In 1956, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino gathered four other dancers. They began touring the United States in an old station wagon, pulling a U-Haul trailer filled with costumes and
recorded music. While other touring troupes of the time presented reduced versions of ballet classics, Joffrey and Arpino’s burgeoning company visited 23 cities for one-night-only shows featuring Joffrey’s original ballets.
Joffrey and Arpino were interested in establishing a uniquely American company and dance style—an alternative to the European traditions of old—a first of its kind. Particularly progressive for the time, their company featured dancers of different skin colors and body types—a vision that continues today. Going further against the grain, Robert Joffrey also developed an “all-star, no-star” system, displacing the typical seniority-based hierarchy of traditional ballet companies.
At the Joffrey, from the 1950s to the present, a dancer might be a lead soloist during a matinee and, in the evening, an ensemble member, keeping the group dynamic and democratic. The Joffrey Ballet would ultimately become known as “America’s Company of Firsts” in several ways: as the first ballet company to appear on television and the cover of TIME Magazine, as the first ballet company to utilize multi-media and different musical forms, and as the first ballet company to perform at The White House for President John F. Kennedy and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia at the invitation of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The young company was also the first to set ballet to rock music, beginning with Robert Joffrey’s Astarte in 1967 and then with Billboards, which was set to the music of Prince in the early 1990s.
As the company established itself, a home base became necessary. The Joffrey Ballet first took up residence in New York in 1966 but continued to travel around the country. During the 1980s, they divided their time between New York and Los Angeles. Eventually, they found their permanent home in Chicago in 1995—a city that has embraced the company, supporting them on their journey to becoming the leading performing arts organization in the city.
In 2007, Ashley Wheater MBE became only the third person named Joffrey’s Artistic Director, after the company’s founders, Joffrey and Arpino. Wheater immediately reimagined what a ballet and dance company could look like in the 21st century. Since returning to the Joffrey, after having been a dancer with the company years prior, Wheater has focused on fostering new talent in The Joffrey Ballet’s diverse ensemble of more than 40 artists from 15 countries, including Brazil, South Korea, Italy, Estonia, and Spain, among many others.
Wheater has brought in fresh choreographic voices, exposing the company and its audiences to expansive ideas about the ballet art form while helping secure the ballet’s overall reputation and financial security. He has also deepened the company’s connection to its hometown of Chicago while continuing the tradition of touring, bringing the Joffrey to new places and audiences worldwide.
At Ballet Sun Valley’s 2024 Summer Festival, The Joffrey Ballet, “America’s Company of Firsts,” finds itself in “America’s First Destination Ski Resort” and home of the country’s first ski lift. Wheater’s continuation of his predecessors’ daring and eclectic repertoires has finally made its way, for the first time, to Sun Valley.
