Dancer, choreographer, and teacher Robert Joffrey (1930–1988) and his artistic director and dancer Gerald Arpino (1923–2008) founded the Robert Joffrey Ballet in the mid fifties, and it became resident at New York City Center in 1966. Joffrey, the “small, gentle, muscleman,” was born to an Afghan father and an Italian mother in Seattle, and Arpino, the “radical choreographer,” was born on Staten Island. This dual portrait was taken by Jack Robinson on December 9, 1968 and published by Vogue in a “People Are Talking About … feature”. After Joffrey’s death in 1988, Arpino took over the company, which, even after Arpino’s death in 2008, still flourishes after more than fifty years.