The Gerald Arpino Foundation Announces Eglevsky Ballet's Annual Student Workshop Performance

The Gerald Arpino Foundation announces Eglevsky Ballet's Annual Student Workshop Performance part of The Joffrey/Arpino Celebration Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 6:30pm The Madison Theatre at Molloy College

The Gerald Arpino Foundation announces Eglevsky Ballet's Annual Student Workshop Performance as part of The Joffrey/Arpino Celebration, with a performance of Gerald Arpino's Viva Vivaldi, on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 6:30pm at The Madison Theatre at Molloy College, 1000 Hempstead Ave, Rockville Center, NY. Tickets are $35 at the door.

The evening will include Viva Vivaldi (2nd Movement) by Gerald Arpino (staged by former Joffrey Ballet principal dancer Mauro Villaneuva), Giselle (2nd Act) staged by former ABT Principal and Tony Award nominee, Ashley Tuttle (Eglevsky Ballet's resident Guest Artist), and a world premiere by internationally renowned choreographer Elisabetta Spuria. Additional pieces by the resident faculty will be performed as well as excerpts from Executive Artistic Director Maurice Brandon Curry's recent production of Cinderella.

The mission of Eglevsky Ballet is to enrich the lives of its students and the community through the art and discipline of classical ballet. By preserving the rich history of our founding director, maintaining a professional company and school, Eglevsky ballet will bring a more profound performance experience to the cultural life of our region and beyond. Securing a place in the arts education of not only our students, but the education of those in undeserved or in-crisis surroundings, we broaden the base of service for our art, thereby making it more accessible. Eglevsky ballet desires to create an environment where students can thrive allowing for further development beyond the classroom. Additionally, our unparalleled professional faculty will be able to teach in an environment that is conducive to the rigors and demands of classical ballet. Professional dancers, regisseurs, educators, and choreographers are also encouraged and challenged to breathe life into new and existing repertoire.

Robert Joffrey was born in Seattle, Washington, and met Gerald Arpino, a Staten Island native, while he was stationed in Seattle with the Coast Guard. They studied dance with Mary Ann Wells, danced with Graham dancers May O'Donnell and Gertrude Shurr, and studied at the School of American Ballet. Joffrey also performed as a soloist with Roland Petit's Ballet de Paris.

In 1953 Joffrey and Arpino founded the American Ballet Center (Joffrey Ballet School) in Greenwich Village. In 1956, their first company, the Robert Joffrey Theatre Dancers, began with six dancers (including Arpino) in a station wagon travelling across America, inaugurating their unique brand of American ballet. Soon the Joffrey Ballet, with its cutting-edge repertory and meticulously reconstructed historical ballets such as Kurt Jooss' The Green Table and Leonide Massine's Parade, became a world-renown company. While restaging important 20th century works by Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, and others, both Joffrey and Arpino were also acclaimed and sometimes controversial choreographers (for example, Joffrey's Astarte and Arpino's Trinity). Taking risks with new commissions, the Joffrey continued to break barriers between high and popular culture, performed at the White House for several Presidents, and toured the world.

In 1988, Joffrey passed away and Arpino became Artistic Director, moving the company from New York City to Chicago in 1995. After establishing the company in its new home, Arpino created The Gerald Arpino Foundation to preserve his and Robert Joffrey's ballets and legacy. Since Arpino's passing in 2008, the Joffrey has been under the able leadership of Ashley Wheater, continuing to flourish as a beloved Chicago institution. www.arpinofoundation.org

The Gerald Arpino Foundation is committed to preserving and promoting the choreographic works of Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey while maintaining the integrity of the works through the highest level of artistic excellence.