By Steve Sucato

The Joffrey Ballet, co-founded in 1956 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, is proudly described on the company website as “America’s Company of Firsts.” It was the first dance company to appear on American television, the first to grace the cover of Time magazine, the first to perform at the White House, and the first classical dance company to use multimedia and a rock music score (Joffrey’s Astarte, to music by Crome Syrcus). 

Over his 50 years with Joffrey Ballet, Arpino was key to shaping the company that he would eventually lead, in 1988, after Joffrey’s death. He continued as artistic director until 2007, a year before his own death in 2008. 

Born in Staten Island, New York, in 1923, Arpino studied ballet with Mary Ann Wells in Seattle, Washington, and later modern dance with May O’Donnell, performing in her New York-based company in the 1950s. He was a leading dancer in the Joffrey Ballet until 1963, and, as resident choreographer, created nearly 50 ballets, more than a third of the company’s repertoire.

Facing mounting debt in excess of $1.6 million, in 1995 Arpino moved the company from New York to Chicago. Arpino said of the move: “My ties to Chicago are strong and deep. It was on the strength of the [Chicago critics’] glowing reviews that the fledgling troupe was able … to continue as a company.” Joffrey Ballet has been under the leadership of former company dancer Ashley Wheater since 2007.

The Gerald Arpino Foundation, founded to preserve and promote the choreography of both Joffrey and Arpino, initiated a multi-year (2022-2024) celebration to honour Arpino’s life and works, offering lectures, masterclasses, and setting Arpino ballets on several American dance companies and university dance program students, including at Brigham Young University Theatre Ballet and Chicago Academy for the Arts. The celebrations continue September 23-24 in Chicago with a mixed bill of Arpino’s ballets.

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Photos courtesy of The Gerald Arpino Foundation