Gus Giordano
Founder and Director of Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, author, legendary choreographer and one of the fathers of American jazz dance passed away quietly in Chicago on Sunday, March 9 from pneumonia. He was 84.
"Our father was a light for so many people in so many ways in Chicago," say Nan and Amy Giordano, daughters carrying on Giordano's legacy in the company and the school. "His vision, creativity and passion for jazz dance made a huge impact on dance communities, students and audiences in Chicago and throughout the world. All who knew him personally will deeply miss the elegance and warmth of his presence, but it is now our job to embrace the dreams he shared with his late wife Peg and carry them forward to new and higher levels."
Giordano was one of the originators of the stylistic innovation now known worldwide as jazz dance. One of Giordano's many accomplishments includes the creation of the Jazz Dance World Congress, an international convention that regularly brings together troupes from all over the world.
Giordano was born in St. Louis in 1923. At age 5, he was exposed to jazz music in New Orleans and became hooked on dancing. He eventually studied ballet and modern dance under modern legends, Hanya Holm, Katherine Dunham and Alwin Nikolais. Broadway also beckoned, so he moved to New York with his wife and performed in the Broadway musicals "Wish You Were Here," "Paint Your Wagon," "On the Town" as well as appearing on several television variety shows.
In 1953, Gus Giordano moved back to Chicago and opened his Evanston-based dance school where he taught and choreographed the Giordano technique. Giordano went on to write about it in his the highly acclaimed Anthology of American Jazz Dance., Released in 1975, it was the first book of its kind. He had started a dance troupe, Dance Incorporated Chicago that was later renamed Giordano Dance Company. Giordano organized the first Jazz Dance World Congress in August 1990. This event, co-sponsored by Northwestern University, assembled jazz dance greats such as Luigi, Matt Mattox, and Giordano and numerous jazz dance companies for a week of master classes and performances. Now an annual event, the Congress has been held at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at Northwestern University and University at Buffalo, in Phoenix, Chicago, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Costa Rica, and just this past August was staged for the third time in Chicago.
Over the years Giordano has been the recipient of countless awards, e.g., 1984 Dance Educators of America Award for his "outstanding contribution to the world of jazz dance," the 1988 Mayor's Award for the Arts (Evanston, Ill.), the 1989 Governor's Award for the Arts for exemplary individual artistic achievement, the 1991 Dance Teacher Now "Circle Award" for lifetime contributions to dance education, the 1993 Ruth Page Lifetime Service to the Field Award (presented to Gus and his late wife Peg), and many more too numerous to mention.
Giordano is survived by daughters Nan Giordano and Amy Giordano, sons Patrick and Marc Giordano and eight grandchildren.