In his memoirs, Avian wrote about what made his creative partnership with Bennett work.
“I was not cautious with Michael,” he wrote. “I knew him so well that I could say exactly what I thought. Indeed, it seemed to instinctively assume the role of its editor. Michael was a more unstable personality than I was, and although I was ambitious, I didn’t have Michael’s fiery intensity. I didn’t want to be Michael and he didn’t want to be me. “
Robert Avedisian (he shortened his name when he became a professional dancer) was born on December 26, 1937, in Manhattan, to John and Esther (Keleshian) Avedisian, immigrants from Armenia. His father was a chef and his mother a seamstress. At 11, he knew he loved to dance and was very good at it.
“When my parents left, I would push the furniture back, open an open space, turn on the record player and jump around the apartment,” he wrote in his memoirs. “Boys shouldn’t be dancing, especially in Armenian culture, but I loved music and, especially, I loved the freedom I found in dancing.”
He had no formal training, however, until he enrolled at Boston University, where he graduated from the College of Fine Arts in 1958. He also studied at the Boston Ballet School.
After the “West Side Story” tour – which was playing in Berlin when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 – he booked a national “Carnival!” Tour, working with the director and choreographer Gower Champion. Not long after, he had his first chance to see a show choreographed by his friend, Mr. Bennett, a summer production of Richard Rodgers’ musical “No Strings”.
“I knew immediately that he had it – and he knew that he did,” wrote Avian.
Bennett’s career took off, and so did Avian’s.