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 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 counted among his relatives a large number of acclaimed dancers, famed athlete Eliseo Paganini and celebrated operatic bass Giulio Neri.