Gus Giordano

Gus Giordano (July 10, 1923 – March 9, 2008 ), born August Thomas Giordano III, was an American jazz dancer, teacher, and choreographer.

He performed on Broadway and in theater and television.

Giordano taught jazz dance to thousands around the world.

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 acrg, "The Shoeshiner's Drag", thus introducing him to jazz music and dance.

After this trip, Giordano was hooked on dance.

He returned to St. Louis and studied with local dance teacher Minette Buchman, whom he credits for early dance training.

He also studied with vocal teachers and guest artists visiting his area.

He took classes in ballet and modern dance.

At this time, he did not take jazz classes, because jazz dance as a class did not exist.

He continued to dance through his childhood and spent summers in New York City training with Hanya Holm, Katherine Dunham, Peter Gennaro, and Alwin Nikolais.

He auditioned and 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 and at military bases around the country.

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, while 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, MO.

He founded the Gus Giordano Dance School in 1953, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in 1963, created the First American Jazz Dance World Congress in 1990 and is the author of Anthology of American Jazz Dance (1975).

He taught at institutions around the world including American Ballet Theatre, The American University of Paris, Duke University, Joffrey Ballet, and New York University.

Giordano was one of the founders of theatrical or Broadway jazz dance styles, not to be confused with African American vernacular jazz styles that he drew upon.

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.

He was the first to put dance on television by teaching a 15-minute series called JAZZ DANCE on WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago.

He helped produce, choreograph and performed in several award-winning shows on PBS, including Requiem for a Slave, Michelangelo – A Portrait in Dance, The Rehearsal and Chic Chicago for WGN.

Towards the end of his life, Gus Giordano Dance School resided in Chicago, where he always dreamed his school would be one day.

Giordano's technique was based in modern, learned from his teacher Katherine Dunham.

His class begins with strong floor work gained from another of his teachers, Hanya Holm.

He emphasizes strength from the start of class.

He adds his own "undulating movement that emanated from the pelvis and rolled through the chest and arms."

In the mid-1970s, he compiled his teachings and techniques into Anthology of American Jazz Dance, which includes over 250 technical pages detailing Giordano technique.

In 1992, Giordano published Jazz Dance Class: Beginning Thru Advanced, an illustrated guide to American theatrical jazz dance for students and teachers alike.

Giordano’s wife died from a heart attack on May 10, 1993.

Giordano died on March 9, 2008, of pneumonia at the age of 84.

He had four children.

Giordano appeared on Broadway in Joshua Logan’s Wish You Were Here.

He also performed in Paint Your Wagon, On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Brigadoon, Pajama Game and several television variety shows, such as The Perry Como Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, Martin & Lewis and The Colgate Comedy Hour.

He enjoyed the work but did not find it fulfilling.

Giordano was offered a job at The Film Council of America in Evanston, IL.

He accepted the position and moved from New York to the Chicago area.