What is Pilates?

Pilates, developed in the late 1800's by Joseph H. Pilates, is a method of total body conditioning that strengthens, stretches and heals the body though proper movement. Movement against, as well as with the assistance of, outside forces (spring tension or simply the forces of gravity), challenges the core of the participant first and foremost. It is the "powerhouse" (the abdominals, back and buttocks) that is the center of stabilization for all movement. Flowing, precise, movements, working along with the stabilization of the spine, allow the body's musculature to become more balanced, similar to a finely tuned automobile. Spinal articulation is also incorporated into the Pilates method. With the renewed support of the deep abdominal and back muscles, the vertebral column simultaniously finds increased length, increasing necessary space for discs. Students quickly find the benefits of proper movement patterns as they carry themselves into everyday life, from performing the most simplistic tasks such as picking up heavy groceries or climbing a flight of stairs to skiing, horseback riding, golfing or walking on an icy path. In addition, the body becomes long, lean and strong. The benefits are never-ending.

Born in Deuseldorf, Germany in 1880, Joseph Pilates was a sickly child.   Determined to heal himself, Joseph began experimenting with yoga, Greek training techniques, martial arts and gymnastics and formulated what he called contrology, a method of mindful movement.   This method, the culmination of all of these disciplines, focuses on mindfully moving in a controlled pattern against the resistance of gravity or later against spring resistance.   In a British internment camp during World War 1, Pilates used his method to rehabilitate injured soldiers.   Experimenting with springs attached to hospital beds, he enabled his patients to start applying movement and resistance to their muscles.   His ideas proved speedier recovery to those who practiced his methods.

In 1926, Joseph boarded a boat to America where he met his soon to be wife, Clara.   Shortly after arriving in New York, Joe set up an exercise studio at 939 Eighth Avenue. In the basement of his studio, he developed specialized spring-based equipment, which quickly became the essential component of the Pilates apparatus we utilize still to this day.   While not much else is known about the earliest years of the Pilates practice, by the 1940s Joe had achieved notoriety in the dance community. "At some time or other," reported Dance magazine in its February 1956 issue, "virtually every dancer in New York, and certainly everyone who has studied at Jacob's Pillow between 1939 and 1951, has meekly submitted to the spirited instruction of Joe Pilates."

The Pilates movement gains in popularity

By the early 1960s, the Pilates' could count among their clients many New York dancers. George Balanchine worked out "at Joe's," as he called it, and also invited Pilates to instruct his young ballerinas at the New York City Ballet. In fact, "Pilates" was becoming popular outside of New York as well.

As the New York Herald Tribune noted in 1964, "in dance classes around the United States, hundreds of young students limber up daily with an exercise they know as a pilates, without knowing that the word has a capital P, and a living, right-breathing namesake."

While Joe was still alive, only two of his students, Carola Trier and Bob Seed, are known to have opened their own studios. Trier, who had an extensive dance background, found her way to the United States after she fled a Nazi holding camp in France by becoming a contortionist in a show.

She found Joe Pilates in 1940, when a non-stage injury pre-empted her performing career. Joe Pilates assisted Trier in opening her own studio in the late 1950's and the Pilates' and Trier remained close friends until the respective deaths of Joe and Clara.

Bob Seed was another story. A former hockey player turned "Pilates" enthusiast, Seed opened a Studio across town from Joe and tried to take away some of Joe's clients by opening very early in the morning. According to John Steel, one day Joe visited Seed with a gun and warned Seed to get out of town. Seed went.

The second generation of "Pilates" teachers

When Joe passed away, he left no will and had designated no line of succession for the "Pilates" work to carry on. Nevertheless, his work was to remain. Clara continued to operate what was already known as the "Pilates" Studio on Eighth Avenue in New York where Romana Kryzanowska became the director in around 1970. Kryzanowska had studied with Joe and Clara in the early 1940's and then, after a fifteen-year hiatus due to a move to Peru, re-commenced her studies.

Other students of Joe and Clara went on to open their own studios. Ron Fletcher was a Martha Graham dancer who studied and consulted with Joe from the 1940's on in connection with a chronic knee ailment. Fletcher opened his studio in Los Angeles in 1970, where he attracted many Hollywood stars.

Clara was particularly enamored with Ron and she gave her blessing to him to carry on the "Pilates" work and name. Like Carola Trier, Fletcher brought some innovations and advancements to the "Pilates" work. His evolving variations on "Pilates" were inspired both by his years as a Martha Graham dancer and by another mentor, Yeichi Nimura.

Other students of Joe and Clara who opened their own studios include:

The late Eve Gentry, a dancer who taught at the Pilates Studio in New York from 1946 through 1968, also taught "Pilates" in the early 60s at New York University in the Theater Department. After she left New York, she opened her own studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gentry was a charter faculty member of the High School for the Performing Arts, as well as a co-founder of the Dance Notation Bureau. In 1979, she was given the "Pioneer of Modern Dance Award" by Bennington College.   She later worked with the Phisicalmind Institute in New York to promote Joseph Pilates' work.

The late Bruce King, who trained for many years with Joseph and Clara Pilates, and was a member of the Merce Cunningham Company, the Alwyn Nikolais Company, and his own Bruce King Dance Company. In the mid-1970s King opened his own studio at 160 W. 73rd Street in New York.

Mary Bowen, a Jungian analyst who studied with Joe in the mid-1960s. Bowen began teaching "Pilates" in 1975 and founded "Your Own Gym" in Northampton, Massachusetts.