Popularized the art of jazz dance

Gus Giordano, a choreographer who popularized jazz dance around the world and earned it recognition as a legitimate art form, died Sunday in Chicago of pneumonia, according to a statement released by his family.

The founder of the critically acclaimed Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, based in Evanston, Ill., Giordano published “The Anthology of American Jazz Dance” in 1975.

In 1990, he organized the first Jazz Dance World Congress, which brings together jazz dance companies for a week of master classes and performances. Besides the United States, the event has been held in Japan, Germany, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Born in St. Louis in 1923, Giordano was turned on to dance at age 5 by a cousin in New Orleans. Giordano joined the Marines during World War II and was assigned to a performance group that put on shows at military bases.

After the war, he performed in Broadway shows including “Paint Your Wagon” and “On the Town.”

He moved to Chicago in 1953 and opened his own school specializing in jazz dance.

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Gayne Rescher, a cinematographer who won Emmy Awards for “Moviola: The Silent Lovers” in 1980, “Shooter” in 1989 and “Jackie Collins’ Lucky/Chances” in 1991, died Feb. 29 in Gig Harbor, Wash., after a long illness, his family announced.

Rescher, who also won awards from the American Society of Cinematographers for “Lucky/Chances” and for “Single Women, Married Men” in 1990, was 83.