Louis Falco

Louis Falco, a native New Yorker born of southern Italian immigrants and raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side, achieved international acclaim as a modern dancer and choreographer. He was best known as an electrifying, charismatic performer and for the repertory he created for his own Louis Falco Dance Company. He also garnered acclaim for works commissioned by other world-renowned dance companies, perhaps most significantly for his choreography for the 1980 movie Fame. 

Highlights of Falco's 23-year professional dancing career included appearing as a featured dancer with the José Limón Dance Company 1960–70, hundreds of performances with his own legendary Louis Falco Dance Company, guest appearances dancing opposite Rudolph Nureyev in José Limón’s The Moor's Pavane on Broadway in 1974–75, and his farewell performance in his sweeping masterpiece The Eagle's Nest with Luciana Savignano at La Scala Opera House in Milan in 1980. 

In 1967, while still a dancer with the José Limón Dance Company, Falco presented his first full evening of works as Louis Falco and A Company of Featured Dancers at New York's 92nd Street YM-YWHA. By 1970, Falco had created a repertory including Argot, Huescape, Timewright, Caviar, and The Sleepers, which would eventually lead Clive Barnes of The New York Times to deem the Louis Falco Dance Company as "the most exciting new modern dance company to emerge during the last decade." Throughout its 15-year existence, the company—always comprised of dancers from diverse ethnic backgrounds—performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and touring to the Middle East, Asia, and Mexico. Falco created 21 pieces for his company and choreographed ballets for other dance companies worldwide. As his interest in film, television, and large-scale productions grew, he disbanded his company to devote his time to more commercial endeavors and freelance choreography. The Louis Falco Dance Company's final performance in New York City took place at the inauguration of The Joyce Theater on June 1,1982. 

Falco’s work was enhanced through collaborations with popular artists including William Katz, Stanley Landesman, Marisol, Robert Indiana, Andy Warhol, Burt Alcantara, Bobby Cole, Michael Kamen, David Sanborn, Giorgio Armani, and Michael Vollbracht. He was one of the few modern dance choreographers to make a successful leap from the concert stage to choreographing extensively for the music video and advertising industries. His work for MTV included "Kiss" for Prince, "Why Can't I Have You" for The Cars, and "Country Boy" for Ricky Scaggs. Falco spent the remaining years of his life writing and developing projects for film, television, and the stage, but his dream of becoming a film director and producer was cut short on March 26, 1993, by complications related to AIDS.