Gus Giordano (July 10, 1923 – March 9, 2008[1][2]) was an American jazz dancer, teacher, and choreographer.
At the age of five, he traveled to New Orleans, where his cousin taught him the Charleston dance step to the rag, "The Shoeshiner's Drag".
He spent his summers in New York City training with Hanya Holm, Katherine Dunham, Peter Gennaro, and Alwin Nikolais.
After the war, Giordano returned to the University of Missouri to finish his Bachelor of Arts degree.
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.
[4] In the mid-1970s, he wrote Anthology of American Jazz Dance,[5] a book with over 250 technical pages detailing Giordano technique.
Ten years after his studio opened, Ann Barzel (a dance critic) asked Giordano to perform with his classes for visiting Bolshoi Ballet dancers.
[8][9] Giordano has been praised for establishing Broadway or theatrical jazz dance as an internationally recognized artistic medium.