Joffrey, Robert

Joffrey, Robert (b. Abdullah Jaffa Anver Bey Kahn)

(1930–88) dancer, choreographer, teacher, artistic director; born in Seattle, Wash. Of Afghan descent, he trained at the High School of Performing Arts, New York City, and the School of American Ballet, and made his debut in 1949. He taught dance and choreographed ballets before forming his first company in 1954. The City Center Joffrey Ballet, which he founded in 1965, revitalized ballet with multimedia works such as Astarte (1967), and became a major force in the world of dance.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.