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Eugene Louis "Luigi" Faccuito (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."〔''Luigi's Jazz Warm Up and Introduction to Jazz Style & Technique, a Dance Horizons Book'', Princeton Book Company, Publishers, by Luigi, Lorraine Person Kriegel and Francis J. Roach, 1997, page 6〕 It is also used for rehabilitation. This method became the world's first standard technique for teaching jazz and musical theater dance. Faccuito 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.〔Dance Spirit, December 2009, Luigi’s Legacy by Lauren Kay, page 60〕 His efforts paid off because he went on to have a successful dance career, and became a world-renowned jazz teacher.〔(Profile ), swingapore.com; accessed April 18, 2015.〕 ==Early life and career== Born in Steubenville, Ohio, Luigi is the eighth of eleven children of immigrant Italian parents, Nicola and Antoinette (Savoia) Faccuito. 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. Aged 13, he replaced the lead singer in the Bernie Davis Orchestra, a local twelve-man band that performed at weddings, school dances, and special events throughout the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia; the previous singer was Luigi's neighbor, Dean Martin.〔Francis J. Roach and Donna Gianell. ''Dance Pages, Volume 4, Number 1, Summer '86, Luigi – His Life and His Movies'', p. 26〕 He stayed with the band for close to five years. Aged 18, he was drafted into the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater – New Guinea and the Philippines - until the war’s end. After returning home at age twenty-one, he enrolled in college to become a lawyer, but his brother Tony pushed him to study in Hollywood under the G. I. Bill of Rights to pursue a film career. He moved to California, enrolled in his first ballet classes with Bronislava Nijinska, and studied other theatrical forms at Falcon Studios in Hollywood. Three months later, in 1946, tragedy struck in the form of a horrific car crash that left Luigi paralyzed on the right side of his body and left side of his face, and with crossed eyes and double vision. After awakening months later from a coma, he was told by doctors that he would never walk again. He said to himself, “I don't want to walk; I’m going to dance.” 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eugene Louis Faccuito」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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