Guido Lauri

Guido Lauri (born November 23, 1922) is an Italian dancer, actor, choreographer, ballet master, company director.

Born in Rome, he entered the ballet school of then royal Rome Opera House at 6 years-old and in 1939, after a graduation with full marks, he joined the ballet company with the title of primo ballerino étoile.

A very handsome man, an eclectic artist, a danseur noble with hot-blooded temperament, he excelled in all the classics partnering famous ballerinas such as French Yvette Chauviré and Liane Daydée, French/Russian Ludmilla Tchérina and Italian Attilia Radice, often danced in neoclassical titles by Mikhail Fokin, Vaslav Nijinsky, Léonide Massine and created numerous roles for choreographer Aurel Milloss.

As a guest star, soon after the Second World War and during the 50s, he was very much in demand in Italy (La Scala in Milan, Teatro Regio in Turin, La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Massimo in Palermo) and abroad (Metropolitan Opera House in New York and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires as well as in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and Spain).

As a ballet master and choreographer, he directed the Rome Opera Ballet between 1965 and 1983 (collaborating with Erik Bruhn, Rudolf Nureyev, Roland Petit, Ninette De Valois, Pierre Lacotte) and, as a member of jury, he was invited by close friend Yuri Grigorovich in world-class dance competitions like those of Varna, Tokyo and Osaka.

He worked for theatre with Luchino Visconti, for television with Vittorio Gassman, for cinema with Bernardo Bertolucci and he was in Hollywood at the invitation of Margarete Wallmann. Some of most talented artists of the time such as De Chirico, Guttuso, Picasso and prince Enrico D’Assia had designed costumes and scene-painting for him.

He was awarded the Berlin's Golden Bear prize in 1941, the Rome's Tiber's twins in 1964, the Florence's Michelangelo's David in 1978 and in 1982 American Who's Who choose him as one of the greatest prides of the Italian ballet of the 20th century.

Married to classical dancer Anna Maria Paganini and father of ballerina Tiziana Lauri, he also counts among his relatives a large number of acclaimed dancers, famed athlete Eliseo Paganini and celebrated operatic bass Giulio Neri.