Joffrey, << JOF free, >> Robert (1928-1988), was an American ballet teacher and choreographer (creator of dances). Joffrey’s own ballets include Pas de Deesses (1954), Gamelan (1962), and Astarte (1967). Astarte was the first ballet danced to rock music and the first with a multimedia component. The company he created also performs ballet classics, such as Léonide Massine’s Le Beau Danube, Sir Frederick Ashton’s A Wedding Bouquet, and Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table, as well as such modern works as Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe.
Joffrey was born in Seattle on Dec. 24, 1928. His original name was Anver Bey Abdullah Jaffa Khan, but his family, who were Afghan American, changed his name to Robert Joffrey. He taught at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City from 1950 to 1955. Joffrey formed a school, the American Ballet Center, in 1953 and also taught there. He and the American dancer Gerald Arpino created the Robert Joffrey Ballet in 1956. In 1966, it was named the official ballet company of the New York City Center. It moved to Chicago in 1995. Joffrey died of AIDS on March 25, 1988.
See also Ballet (Ballet in the United States) .
