Gus Giordano

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Gus Giordano (July 10, 1923 – March 9, 2008^[1][2]) was an American jazz dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He performed on Broadway, in theatre and television. He founded the Gus Giordano Dance School in 1953 and Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in 1963. He also created the First American Jazz Dance World Congress in 1990, and is the author of Anthology of American Jazz Dance (1975).

Giordano was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1923. At the age of five, he traveled to New Orleans, where his cousin taught him the Charleston dance step to the rag, "The Shoeshiner's Drag". After he returned to St. Louis, he studied with local dance teacher Minette Buchman, whom he credits for early dance training. He took classes in ballet and modern dance. He spent his summers in New York City training with Hanya Holm, Katherine Dunham, Peter Gennaro, and Alwin Nikolais. He was hired at the Roxy Theatre in New York, where he performed four shows a day.

During World War II, Giordano joined the Marines, where he was trained as a bomber. He was also a performer in shows at the Hollywood Canteen. He was stationed in China. After the war, Giordano returned to the University of Missouri to finish his Bachelor of Arts degree. Giordano met his wife, Peg Thoelke, in college. He was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Peg was in the Delta Gamma sorority. They married on October 14, 1950, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Giordano's wife died from a heart attack on May 10, 1993. Giordano himself died on March 9, 2008, of pneumonia at the age of 84. He had four children.

Giordano was offered a job at The Film Council of America in Evanston. He accepted the position and moved from New York to the Chicago area. He began teaching in one of the offices in the same building as The Film Council in 1953 and established Gus Giordano Dance School in 1953.^[3] He put dance on television on WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago. Towards the end of his life, Gus Giordano Dance School resided in Chicago.^[4]

In the mid-1970s, he wrote Anthology of American Jazz Dance,^[5] a book with over 250 technical pages detailing Giordano technique. In 1992, Giordano published Jazz Dance Class: Beginning Thru Advanced,^[6] an illustrated guide to American theatrical jazz dance.

Ten years after his studio opened, Ann Barzel (a dance critic) asked Giordano to perform with his classes for visiting Bolshoi Ballet dancers. He took his senior students and choreographed a number for them to perform. Shortly after this performance, Gus founded Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in 1963.^[3] Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago was renamed in 2009 to Giordano Dance Chicago by his daughter, Nan Giordano. It currently performs at Chicago's Harris Theater.^[7] Giordano founded the American Jazz Dance World Congress in 1990. Since its inception, congresses have been held at Wiesbaden, Germany (1997), Nagoya, Japan (1995), and Monterrey, Mexico (2001).^{[citation needed]}

Giordano's theater choreography credits include A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theater for over 15 years, Northwestern University's Waa-Mu Show for over 25 years, and Hair.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, Giordano's daughter, Amy Giordano, produced Gus: An American Icon, a documentary about Gus Giordano. Narrated by former Giordano student Colleen Zenk, the film includes interviews with Giordano's friends and collaborators. The film won prizes for Excellence at the Canada International Film Festival and for Best Documentary at the 2010 Burbank International Film Festival.^[8][9]

Giordano has been praised for establishing Broadway or theatrical jazz dance as an internationally recognized artistic medium.^[10][11]

• In 1980, Giordano's television show, The Rehearsal, won an Emmy, the PBS award and the Ohio State award.
• In 1991, Giordano received the "Circle of Dance Award" from Dance Teacher Now Magazine.
• In 1985, April 25 was declared Gus Giordano Day in the state of Illinois by Governor James R Thompson.
• In 1989, October 13 was declared Gus Giordano Day in the City of Chicago by Mayor Richard M Daley.
• In 1993, he received the Ruth Page Lifetime Service to the Field Award along with his wife, Peg Giordano.
• In 1996, he was "The Scholar-in-Residence" award from the University of Missouri.^[4]
• In 1991, he won the Katherine Dunham Award for "excellence and great contributions to the arts".
• In 2005, he received the Heritage Award from the National Dance Association and the Chicago Senior Citizen of the Year Award from Mayor Richard M Daley.

• Gus Giordano Dance School official website
• Giordano Dance Chicago official website
• IMDB Page for Gus: An American Icon
• Gus Giordano Papers at the Newberry Library