Le Bal Pas de Deesses Workout |
Robert Joffrey began studying tap dancing but soon turned to ballet with Mary Ann Wells, at whose school in Seattle he met Gerald Arpino, who would one day became his company's codirector. After moving to New York City in 1948 and studying with
Alexandra Fedorova and at the School of American Ballet, Joffrey joined Roland Petit's Ballets de Paris during the company's 1949 season in New York City. In 1953 Joffrey opened a school, the American Ballet Center, and by then had already created his first major ballet, Persephone.
Joffrey formed his first small
company, the Robert Joffrey Ballet
Concert, in 1954, and in 1956 he
formed the Robert Joffrey Ballet with
Arpino as chief choreographer. In
1966 the company became the City
Center Joffrey Ballet and thereafter
grew to international fame. Its name
was later changed to simply the
Joffrey Ballet. By the time of Joffrey's
death his company was performing
annually in Los Angeles as well as in
New York City. In 1995 Arpino
moved the company to Chicago and
renamed it the Joffrey Ballet of
Chicago.
Robert Joffery died in 1988. |
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