Biography

 
Gilda Marx was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the youngest of Herman and Ruth Wilstein’s four children. It was a loving, happy home where independence and creativity were valued, and so it was natural that Ruth would send the bubbly and energetic Gilda off to dance class at an early age. Gilda soaked up lessons in ballet, tap, and jazz and found a second home on the stage, where she immediately felt comfortable and her talents shone. Family life was centered around the dinner table, with rich foods and exhortations – typical of the era – to “finish your plate because there are children starving in Europe!” Gilda was a chubby girl, and when the family moved to California, she suddenly felt herself an outsider, 20 pounds overweight, and struggling to fit in with her new classmates. So she did what already came naturally to this resourceful and determined young woman: she educated herself. She learned to balance her food intake and combined that with the dance exercise she already loved. With experimentation and hard work, Gilda soon became the slim and toned young woman she wanted to be. In the 1960’s, Gilda was asked to put her dance background to use in a local charity production. Using her back patio as an impromptu exercise studio, she found herself teaching a handful of neighborhood women, combining music and dance with fitness routines.

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