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Ian "Ernie" Horvath
(ca 1946 - January 5, 1990) USA

Ian Horvath

Dancer, choreographer

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Ian "Ernie" Horvath was born in Cleveland. Beginning his dance training with Charles Nicoll in Cleveland, Horvath went on to study at the School of American Ballet, with the Joffrey, Ballet Theater, and the Ballet Russe.

Ian HorvathIn 1964, he joined Joffrey ballets, and created roles in Arpino's Viva Vivaldi! and Olympics . In the mid-1960's he also appeared on Broadway in ''Sweet Charity,'' ''Funny Girl'' and ''Fade Out - Fade In.'' He also danced on television specials.

He joined American Ballet Theater in 1967, appearing in a variety of classical and contemporary roles. He left in 1972 to found the Cleveland Ballet (now the Cleveland-San Jose Ballet) with Dennis Nahat, and was its artistic director until 1983. His last performance was in 1988 at City Center, when he appeared in ''Together,'' a program featuring Cynthia Gregory and Fernando Bujones.

Ernie began choreographing in 1974. His final work, No Dominion (1988), for the Limon company dealt directly with his AIDS-related illness. His ballets are in the repertories of the Cleveland-San Jose Ballet, Ballet Nuevo de Caracas, the Limon Dance Company and Pacific Northwest Ballet.

As a spokesperson for people with AIDS, Horvath was instrumental in organizing Dancing for Life, a benefit at the New York State Theater in September 1987. Ian Horvath He was associate director of the Carlisle Project, a national developmental program for ballet choreographers, and had been chairman of Dance/USA and a dance panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council.

He was also a consultant to the City Center in New York and was developing special dance projects when he died. He helped organize ''Dancing for Life,'' an AIDS fund-raising event at the New York State Theater in September 1987, and appeared in a television program on AIDS produced in October 1988 by Eye on Dance.

Ernie died of AIDS-related complications at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. He was 46 years old. His companion was Rodger Max Barrow. Barrow was Excutive Director of Utah's Repertory Dance Theatre and Director of Development for the Joffrey and Feld Ballets and City Center Theatre. He too died of complications from Aids ten years later, on Fire Island Pines.

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Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/ - http://www.artistswithaids.org/

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