Eugene Louis Faccuito (Luigi)
| Eugene Louis Faccuito | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Eugene Louis Facciuto March 20, 1925 Steubenville, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | April 7, 2015 (aged 90) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, choreographer, dancer, director, teacher |
Eugene Louis "Luigi" Facciuto (March 20, 1925 – April 7, 2015) was an American jazz dancer, choreographer, teacher and innovator who is best known for creating a jazz exercise technique. The Luigi Warm Up Technique is an influential training program that promotes body alignment, balance, core strength, and "feeling from the inside." It is also used for rehabilitation. This method became the world's first standard technique for teaching jazz and musical theater dance.
Facciuto developed the technique, which consists of a series of ballet-based exercises, for his own rehabilitation after suffering paralyzing injuries in a car accident at the age of twenty one. Determined to dance again, he first learned to regain control of his body by what he uses as a cornerstone of his technique – namely, to “lengthen and stretch the body without strain," and “put the good side into the bad side.’’ He then focused on a way “to stabilize himself – as if he were pressing down on an invisible (dance) barre. His efforts paid off because he went on to have a successful dance career, and became a world-renowned jazz teacher.
Born in Steubenville, Ohio, Luigi is the eighth of eleven children of immigrant Italian parents, Nicola and Antoinette (Savoia) Facciuto. After his father died when he was five years old, Luigi's older brother Tony coached him to sing, dance and use his contortionist skills so that he could enter local talent contests to win prize money for the family. He was “a natural” performer and won many events. By the age of ten, Luigi had an agent who got him a job with entertainer Ted Lewis as the “shadow” in Lewis' famous number, "Me and My Shadow". The young boy continued on in talent competitions where he succeeded to even win the prestigious Major Bowes' The Original Amateur Hour in nearby Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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