Ex-dancers have a leg up on pilates
Many become instructors of pilates, (puh-LOT-ease) a precise exercise regime that focuses on strengthening muscles in the core of the body.
The exercise has long appealed to the injured, the athletic and those who like the concentration of formulaic workouts. Developed by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s, pilates was originally a training regime inspired by Pilates' work with boxers and circus performers. Dancers, especially injured ones, took up pilates too, as did the general public.
In the 80 years since, pilates has gone from peaks of popularity to mellower times when one-leg circles (a pilates move) are done by a cadre of true believers. They include Romana Krysanowska, 80, the grande dame of pilates, who took her first pilates sessions with Joseph Pilates in 1941 for $3 a class.
Today, pilates is hotter than a Belltown Bikram yoga studio. Pilates studios are popping up everywhere, along with programs that train pilates instructors.
"Our instructor-training classes are packed," said Kristi Quinn, an instructor-trainer and owner of Bodycenter Studios in Seattle's Fremont district.
Fueling some of the pilates craze is a 2000 ruling that determined "pilates" to be a generic term that couldn't be trademarked, allowing studios with no ties to Pilates, Inc. — which had purchased the right to the name — to use the term "pilates" instead of "conditioning" or "pilates-based" as they had been.
The court decision deregulated the pilates industry, making the field weedy with competition.
A Washington Secretary of State corporations search turned up 12 new pilates studios in Western Washington since 2000; a telephone-listings search showed 25 businesses offering pilates in the Seattle area.
While trendy, some of the pilates masters ignore the recent hype. They saw it back in the '60s when it was the thing to do. They say success depends not on whether pilates is the hot new thing, but on the teacher.
"I have always been popular," said Krysanowska, in an interview from Drago's Gymnasium in New York City. She had just wrapped up five-and-a-half hours of teaching. "I don't know why they are making such a tah-doodle over it now."
It isn't known how many pilates teachers there are in the United States. There are several different types of pilates, from "authentic" to Stott (named for founder Moira Stott Merrithew's maiden name) to Polestar. Each has different requirements to obtain teaching credentials. But most agree that those going into the pilates profession should stick to one type. Suffice it to say that pilates credits usually don't transfer between schools.
Founded in 1993, The Pilates & Physical Therapy Center of Seattle is one of the area's oldest and most respected pilates-training programs, with apprentices coming from international destinations to get trained. To date, it's trained 139 pilates instructors through a rigorous program that consumes at least 920 hours in the studio and costs around $10,000 for lessons, apprenticeships and prerequisite courses.
Co-founder and ex-dancer Lauren Stephen says teaching pilates can be lucrative.
"The expense of the training compared to what you can make is peanuts," said Stephen, who said that top-drawer instructors earn about what physical trainers make.
Pilates apprentices at The Pilates & Physical Therapy Center said their client base includes the boomer crowd drawn to the low-impact exercise, and sedentary technology workers who sit in front of computers. Helping people feel and look better is one of the job's highlights.
"I've had clients in their 50s grow an inch and a half" in height, said Stephen.
Pilates teachers practice what they teach.
Ann Marie Lane of Bellevue had worked as a chef and fashion designer before she started with pilates.
"It's a lot healthier than the restaurant business where there's a lot of druggin' and drinkin,' " said Lane, a pilates apprentice.
"It's rigid. It's like being in the Army," said Dan Westerhold, 47, physical therapist and pilates apprentice. He uses pilates exercises to give his patients more options. "Traditional physical therapy uses exercises that aren't fun," Westerhold said.
Women dominate the field, but more men are becoming clients and teachers, Krysanowska said. "They tried to make it only a women's exercise," she said.
Krysanowska said successful pilates teachers are those who keep a clean studio, enjoy their work and stay in shape.
"You can't think twice," said instructor Chacha Guerrero, 38, of daily exercise. "You have to do it every day."
Teaching pilates is a lot of hands-on work repositioning people and bending.
"It's hard on your body," said apprentice Robin Anderson, 23.
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The best pilates teachers are often its most ardent students, including many who came to pilates with injuries. Guerrero had a torn anterior cruciate ligament and used pilates to get better. A former dancer and now an apprentice, Kim Seipel, 21, experienced profound backaches that stopped after she started pilates.
Even Krysanowska was one of those skeptical, wounded ballerinas who had a chipped bone in her ankle. Doctors wanted to operate but that was risky for the young dancer. She went to see Joseph Pilates who told her to try five lessons and if she didn't get better, he'd refund her money.
"I thought he was cuckoo," she said. But the pain went away and her stamina increased.
"By the fifth lesson, I could do twice as many pirouettes as I could before."
Krysanowska said she didn't know what she liked best about being a pilates teacher, but was satisfied.
"They all turn out better than they came in," she said. "Every human being should be a person who loves their work."
Sarah Anne Wright: 206-464-2752 or swright@seattletimes.com
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