 1992. Finally, in 1995, The Joffrey Ballet made Chicago its permanent home and is currently the resident ballet company of the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.
Gerald Arpino was born in Staten Island, New York, and received early
dance training in Seattle by Mary Ann Wells. He co-founded The Joffrey
Ballet with Robert Joffrey in 1956 and served as Associate Director for
many years. Upon Joffrey’s death in 1988, Arpino succeeded him as
Artistic Director. In 1995, he moved The Joffrey Ballet to Chicago.
A leading dancer with the company in its early years, Arpino
choreographed his first work for The Joffrey, Ropes, in 1961. Shortly
thereafter, he became The Joffrey’s resident choreographer and, to date
has created more than one-third of the company’s repertoire. His
amazingly diverse work ranges from social commentary to pure dance gems.
His ballets are in the repertoires of companies around the world.
Arpino is the first choreographer commissioned to create a ballet to
honor the Office of the American Presidency: The Pantages and the Palace
Present Two-A-Day. He was the first American commissioned by a city,
San Antonio, to do a ballet, Jamboree. In 1993, Arpino produced
America’s first full-evening rock ballet, Billboards, set to the music
of Prince. In addition, Arpino is the only choreographer to have had
four of his ballets performed at the White House.
Arpino serves on numerous boards and councils including the national
advisory council of the ITI/USA International Ballet Competition and the
board of the Dance Notation Bureau. He is a member of the Arts Advisory
Committee of the New York International Festival of the Arts. He serves
as an advisor to the Artists Committee for The Kennedy Center Honors. He
is a member of the Board of The Chicago Academy For The Arts. Among many
awards and tributes he holds honorary doctorates from The College of
Staten Island, City University of New York, and Wagner College. He was a
recipient of the 1974 Dance Magazine award and the Vaslav Nijinsky
Medal. He has been honored twice by the Chicago Tribune as one of the
“Chicagoans of the Year” for his important contribution to the arts in
Chicago and the world.
Robert Joffrey was born in Seattle, Washington in 1930 and
died in New York City in 1988. In 1956, he founded The
Joffrey Ballet-an ensemble of American dancers for whom he
choreographed, taught, commissioned original ballets, and
reconstructed rare classics. In the process, he built what
is now acknowledged to be one of the major international
dance companies, a company cited for its virtuosity and its
exciting, original repertoire.
Joffrey discovered and introduced innumerable modern dance
choreographers to ballet audiences. He was the first
American director to present the work of Denmark’s Auguste
Bournonville and he was especially noted for his meticulous
recreations of the legendary Diaghilev era ballets. He
invited great living ballet choreographers to revive some of
their “lost” masterworks and in the process, assembled one
the largest and most diverse repertoires in the world. His
own ballets indicate his varied interests, from the
classical Pas Des Déesses to the multimedia Astarte; the
romantic Remembrances to the evocative Postcards.
Joffrey was a master teacher with an eye for talent.
Although he gave up a promising career as a dancer to form
his company, he maintained his early interest in training
gifted students and young professionals through The Joffrey
Ballet School, which he established in 1953, and The Joffrey
Workshop in San Antonio, founded in 1977. Additionally, he
guest taught in festivals around the country.
Among his many dance affiliations, he was co-president with
Bolshoi Ballet director Yuri Grigorovich of the
International Dance Committee, International Theatre
Institute, one of three jurors of Denmark’s Hans Christian
Andersen Ballet Awards, a member of the National Council of
the Arts, and honorary chairman of the American
Choreographer Awards. His numerous awards and honors
included the Dance Magazine Award, the Capezio Award, New
York City’s Handel Medallion, Club 100’s Distinguished
Artist’s Award (L.A. Music Center), Dance Notation Bureau’s
Distinguished Service Award, and an honorary Ph.D. from
Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. In 2000,
he was inducted into The National Dance Museum.
Leslie B. Dunner is among the country’s most eminent
dance, operatic, and symphonic conductors. In September
2003, he was named music director and principal conductor
for The Joffrey Ballet. Prior to that appointment, he spent
five seasons as music director of the Annapolis Symphony
Orchestra. The New York City native has guest conducted for
American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and England’s
Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, as well as the New York
Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta,
Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Mexico City,
Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Seattle, and others.
Prior to directing at Annapolis, Dr. Dunner was principal
conductor at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, spent 11 seasons
in increasingly visible positions at the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra and was the first American prize winner of the
Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition. His
degrees include a Bachelor of Arts degree in clarinet
performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master’s
degree in music theory/musicology from Queens College, and a
Doctorate in orchestral conducting from the
College-Conservatory of Music at the University of
Cincinnati.