Anawalt its true that his works took a beating. Dance critics needed to make sure that people understood Gerald Arpino is a brated choreographer and George Balanchine is a. Woman what gerry arpino did was he took the classical vocabulary and he then stretched it in a way which was very american and very modern, to be more exaggerated to be faster to be more dynamic. It was really trying to find a way to hold onto that tradition of classical ballet but to give it that modern american sensibility. Kisselgoff the thing is that, he choreographed for the moment. He was of his time. Some works died very soon, but some did not. Weiss gerry was an eclectic choreographer. He didnt really have one style. At that time, ballet was the conservatory and i think by breaking out of that, he probably threatened some people, and also, frankly, there were moments when he went overboard. Mckenzie i always had a love hate relationship with gerry in the studio. In retrospect, he broke down a holierthanthou approach to ballet that i had. He said, come on, baby, you cant be precious about this. Youve just got to get down, get physical, you know. And i wasnt particularly amused by being challenged in that way. Chryst gerry would say, gimme this, babe. And he would throw something in the air, and youd. Kind of, okay, how about this . Thats it man he wanted a thousand percent every second and i did leave arpino rehearsals with soakingwet shoes soakingwet, making tracks on the floors. Narrator by 1986, Robert Joffrey was planning several ambitious works for his repertoire including a restaging of another diaghilev classic, nijinskys le sacre du printemps. He also continued to bring in new contemporary choreographers, like laura dean. At the same time, though joffrey was confronting a new challenge beyond his control an illness he was desperate to conceal. Watts rob was always rallying during his illness and always fighting back. And always very eager not to get sicker. And it was not being spoken of as a. I. D. S. I knew it was. We were in the middle of the epidemic of a. I. D. S. Many of the dancers from the joffrey ballet had died of it earlier. Consoer i dont think bob wanted people to know he had a. I. D. S. And the hospital, obviously, cooperated. And the newspapers also. In those days, i guess you didnt talk about it so much. Migdoll if youre a close friend or family member, you never accept that death will finally come. That somehow some miraculous way, somethings going to turn around. Man and we were really happy in l. A. When mr. Joffrey came to the premiere of le sacre du printemps. He was very spry. He seemed so well. And we were like oh, hes getting better. This is great, this is great. And then that christmas we premiered nutcracker and he was very ill. And it was just difficult. I went to see him, he was in the hospital. And to me, what i hated was that little room. Bobs apartment was so rich. It had all those paintings those books, those records. And there he was in that little room, cold. And he didnt look very good i must say and i knew that i was saying goodbye to him. Arthur my husband and i went to new york to visit him, and that was just after the new years. And it was hard. Its still hard. Sorry. And he wasnt good. And, uh. The passing was rough. Um. I bent over. Oh, god. And i kissed him, and obviously i must have looked like this. And he said, dont cry, im fine. I said, im not crying. So i kissed him and left. He was not the only one, the only gay friend i said goodbye to. So that was the end of bob for me. Except, in a way it never really is. Man no more parents. He was my artistic parent. It was sad to lose your dad. It was very sad. I think it was even sadder the whole. Duplicity. He died of a. I. D. S. , and by then, wed all lost friends because of a. I. D. S. , so we were kind of like scratching our heads why are we getting this song and dance . Arpino when bob passed away a voice that i had worked with for so long and then suddenly not to have his presence there i became aware of myself more and what my mission was. Migdoll it was so hard for gerry because gerry was doing everything that bob used to do but by himself. He was touring with the company. Keeping it alive keeping it funded. Keeping the Board Members apprised. But there was a serious concern on the part of the board as to whether or not the company could flourish without Robert Joffrey. Anawalt for him to be told that he was not wanted as the director of the company was completely senseless on the part of those who were saying it. Watts we had a very long lunch. And gerry said he was being embattled. And i said, gerry its not worth the battle. Its not worth all of that acrimony, and i was trying to encourage him to walk away from such ugliness. Anawalt had he not been part of the company at that point, there is no way on gods good green earth it could have gone forward not as the joffrey. But fortunately gerry had a good section of the board that was on his team. Once it became a public issue in the press gerry wound up in charge. Anawalt but when he assumed the role of artistic director, the reconstructions suffered. And the Company Began to lean a lot on the arpino ballets because thats what they owned and thats what they owned the rights to, so the company changed. Woman i first met mr. Arpino when i was in joffrey ii and i had been dancing the nutcracker. We sort of filled in for different parts that they needed, for bigger ballets. And he saw me and gave me this look and he said, good, baby, youre a good dancer. And i was in awe thank you, thank you. Then he said, but try and lose a little weight if you can. For the joffrey at that time most of our work was touring. And its very hard to fund a company that you never get to see. We rarely performed in new york anymore. That was a very difficult time for everybody. Woman there were times where we waived paychecks or let them come in late. All sorts of instances to be able to support mr. Arpino. Because we really believed i mean, he was dad, you know it was our family. We didnt want anything to happen. We wanted to do everything we could to keep it moving forward, and keep it growing. Narrator the companys financial woes resulted from the drastic decline in federal arts funding, compounded by the high cost of Robert Joffreys elaborate restaging of le sacre du printemps and the nutcracker. But in this dark hour, gerry arpino turned a chance meeting into financial salvation. Man he was at a function in los angeles with a longtime joffrey supporter, patricia kennedy, who introduced him to prince. Arpino the night we met he had never been to a ballet i asked him, prince, uh. Are you enjoying yourself . And he said, mr. Arpino im inspired. And so the seed was planted. Man prince offered gerry the use of all of his music royaltyfree. So gerry put together a full evening work. He chose four different choreographers that he felt were new and of the scene. Yeah, yeah trust who do ya . Trust what makes you a real lover . Trust migdoll billboards kept the company alive. It was a very contemporary piece. It was kind of brassy and out there. Woman it didnt appeal to everybody in the company, but we knew that this was what was keeping our jobs that this was going to create a future. [ applause ] weiss i was very critical of billboards. I thought it was really secondrate. I thought it was kitschy. I thought it took really amazingly trained dancers and, you know, made them shake that thing. Woman maybe the critics had an issue with it but every single place we went there was a standing ovation. People dug it. Man i remember minneapolis, minnesota. For the last 20 minutes of the show, the audience just kept going ooohoooh, ooohoooh and they were dancing and jumping up and down with us. It was like being a rock star. Woman and that was an amazing experience, to feel that from the stage, when the curtain would come in and youd hear that audience just screaming. It was certainly not something youre used to hearing as a ballet dancer. Man it felt more like doing a broadway show. The management of the company decided that since they had this cash cow they could just keep running it, and we got away from the vision, and that turns away some of your funders because they see you as sort of a onehit pony. But it certainly allowed the company to continue at a time when the company desperately needed something to keep it going. Robertson it delayed the demise of the company, i would say, rather than save it. Because those Financial Issues didnt get resolved during the time that all of that cash was coming in. Woman there was so much in new york. Fighting for a few inches in a newspaper was a really difficult thing. Woman i would have conversations with gerry and at that time he was angry, he was grieving, he was in denial about the Company Really collapsing and the fact that we might have to move. And there was a Transition Committee created by some of the key Board Members to figure out how to move the joffrey to chicago. I think gerry arpino resisted at first. I dont know if he trusted that the company would really start up again. We formed a chicago notforprofit corporation. We said to what was left of the new york organization, we will take them. And in 95, we moved them to chicago. Woman i think it was such a bold move, to say, we are going to take a company that had its roots and its identity in new york and it was going to move to a place, frankly, that was not a dance capital in any way shape or form. And they were going to really see if they could become an institution here. Goldweber the company when they got to chicago was a mess. I got there the day i arrived, they were in season. So i went to the theater and they didnt know the bows of what they were doing that night and people were running into each other onstage. You know, transitions are hard. So many dancers had left so there wasnt that unity of style. There were many, many dancers from all over, so we worked really hard to try and develop a unity of style to rebuild the classical technique of the company to a level where then the company could go off and do anything it wanted to just like what the company was at its greatest times. Woman so it was an issue of putting billboards to bed and focusing back into the heart and soul of what the joffrey was the arpino works the joffrey works, the timeless classics like the green table, and whatever new works we had already made commitments to. Just keep your attitude a little higher. Sklute i think it wasnt until the move to chicago that Gerald Arpino really became artistic director of the joffrey ballet in his own right. You know, because with the move to chicago it stopped being Robert Joffreys company and it became Gerald Arpinos company. Man mr. Arpino hadnt dabbled in a choreography in a long time. And i was home in texas, and then he calls. He says, can you come back to chicago so you could work with maia . Because im going to start to choreograph a pas de deux. I was like, great. We need to do some work. Arpino with me, its a collaboration. You work through movement, and its that relationship between the artist and the choreographer that developed the art form, which is the important aspect of why youre there, working together. Woman i think mr. Arpinos been a huge influence on me as an artist to realize that its using ones technique as a medium for expression which all art is about. Its kind of to reflect our world back and to view it. To escape to some other place or to look at your life and kind of bring new perspectives. Shives its a powerful piece, one of his masterpieces. I dont know if he knew it was going to be his last work. Nobody knew. Sagan the slowdown was enormously painful. This was an energetic personality. Lively. Always there. Always with you. And then he began to suffer from the things which eventually took him from us. And that was very hard. Narrator as gerry arpinos health began declining the joffrey board started a National Search for his successor. In september 2007, they selected former joffrey dancer ashley wheater. 1, 2, 3, 4. Guys, just take two steps 1 and 2 and down and go. I worked with Gerald Arpino in australia when i was with the australian ballet. And gerry said, you know, if you ever want to come to new york bob joffrey would really like you. And i took him up on it, so i met mr. Joffrey, and hed said we want you to join the company. Man one of the things thats so tremendous about ashley is that he is aware like Robert Joffrey, actually of whats going on in the Dance Community worldwide. He travels constantly. He talks to people. Just come to where you were. Narrator in 2008, after years of fundraising by the board, the First Permanent home in the companys history joffrey tower, opened with great fanfare. It would only be fitting if this studio was named for one of the most important people. This studio is the Gerald Arpino studio. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you very much. Narrator but sadly, just a month after the joffrey tower opening, gerry arpino died after a long illness. He was 85. I miss his bravos up in the box, you know. He was always there bravo every performance, every performance. Goldweber and the first time i saw him, he was putting his fingers to his mouth and running behind a curtain to whistle because he was the biggest cheerleader and he wanted the audience riled up. [ applause ] Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino shaped my life. I mean, i was 18 when i came here. I just feel like they were in a way, almost parents to me. Without them, i wouldnt be the teacher that i am today. Watts they gave me an atmosphere where i felt safe and where i felt cared for and loved. They believed in me. And its something that i treasure for the rest of my life. My great gift was having my life intersect with theirs when i was 17. Tomasson i can honestly say those years that are spent with joffrey he was sort of opening the door to contemporary choreographers modern dance choreographers. That has influenced me tremendously as an artistic director. I will always be grateful to bob for that. Gurinpaul they believed so much in the art form. And they loved it with such a passion that nothing was going to stand in their way, and i think thats part of being a maverick youve got to have guts, youve got to have the grit they had grit. Sklute the joffrey ballet did more than just produce dance. I think you can see, across the country and across the world the amount of directors and choreographers and dancers that have all come from the joffrey ballet. Weiss you know, the joffrey really is still in the making. Its still reinventing itself. Its still creating a new image for itself. Sagan the joffrey today is in a terrific place. They have stability, they have a real home and the opportunity to grow in new work in the ballet field is right there waiting. Arpino bob had an american dream. Ive been involved from the very beginning. And even before the beginning. Even before the beginning. [ applause ] one tremendous thing about pbs is that it makes art accessible by putting it on a platform where millions of people can access it for free. And we need it. We need music, we need dance we need great theater for our soul for joy in our lives. A lot of people flip on pbs and hear or see something that wakes up that integral part of being a human being which is enjoying the arts of other human beings. So im grateful for pbs as an artist and as a viewer. Whos produced over a quartercentury of the most entertaining and compelling portraits of the artists who shaped and defined the course of American Culture . I want to be he wants to be i want to be he wants to be i want to be the greatest grandest and most fabulous producer in the world you guessed it american masters. He wants to dine with a duchess and a duke do i get any money for this . I just gotta be a producer to learn more about the joffrey ballet and other american masters visit pbs. Org americanmasters or find us on facebook. Joffrey mavericks of American Dance is available on dvd for 24. 99. To order, call 18003361917 american masters is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the arts. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Additional funding for american masters provided by. Additional support for this program is provided by. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Be more. Pbs. And the wind will fill my sails. Still far away bates you never doubted. From where i belong anna no but its always darkest thomas im warning you. Before the dawn mary dont you see what this means . I know mary youre not on our side no matter what it takes im coming home martha downton still stands and the crawleys are still in it. Tell the world im coming. Im coming home im coming home tell the world im coming home mary come and see what weve done. My kingdom awaits and theyve forgiven my mistakes im coming home matthew i need to kiss you. Very much. Tell the world im coming home the critics love call the midwife pbs could have another Downton Abbey on its hands. Beautiful little girl. And watch for season two of call the midwife coming in march only on pbs [ opening music ] for this First Programme in the new series of the antiques roadshow, weve come to portsmouth britains principal naval base for more than 500 years. And, of course, its been the scene of homecoming for generations of sailors. The image of the sailor coming home from the sea is a very potent and a very powerful one. In the age of sail, the women of portsmouth would come down here to the harbour mouth, never knowing when the ships of their husbands or lovers would return; they might wait for a week, a month, a year, and sometimes, of course, their men never came back. Portsmouths great Maritime Heritage is now preserved within the Historic Dockyard the finest collection of ships and naval memorabilia anywhere in the world. The tudor warship, mary rose was salvaged in 1982 and now faces a 20year restoration program. Next to her is nelsons famous flagship, hms victory the lasting memorial of nelsons own victory at trafalgar more than 50 years before this other great ship was built. Hms warrior was launched in 1860 and revolutio