Mihai David

Mihai David was born in 1946 in Bucureşti (Bucharest), Romania, and began dancing to his uncle's balalaika music. At age eight, Mihai attended the Pioneers Youth Palace where youth interested in dance were schooled. Two years later, he was selected to attend the School of Choreography in Bucharest and continued there for eight years, studying classical ballet, character dance, modern dance, and folk dance. While at the school, he danced with the UTM (The Young Communists) ensemble, directed by Theodor Vasilescu (the UTM considered to be the best amateur ensemble in Romania). Even before his graduation at the age of 17, he was dancing with the Romanian State Folk Ballet Ciocârlia, became one of their lead dancers, and continued touring with the troupe throughout Europe for two years. Mihai resigned from Ciocârlia and joined another professional group, The Music Hall Ensemble, with whom his brother, Alexandru David, was a lead dancer. Mihai immigrated to the United States in January of 1967, took various odd jobs to support himself, danced with the Boston Ballet Company, and had his own exhibition group within the Detroit, Michigan, Romanian community. He then moved to California and danced adagio in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was drafted into the U.S. Army from Nevada. While in the service, he danced with the Augusta Ballet Company in Georgia In 1969, Mihai dropped into The Intersection, a folk dance coffeehouse, where Dick Oakes got him invited to teach Romanian dances and his folk dance teaching career was launched. In 1970, he opened and operated his Gypsy Camp Folk Dance Café in Hollywood, California until its closing in 1976.