Born in Toulouse, France, the son of a gymnasium owner, Jean Marie Jules Leotard invented the performing art of the flying trapeze. Spotted by a Parisian circus director Leotard was whisked off to Paris and soon became an internationally renowned artiste. His name is immortalised through the popular item of gym and exercise clothing known as the leotard.

Leotard’s Trapeze Skill Developed at His Father’s Gymnasium

Jean Marie Jules Leotard was born in Toulouse on 1st August 1838 according to his memoirs though most contemporary newspapers suggested he had been born about 1842 when reporting his death. Son of a gymnasium owning father, he was introduced to the swinging bar gymnasium equipment at an early age when his parents discovered that suspending him from a swinging bar as a baby helped calm him down.

Part of his father’s gymnasium was a swimming pool which had skylights in the roof and young Leotard was tasked with the job of opening and closing them using their long ropes. He began swinging from rope to rope over the pool. He then started practicing on a swinging bar and developed such grace and skill that his antics drew comments of admiration from his father’s customers.