At the moment Amelia Soh (formerly a student of Mosman Dance Academy) is living many a young dancer’s dream training overseas in a prestigious pre-professional school. and is about to graduate from Level 8 at San Francisco Ballet School (SFBS).
Amelia Soh in costume backstage after joining SFB onstage as a flower in Tne Nutcracker December 2023. Photo courtesy of Amelia Soh
“It’s been a busy but extremely exciting year for me! As a level 8 we got the opportunity to perform with the company during the season in the Nutcracker, Swan Lake and A Midsummer’s Night Dream.”
Amelia Soh
However, it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing to get to this point. Having sustained her first major injury while training at SFBS in February 2023 (a fractured 5th metatarsal) she had to leave America and return home to Sydney, Australia for months of intensive rehabilitation under the guidance of Katie Godwin (physiotherapist) and Alex Rolfe (who is a certified GYROTONIC® trainer).
Alex Rolfe in the studio training a dancer client. Photo supplied by ARC
“Getting through an injury was one of the hardest things as a vocational ballet student. After being sent home from a school I loved training at I was upset, frustrated, and felt isolated. But at home I found the most wonderful team of ballet teachers, a physiotherapist, Alex my Gyrotonic teacher and most importantly my family. My advice for getting through an injury is to find your team. Having such a group of people that always supported and backed me provided not only expertise but also encouragement and care which healed me mentally as well as physically. I came back to San Francisco feeling even stronger, more resilient, and determined than before.”
Amelia Soh
While as dancers we all know what a physiotherapist is, and are probably familiar with pilates and/or yoga as well – the scope and potential of more recently developed movement training modalities like the GYROTONIC® training method remains less well known. But for dancers like Amelia the benefits can be profound, not just physically beneficial but in some cases psychologically and emotional beneficial as well.
Alex Rolfe enjoying some quiet time in the studio. Photo supplied by ARC
“Practising the Gyrotonic method has completely changed my approach to movement/dance. From the very beginning of class at the barre, it has changed the way I connect my mind with my body to dance. Before, I often had a ‘grip’ mindset to my body which would ultimately restrict the way I dance. But with gyro practice, I think about my muscles in a much more dynamic, elongated and, of course, a ‘spiralling’ way. From how I approach each ballet step, to executing, and correcting myself I can see how the fundamentals of Gyrotonic training have influenced my dancing…. I do look forward to working with Alex again when I’m home for break in July!”
Amelia Soh
So what is the GYROTONIC® method, and who invented it?
In essence it is a movement training system that was developed by former professional dancer Juliu Horvath in the late 1970’s and 1980’s following his own catastrophic injury of a ruptured Achilles tendon. Juliu initially called this system “Yoga for Dancers” but as the number and range of his clients increased so did the method and he developed a wider range of exercises that almost any person could perform regardless of their age or health. He named this expanded version of Yoga for Dancers the GYROKINESIS® Method and it could be practiced with minimal equipment. Juliu’s development of the GYROTONIC® Method, and the Gyrotonic equipment he designed that is a necessary part of its practice, came shortly afterwards. More information can be found here.
Alex Rolfe with client in her studio. Photo supplied by ARC
If you’re familiar with Pilates, the difference between Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis exercises can be likened to the difference between a studio session that utilises bulky equipment and a mat class which requires very little. Unlike yoga or pilates, the movement systems developed by Juliu Horvath remain under trademark, and training courses can only be certified by the central organisation itself. There is certainly a fluid, dance like grace to many of the exercises and an emphasis on the co-ordination of the whole body as opposed to focussing on one specific part.
Like her student Amelia, Gyrotonic teacher, ballet coach and former professional dancer Alex Rolfe also first encountered the Gyrotonic method following injury. She currently runs ARC Movement Studio by Alex in Sydney, Australia.
I was first introduced to Gyrotonic exercise when I was dancing in Portugal with The National Ballet of Portugal. I had just finished rehabbing a hip injury but was not feeling overly confident in my ability to perform. I still had symptoms re: my hip injury including not all of my range, but what I found most helpful with The Gyrotonic Method was the ability to start to piece my body back together as a whole.
The beauty of the system lies in its circularity which was largely lacking in the other programs I had done. The equipment is used to support the body so the body can reach its full level of expression. It is rare for a system to enable such freedom within the body whilst receiving full support.
This approach to my injury was also very different to anything I had encountered before. A lot of focus on coordination of the structure into the whole body rather than a focus on muscle. It taught me relationships of structures and how to listen to my body and make adjustments when needed to not over strain the body. There was a focus on strengthening the movement pattern vs a particular muscle.
I think when you're rehabbing a body, your body is not yours in a sense. There is a large amount of psychology that comes with an injury so you have to treat the whole person and not just the physical side. Whatever you are feeling on the inside, your movement on the outside will always show what’s going on. So again, what I adore about using this method with rehab is looking at how the injury has affected the client’s movement but then also putting the person back into the movement.
Because the method educates the body through experience of the movement sequences, you get to see so much of that person’s identity and personality come through. The light and shade of their movements tell the clients story themselves. Movement is the greatest form of human expression... it’s always a privilege to be part of that.
- GERALDINE HIGGINSON
GYROTONIC and GYROKINESIS are registered trademarks of Gyrotonic Sales Corp and are used with their permission.