Juliu Horvath: youth
The gyrotonic is a method that blends, in harmony, typical movements of dance, swimming and fitness. The name of the gyrotonic discipline was given by Juliu Horvath, a Hungarian dancer, in the early eighties. Gymnast, swimmer and dancer ... who better than him then?
Born in Hungary to a housewife mother and a tailor father, Horvath grew up in Romania, although he considered himself a 'world citizen'. He is a very active boy. He practices various sports, including swimming, rowing and rhythmic gymnastics. Growing up, he is fascinated by the world of dance. His talent allowed him to become the leading dancer at the Romanian State Opera . The lightness of the body also seems to accompany that of the mind.
It's 1970. Horvath is in Italy, on tour. It is here that he decides not to return home, first spending six months in a refugee camp, and then leaving for the United States, where he will request political asylum. The Big Apple is his new home. To make ends meet, Juliu, always interested in dance, also works as a painter, an activity from which he periodically departs for the various auditions in which he takes part.
New York City Opera . It is here that Horvath begins to dance and be known, thanks also to the company of other dancers including Margot Fonteyn, Jacques d 'Amboise and Melissa Hayden. He established himself as a dancer, also for other companies. The career has started, but a trap is hidden around the corner.
Juliu Horvath: a new beginning
While dancing with the Houston Ballet company, Juliu Horvath breaks her Achilles tendon. End of dancing career. End of the American dream. After being discouraged, a new beginning is needed and Juliu begins the individual practice of Yoga. He cultivates the discipline alone, moving to the Virgin Islands.
We are in 1977. It is in his modest home, in St. Thomas, that Horvath conceives a yoga method that blends with dance, a sort of " Yoga for dancers " as he called it. The work on the body and on the inner part becomes more and more full-bodied and Juliu is convinced to return to New York to spread his method, which he throws back " Gyrokinesis ".
We are in 1980. The method is quite successful, allowing Horvath to open his own studio, the White Cloud Studio . His new commitment was to devise a machine that would allow the dancers the perfect execution of the pirouettes. The determination in this led him to build the first model of Gyrotonic Expansion System, a fundamental tool in the practice of gyrotonic as we know it today.
