to research new ways of moving. In her own words: "I tried to find out how I could develop every person's own expression without programming him/her. At the same time, there was my personal need to learn how to survive". With an invitation to assit Otto and Charlotte Blensdorf at the Fifth Congress of the New Education Fellowship in 1929, and subsequently to teach between Denmark and Sweden, Gerda moved to Copenhagen, Denmark. As soon as Hitler came to power in Germany, she decided to stay. Gerda Alexander lived in Copenhagen almost all her life. In 1959, Gerda Alexander was responsible for the "First International Congress for Release of Tension and Functional Movement" in Copenhagen with the support of the Danish Ministry of Education. On this event, she gathered many psychosomatic researchers and methods creators (methods later denominated as "somatic practices" or "somatic education techniques"). Gerda worked regularly in partnership with institutions like: Fröbel Schools, Philharmonie Malmö, Private Theater School, the Royal Theatre Copenhagen, the Theater Academy, Danish Broadcasting House (orchestra, choir and staff), Royal Music Conservatory, Danmarks Lærerhøjskole (Teacher training college - Department of music), Rigshospital, Dalcroze Societies, CEMEA - Centres d'Entrainement aux Méthodes d'Education Active, and others. She gave lectures and workshops in Danmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Israel, Greece, Italy, Holland, Mexico, Venezuela, Belgium and Argentina. Gerda Alexander died six days after her 86th birthday in Wuppertal, where she lived in her old age. Her students today continue her work in several places in the world. Historical Influences These were the main historical influences on Gerda's work, according to Jean-Marie Huberty: François Delsarte Elsa Gindler Bildungsanstalt Jacques Dalcroze in Hellerau - today HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Ausdruckstanz Rosalia Chladek Schlaffhorst-Andersen Schule Atem-Stimme und Bewegung - today CJD Schule Schlaffhorst-Andersen Bad Nenndorf Stanislavski Method, via Marussia Bergh Eurythmy Jena Plan Eutony Through her pedagogical practices, and the ongoing researches with her own physical limitations due to endocarditis, Gerda Alexander found ways of somatically modulate and regulate neuromuscular tone, what was confirmed later with the discovery of Gama System. The word "eutony" (from Greek Eu: good - and Latin Tonus: tension, the grade of tension or elasticity of muscle fibers) was coined with the help of the Dr. med. Alfred Bartussek to express the idea of a harmoniously balanced "tonicity in constant adaptation to the state or activity of the moment". According to Gerda