To honor the 100th birthday of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists, The Gerald Arpino Foundation announces a multi-year Centennial Celebration of the late choreographer’s life and works. Ballet companies and university dance programs around the country will perform Arpino’s works during the 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons. The culminating Chicago Centennial Celebration performances take place September 23 and 24, 2023 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive.
Gerald Arpino (1928–2008) was a visionary dancer and choreographer who, along with Robert Joffrey, created a ballet company and a body of work that has made a singular and enduring impact on American ballet. Throughout his 50-year career, Arpino created nearly 50 ballets for The Joffrey Ballet. From landmark works like Trinity and Round of Angels to Suite Saint-Saëns and Light Rain, Arpino was a masterful artist and entertainer whose work brought audiences to their feet time and again.
The Foundation is providing ballet companies nationwide with special licensing agreements to broaden and deepen the celebration at their home performance locations during the coming two seasons. The Foundation will offer lectures and workshops on Arpino’s life and work, in conjunction with some of the participating companies and universities. Among those participating to date are:
Ballet Arkansas (Arkansas)
Ballet West (Utah)
Brigham Young University (Utah)
Complexions Contemporary Ballet (New York)
Dayton Ballet (Ohio)
Diablo Ballet (California)
Eugene Ballet (Oregon)
Fort Wayne Ballet (Indiana)
Joffrey Academy of Dance (Illinois
The Joffrey Ballet (Illinois)
Kenneth Walker Dance Project (California)
Madison Ballet (Wisconsin)
New York Dance Project (New York)
Oklahoma City Ballet (Oklahoma)
Verb Ballets (Ohio)
Updates will be available on the Foundation’s website, arpinofoundation.org. All programming is subject to change.
The Gerald Arpino Foundation is committed to preserving and promoting the choreographic works of Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey while maintaining the integrity of their works through the highest level of artistic excellence. The Foundation allows qualified organizations the right to license Arpino’s and Joffrey’s choreographic works and offers repertory workshops, lectures, and master classes to teach a new generation of dancers the choreography and style of Joffrey and Arpino.
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