Wellness Wednesday – Pilates at SAB
For this month’s #WellnessWednesday, we’re shining a light on Pilates – the history of the method as well as its history as part of the curriculum at the School of American Ballet. Read on to learn more about this essential component of training and how you can help support the School as we continue to expand our health and wellness programming.
Pilates has become an extremely popular workout among exercise enthusiasts from all walks of life. In many communities across the U.S., it’s common to see a Pilates studio filled with Reformers, or a mat class being offered at one’s local gym. In fact, as of 2023, it was reported that over 12 million people practice Pilates worldwide.[1] But ballet dancers have been doing Pilates long before it became trendy. As a method of strengthening that focuses on elongating the muscles, while improving balance and coordination, it’s no wonder that Pilates has been a favorite method of training and injury rehabilitation to generations of ballet dancers.
It was developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates while he was interned in a British work camp during World War I. He wanted to create a system of exercises intended to strengthen the human mind and body, believing that mental and physical health were interrelated. Originally calling his method “Contrology,” Pilates uses a combination of around 50 repetitive exercises to spur muscle exertion, focused around principals of control, centering, precision, flowing movement, concentration, and breathing.[2]
Joseph Pilates’ thinking was shaped by his work with injured soldiers during the war, his involvement in fitness and sport, and the post-war intellectual era in Germany in which science, literature, philosophy and the arts flourished. European holistic therapies such as hydrotherapy, trigger point therapy and breath work influenced Pilates’ development, as did meditation and modern dance. He invented several apparatuses to assist students in performing his exercises. His first patent was for the Foot Corrector, but he is perhaps best known for developing a machine with weights and pulleys that became known as the Universal Reformer.
While immigrating to America in the early 1920s, Pilates met Anna Clara Zeuner, who became an integral partner in developing and teaching his method in the states. The pair opened their first Pilates’ Studio in 1926, and soon the methodology became popular within the New York City dance community, gaining interest from dance luminaries such as SAB’s co-founder, George Balanchine. Mr. Balanchine quickly saw how Pilates offers dancers a chance to recover from injuries, lengthen muscles and strengthen technique. In 1941, he referred 16 year old SAB student, Romana Kryzanowska, to train at Pilates’ studio in the hopes that the exercises would serve as an alternative to surgery after she suffered an ankle injury. The exercises were a success, and Kryzanowska continued to study with Pilates.
At age 18, she left the U.S. for Peru with her husband, but returned in the 1960s and continued her work with Mr and Mrs Pilates (as well as a ballet teacher) eventually becoming a protégée of Joseph Pilates. Pilates passed away in 1967, and his wife gave Kryzanowska her blessing to take over as the director of his Pilates Studio after her passing in 1975. Romana Kryzanowska continued to teach the method she learned from the man himself to a whole new generation of Pilates practitioners.
One of Kryzanowska’s students and eventual apprentices was none other than fellow SAB alumna and current SAB Pilates faculty member, Phoebe Higgins.
Ms. Higgins found her way into Romana Kryzanowska’s class at the Pilates’ Studio while studying art history at SUNY Purchase. Within a 25-minute mat class, she was immediately impressed at what an incredible workout the method supplied, and, as Ms. Higgins has a spinal curvature, she could see how it could help her improve her needed abdominal strength. She felt inspired by Kryzanowska’s individual attention and encouragement. So despite that first class being challenging, she kept going back. Upon graduation, Ms. Higgins decided she wanted to learn to teach Pilates herself, and began apprenticing under Kryzanowska, not only learning how to teach Pilates, but gleaning insights into all the business aspects of running a successful studio as well. Soon, Ms. Higgins began teaching at the Pilates Studio and continued to work with Kryzanowska for a number of years.
In 2000, the School of American Ballet took steps to increase its health and fitness services for its students, with the notion of creating an in-house Pilates program at the forefront of their plans. With a grant from the Goldsmith Foundation in hand, the School cleaned out a storage room on the Rose Building’s fourth floor and remodeled it to accommodate both physical therapy services and Pilates training. The School then purchased top-of-the-line Pilates equipment, including two Reformers, a Wunda Chair, a 1/2 Cadillac, Mats and Magic Circles. And most importantly, SAB hired Phoebe Higgins, who by that time was a certified Pilates instructor with over 20 years of experience.
“Pilates really is crucial for ballet dancer’s training because it provides core strength while simultaneously increasing length and range of motion,” Ms. Higgins shared. “It’s crucial because it makes you stronger, but it also makes you feel better.”
The program started off as part time in the lead up to that year’s Workshop Performances, with Ms. Higgins working with students in the Pilates room for just nine hours per week. But it was soon clear that student demand exceeded the available appointment time. The regular faculty members were also seeing improvements in their students’ strength, flexibility and technique. With the tremendous benefits of the Pilates program instantly clear, SAB increased Ms. Higgins role to a full time faculty position that fall and added mat classes to the curriculum during that year’s Summer Course as well. Over the past 25 years, the Pilates program has continued to expand, with Ms. Higgins at the helm, providing all the fundamental training of Joseph Pilates’ method to new generations of dancers. Recently, the School brought on Marimba Gold-Watts as another Pilates instructor on the associate faculty.
“What I find so amazing about this work is that as you become more clear about what your intention is with an exercise, you deepen your knowledge of it,” Ms. Higgins explained. “It becomes longer, deeper and you get more out of it. The more strength you build, you can do fewer repetitions. I’ve always loved that the work is about quality, not quantity of an exercise. You can adapt Pilates to anyone, and it becomes a lifelong practice.”
Ms. Higgins now teaches Pilates at SAB to a variety of levels and ages – ranging from ten year olds who are getting their first introduction to the exercises, up through eighteen year olds who have been developing their Pilates abilities for years. She tailors her mat classes to what the students have coming up in their day – helping prepare them for their technique classes or rehearsals – and takes an individualized approach when coaching students on the Pilates equipment – helping them reach their personal potential and goals. She regularly dialogues with the ballet faculty members to also ensure she is providing the students with exercises that will complement what they are working on in their technique classes and, in turn, the ballet faculty can emphasize that connection when they’re working with students in the studio.
“Pilates is a gift to all of us,” Ms. Higgins said. “It’s been amazing to see students of mine at the School grow into their careers as performers, and some have even gone on to become Pilates instructors too. Some have come back and are now on faculty here at SAB. So it’s really special – those full circle moments – and I cherish all my years teaching here.”
Sources:
1) “The History of Pilates» Pilates Foundation”. www.pilatesfoundation.com. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
2) Kloubec J (2011-12-29). “Pilates: how does it work and who needs it?”. Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal. 1 (2): 61–66