Gus Giordano

Gus Giordano (July 10, 1923 – March 9, 2008) was an American jazz dancer, choreographer, dance educator, and Broadway performer. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Giordano was introduced to dance at the age of five during a visit to New Orleans, where a cousin taught him the Charleston step. Back in St. Louis, he studied with local teacher Minette Buchman and later pursued training in ballet and modern dance. During summers in New York City, he trained with Hanya Holm, Katherine Dunham, Peter Gennaro, and Alwin Nikolais. He was subsequently hired at the Roxy Theatre in New York, where he performed four shows daily.

During World War II, Giordano served in the United States Marine Corps, training as a bomber pilot and performing at the Hollywood Canteen. Following the war, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri, where he met Peg Thoelke. The two married on October 14, 1950, and had four children together. Peg Giordano died in 1993, and Gus Giordano died on March 9, 2008, of pneumonia at the age of 84.

Giordano appeared on Broadway in 1952 in Wish You Were Here. His work in theater extended beyond Broadway to include choreography for A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre for more than fifteen years, the Northwestern University Waa-Mu Show for over twenty-five years, and Hair. He also performed on television and produced televised dance programming on Chicago's WTTW Channel 11.

After taking a position at the Film Council of America in Evanston, Giordano began teaching dance in 1953 and founded the Gus Giordano Dance School that same year. In 1963, he established Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, a company later renamed in 2009 by his daughter Nan Giordano. The company performed at venues including the Harris Theater in Chicago. In 1990, Giordano founded the American Jazz Dance World Congress, which subsequently held events in Nagoya, Japan in 1995, Wiesbaden, Germany in 1997, and Monterrey, Mexico in 2001.

Giordano authored Anthology of American Jazz Dance in 1975 and published Jazz Dance Class: Beginning Thru Advanced in 1992. Among his awards, a 1980 production titled The Rehearsal received an Emmy, a PBS award, and the Ohio State award. Governor James R. Thompson declared April 25, 1985, Gus Giordano Day in Illinois, and Mayor Richard M. Daley declared October 13, 1989, Gus Giordano Day in Chicago. Additional honors included the 1991 Katherine Dunham Award for contributions to the arts, the 1993 Ruth Page Lifetime Service to the Field Award shared with Peg Giordano, a 1996 Scholar-in-Residence Award from the University of Missouri, and both the Heritage Award from the National Dance Association and the Chicago Senior Citizen of the Year Award from Mayor Daley in 2005.

In 2009, his daughter Amy produced the documentary Gus: An American Icon, narrated by Colleen Zenk and featuring interviews with colleagues and former students. The film received awards at the Canada International Film Festival and the 2010 Burbank International Film Festival.