Gerald Arpino
Encyclopedia
Gerald Arpino was an American dancer and choreographer. He was the artistic director and co-founder of The Joffrey 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 Theatre Ballet
with Robert Joffrey. He served as co-director of the company's school, the American Ballet Center, and was resident choreographer for the company. In 1965, he 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 from prostate cancer for seven months and eventually died on October 29, 2008.
Malcolm McDowell
plays a character loosely based on Arpino in the Robert Altman
film The Company, which had the participation of the Joffrey Ballet
.
Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
.
Life and career
Born in Staten Island, New York, Gerald Arpino studied balletBallet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
with Mary Ann Wells, while stationed with the Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. Arpino first met Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey was an American dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets...
at Wells's school. He studied modern dance
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
with May O'Donnell
May O'Donnell
May O'Donnell was an American modern dancer and choreographer.Born in Sacramento, California, May O'Donnell studied dance in San Francisco with Estelle Reed and performed in Reed's company before moving to New York City to study with Martha Graham...
in whose company he appeared in the 1950s.
In 1956, Arpino was a founding member of the Robert Joffrey Theatre Ballet
Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
with Robert Joffrey. He served as co-director of the company's school, the American Ballet Center, and was resident choreographer for the company. In 1965, he became co-director of the Joffrey Ballet.
After the death of Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey was an American dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, known for his highly imaginative modern ballets...
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 from prostate cancer for seven months and eventually died on October 29, 2008.
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula...
plays a character loosely based on Arpino in the Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
film The Company, which had the participation of the Joffrey Ballet
Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
.
Partial choreography
- Partita for Four (1961)
- Ropes (1961)
- Incubus (1962) Music by Anton WebernAnton WebernAnton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
- Sea Shadow (1963) Music by Michael ColgrassMichael ColgrassMichael Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician . He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Festival...
- Palace (1963)
- Viva Vivaldi! (1965) Music by Antonio VivaldiAntonio VivaldiAntonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
- Olympics (1966) Music by Toshiro MayuzumiToshiro MayuzumiToshiro Mayuzumi was a Japanese composer.-Biography:...
- Nightwings (1966) Music by John LaMontaine
- The Clowns (1968) Music by Hershy KayHershy KayHershy Kay was an American composer, arranger, and orchestrator. He is most noteworthy for the orchestrations of several Broadway shows, and for the ballets he arranged for George Balanchine's New York City Ballet....
- Secret Places (1968) Music by Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
- Trinity (1969) Music by Alan Raph and Lee HoldridgeLee HoldridgeLee Holdridge is a Haitian-born American television composer and orchestrator.-Biography:He was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of a Puerto-Rican mother and an American father, the botanist an climatologist Leslie Holdridge...
- Confetti (1970) Music by Gioachino Rossini
- Reflections (1971) Music by Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
- Valentine (1971) Music by Jacob DruckmanJacob DruckmanJacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
- Kettentanz (1971) Music by Johann StraussJohann Strauss IJohann Strauss I , born in Vienna, was an Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and for popularizing them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty...
and Johann Simon Mayer - Chabriesque (1972) Music by Emmanuel ChabrierEmmanuel ChabrierEmmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well...
- Sacred Grove on Mount Tamalpais (1972) Music by Alan Raph
- The Relativity of Icarus (1974)
- Drums, Dreams and Banjos (1975) Music by Stephen FosterStephen FosterStephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
- Orpheus Times Light (1976)
- Suite Saint-Saëns (1978) Music by Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
- Celebration (1980) Music by Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
- Light Rain (1981) Music by Douglas Adams and Russ Gauthier
- Round of Angels (1983) Music by Gustav MahlerGustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
- I/DNA (2003) Music by Charles IvesCharles IvesCharles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
- Ruth: Ricordi Per Due (2004) Music by Tomaso AlbinoniTomaso AlbinoniTomaso Giovanni Albinoni was an Italian Baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera composer, he is mainly remembered today for his instrumental music, such as the concertos, some of which are regularly recorded.-Biography:Born in Venice, Republic of Venice, to Antonio Albinoni, a...