L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY T h i s s p r i n g , a s Seattle and the world comes to a halt in the battle against the coro- navirus, every act of kind- ness, every moment of beau- ty, becomes more important than ever. Art museums may be shuttered, concerts may be postponed and theater performances delayed, but communities are coming together in new and cre- ative ways to share comfort and joy. Music has always been a way to lighten the spirit, and Seattle has been the home of many gifted artists. One of t h e s e S e a t t l e n a t i v e s w a s Robert Joffrey, founder of the Joffrey Ballet. A dancer, teacher, choreographer and artistic director, Joffrey is known for bringing a dis- tinctly American approach to dance. Robert Joffrey was born around 1930; the exact year is unknown. His father was Afghani and his mother was Italian, and at his birth he w a s g i v e n t h e n a m e o f Abdullah Jaffa Bey Khan. His family owned a group of r e s t a u r a n t s i n S e a t t l e , i n c l u d i n g o n e o n B o r e n S t r e e t c a l l e d t h e I t a l i a n Tavern. His mother, Maria, was born in Lucca where she trained as a concert violinist a n d a n u r s e . A s t h e o n l y child of immigrants, Robert grew up believing that, with sacrifice and hard work, the American dream was within his grasp. A s a c h i l d , J o f f r e y w a s small and sickly. Even fully grown, he was only 5'4". His feet turned in and he had to wear heavy casts as a young- ster. He had a host of respi- ratory allergies which trig- gered asthma attacks. His p a r e n t s e n r o l l e d h i m i n d a n c e c l a s s e s t o h e l p (luckily, there was a dance school right above the family restaurant). He loved every- t h i n g a b o u t d a n c e . S o m e evenings, he would perform in the restaurant for the cus- tomers, saving the tips he got to pay for more books about dance. When he was 10, he was cast as an extra in a produc- tion of Petrouchka, earning a 50-cent paycheck. For any- one else, it might have been just a lark, but for Joffrey the drama and thrill of perform- ing spoke to his soul. He decided that someday he would start his own ballet company. By the time he reached his mid-teens, he was done with high school a n d w i t h S e a t t l e . A l l h e wanted to do was move to N e w Y o r k a n d s t a r t h i s c a r e e r a s a p r o f e s s i o n a l dancer. His life changed when he m e t G e r a l d ( G e n n a r o ) Arpino. The youngest of nine children born into an Italian family, Arpino grew up on Staten Island and enlisted in t h e C o a s t G u a r d d u r i n g World War II. His military service took him to Seattle where his mother asked him to get in touch with her old friend Maria Joffrey. Thanks to that connection, the two y o u n g m e n m e t . J o f f r e y later admitted it was love at first sight. Arpino moved to Seattle in 1946, took up resi- dence with the Joffrey fami- ly, and began to study dance. Both men studied under Mary Ann Wells, a gifted t e a c h e r w h o i n f l u e n c e d many Northwest dancers. As a final graduation project, she asked Joffrey to produce a full evening of dance. He had to choose his own music, c r e a t e t h e c h o r e o g r a p h y , d e s i g n t h e c o s t u m e s a n d sets, rent the theater space and advertise the event. It w a s a h u g e s u c c e s s a n d earned him his first pub- lished review. The pair decided to move east and this time, they set- tled in with the Arpino fami- ly on Staten Island. In New York, Joffrey danced, chore- ographed and taught ballet, i n c l u d i n g a s t i n t a t Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. He opened his own ballet school in 1953, b u t t h e n d i s a s t e r s t r u c k . W h i l e p e r f o r m i n g a t t h e American Dance Festival, he tore a ligament in his calf a n d h a d t o c r a w l o f f t h e stage. His dance career was over. It was time to establish his own company. Both men were ambitious and envisioned a company unlike any other. They want- ed to use young, strong, ath- letic dancers who would per- form an eclectic repertory that freely mixed ballet with modern dance. The Robert Joffrey Theatre Ballet was founded in 1954 and for t h e n e x t s e v e r a l y e a r s , J o f f r e y t r a v e l e d b e t w e e n S e a t t l e , N e w Y o r k a n d L o n d o n . H e t a u g h t a t Seattle's Cornish School and c h o r e o g r a p h e d p e r f o r - mances for the Aqua Theatre a t G r e e n L a k e , i n c l u d i n g productions of Carousel and Oklahoma. As with most arts organi- zations, money was always tight and the Joffrey Ballet see-sawed between stellar accolades and near-bank- ruptcy. In 1956, six Joffrey dancers in a borrowed sta- tion wagon pulling a U-Haul filled with sets and costumes traveled from town to town, performing in high school gyms and community cen- ters. When the World's Fair opened in 1962 in Seattle, Joffrey's choreography of Aida inaugurated the new S e a t t l e O p e r a H o u s e . I n 1966, the troupe appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Despite problems, Joffrey remained upbeat. "For the choreographer," he said, "the last part of the 20 th century is a wonderful and exciting age to live in. Great possibili- ties lie ahead." His produc- tions were known for their experimental techniques and expansive cinematic lighting. The struggle for funding c o n t i n u e d . A t o n e p o i n t , Joffrey and Arpino lived in a storage room at the back of their school in New York, without a kitchen, bathroom or heat on the weekends. In 1979, Joffrey laid off more t h a n 3 0 d a n c e r s , w h i c h effectively canceled his sea- s o n i n N e w Y o r k a n d a European tour. Although a federal arts grant bought him a few months' reprieve, the l o s s o f s o m a n y v e t e r a n dancers was a serious set- back. In the mid-1980s, Joffrey contracted AIDS and died on March 25, 1988, at the age of 57. Arpino succeeded him as artistic director. He moved the Joffrey Ballet to Chicago in 1995 where it continues to bring a unique and inclusive perspective to dance. Arpino died in Chicago in 2008 at the age of 85. RITA CIPALLA Robert Joffrey: achieving the American dream through dance Born in Seattle to an Afghani father and Italian mother, Robert Joffrey was a gif- ted dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet (Erika Davidson) Robert Joffrey founded his own ballet school in New York in 1953; his tra- dition of excellence continues at the Joffrey Ballet Academy in Chicago (Cheryl Mann) Robert Joffrey and his partner Gerald Arpino teamed up to create an innovative dance company with a distinctly American aesthetic (Encyclo- pedia Britannica)

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