Gennaro, Peter

Peter Gennaro, dancer, dance teacher and choreographer, was born November 23, 1919 in Louisiana. He was an acclaimed choreographer for Broadway and television shows, and an accomplished dancer and teacher whose contribution in the early development of jazz dance was significant.

Gennaro showed promise as a dancer since childhood, winning his first dance award at the age of four. Growing up, he studied dance with local teachers until his military service during World War II. During that time he was stationed in India and was recruited into an entertainment unit, where he performed for the troops as a dancer.

After his release from the army he moved to New York City. He studied at the American Theater Wing and the Katherine Dunham School. In 1947 he joined the San Carlo Opera Company, and in the following year he got his first Broadway job as a member in the chorus of Make Mine Manhattan . In the following years he earned dancing roles in shows such as Subway Circuit (1949), Guys and Dolls (1950), and Arms and the Girls (1950). In 1954 he gained public attention as one of the three dancers in Bob Fosse’s number “Steam Heat” in the Broadway production of Pajama Game, and then again in 1956 with the “Mu Cha Cha” number with Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing .

At around the same time he gave dance lessons to other professional performers, introducing them to his distinctive dancing style. Gennaro’s professional choreographing began in 1955 with the musical Seventh Heaven . In the next year, he choreographed with Jerome Robbins the musical West Side Story . Gennaro was responsible for part of the “America” and the “Sharks’ Dance at the Gym” numbers. He was also choreographer for the 1964 motion picture The Unsinkable Molly Brown .

Gennaro’s most notable work on Broadway was undoubtedly Annie (1977), for which he won a Tony award as best choreographer. Gennaro was nominated for the same award on four more productions: Fiorello! (1960), Bajour (1965), Irene (1973) and Little Me (1982).

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Gennaro became a popular household name as dancer and choreographer through numerous television appearances. He and his Peter Gennaro Dancers appeared on episodes of several shows, such as The Perry Como Show, The Judy Garland Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Bing Crosby Show . Among his most notable cabaret appearances were the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, and in Al Hirt’s Salute to New Orleans . Between 1974-1980 Gennaro staged the shows at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, in which he also choreographed for The Rockettes.

Gennaro married Jean Kinsella (maiden name Sabella) in 1948, whom he met when they were both dancers with the San Carlo Opera Company. They had two children, Michael, and Lisa, a dancer and choreographer herself. Gennaro died on September 28, 2000 in New York City.