Gerald Arpino

Gerald Arpino (born January 14,1928 - died October 29,2008) was an American dancer and choreographer. He was the artistic director and co-founder of The Joffrey Ballet.

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.

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, 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. In 1995, Arpino moved the company to Chicago.

In July 2007, Arpino was named "Artistic Director Emeritus" as a search for a successor began[1]. Arpino had suffered a long illness for 7 months and he eventually passed away on October 29, 2008.

• 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 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 Mozart
• Trinity (1969) Music by Alan Raph and Lee Holdridge
• Confetti (1970) Music by Rossini
• Reflections (1971) Music by 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 Saint-Saëns
• Celebration (1980) Music by Shostakovich
• Light Rain (1981) Music by Douglas Adams and Russ Gauthier
• Round of Angels (1983) Music by Mahler
• Ruth: Ricordi Per Due (2004) Music by Albinoni

• 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

• Joffrey Ballet

• Joffrey Ballet Website