London Pilates studio Holland Park

The following article is reproduced by kind permission of Katie Gregory, Editor of Dance Today. Please visit their website at www.dancing-times.co.uk

Pilates For Dancers - Dance Today - October 2006

Heather Powell discusses the principles and benefits of Pilates with professional instructor Reinhard Michaels

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, what the stars are doing to keep in shape is must-have information that drives the latest fitness trend. There was the rush of celebrity endorsements for yoga. Now it’s Pilates’ turn in the spotlight, with A-listers Jennifer Aniston, Joan Collins, Liz Hurley and Gwyneth Paltrow extolling its benefits. It’s not just celebrities though, as more and more dancers are discovering the benefits of Pilates – from prima ballerina Darcey Bussell, to amateur ballroom champion and “Strictly Come Dancing” series one professional, Kylie Jones.

So many of us suffer from back and neck pain, and good posture is a scarce commodity. With this in mind, the increasing popularity of Pilates is understandable as it teaches balance and control, improving the body’s core strength and posture through a series of stretching and conditioning exercises. It’s not a painful, sweaty work-out, but regular practice will have a lasting effect on your body, making you longer and leaner, increasing your strength and flexibility, particularly your stomach and “core” muscles, and building an awareness of your body and its movements that will help you to stay healthy and avoid injury. Further benefits include increased lung capacity, improved circulation and bone density, and stress relief.

The technique was developed over 100 years ago by a German: Joseph Pilates. Reportedly a sickly child, he suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever, and so took up body building and sports to improve his health. The young Joseph started developing exercises of his own, influenced by his study of yoga, Zen meditation and anatomy.

In 1912 Joseph moved to England, ut at the outbreak of World War I was interned at a camp with other Germans. He improved the health of his fellow inmates through teaching them his exercises and as a result was sent to a hospital for soldiers with immobilising injuries. Joseph took bed springs and attached them to the walls. Using straps, the patients could lie in bed and push or pull the springs, and so participate. Joseph took his regimen to America where he set up a studio in New York.

Working closely with the New York City Ballet, he used his exercises to help dancers improve their technique and recover from injuries. He became well-known in the dance community, continuing to develop his movement exercise until his death in 1967. Now simply named after its founder, Pilates has joined the mainstream and there are studios and practitioners throughout the UK and the rest of the world. Pilates builds strength from the inside out, engaging the core postural muscles (the pelvic floor and abdominals) and working towards an alignment of the body that will protect and support the whole bone structure and internal organs. The basic principles are relaxation, concentration, coordination, alignment, breathing, flowing movement, centering and stamina.

Mat classes are usually taught in a group and include exercises on a mat, often using equipment such as a stability ball and resistance bands. Studio sessions are usually on an individual or small group basis, with exercises carried out on specialised Pilates equipment. This equipment is based on that developed by Joseph Pilates when he was teaching the bedridden soldiers. The pieces include the Reformer, a system of springs, straps and pulleys around a gliding platform on which you can sit, kneel, stand or lie; the Cadillac, essentially a raised tabletop surround by a fourposter frame on which various bars, straps, springs and levers are fixed; the Chair, a stool with a pedal; and the Barrel, a ladder next to a rounded surface on which stretching exercises can be performed.

Reinhard Michaels - photo by Russell Maynor

Joseph Pilates worked closely with dancers to develop his technique, and today Pilates is used by most major dance Companies and schools. Reinhard Michaels has been an actor and dancer in the West End and on Broadway for the past 20 years and has worked with directors and choreographers such as Gillian Lynne, Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett, Jerome Robbins, Larry Fuller, Arlene Phillips, Michael Peters and many more.

In his last Broadway show Reinhard suffered a serious injury and despite rehabilitation through Pilates, had to leave the world of professional dance behind. Reinhard worked hard to train to be a Pilates teacher, undertaking nearly four years of education that included over 250 hours practising Pilates before he could qualify to take the stringent exams at Polestar, one of the leading training organisations.

He set up his own Pilates studio in Holland Park, London, early this year, and the studio has been so successful that he opens his second, in Maida Vale, this month. Reinhard’s broad client base includes six dancers, including a couple from The Royal Ballet School. “I would like to become one of the Royal’s main practitioners,” he says. “I’m from dance, and I like working with these mad people that want to go beyond!” Professional athletes from runners to bodybuilders also come to him with various injuries, and Reinhard works closely with a local GP and physiotherapist to ensure that they get the best diagnosis and treatment. “It’s always about stability,” he says. “Within that stability you get flexibility. In Pilates we talk about the spine excessively, and say that ‘a flexible spine is a healthy spine.’”

Once diagnosed by a GP or physiotherapist, Reinhard works with injuries to help the recovery process. “It’s sensitive work, but I believe in keeping the body active,” he says. Pilates is based on muscle memory, so if you’ve suffered an injury, you must create new memories. “You have to learn to listen to your own body,” he explains.

As well as professional athletes, Reinhard’s clients include people of all ages and abilities, and his oldest client is an impressive 87. “She does Pilates every day and is a great example of its benefits,” he says. “Just because a person is of a certain age, they don’t need to have a curved spine. It’s taking what you have and working your body to its best ability. You can still have agility and the flexibility. I look at a person and I see their potential.”

Traditional Pilates practitioners like Reinhard are unimpressed with spin-offs that have been launched in the wake of Pilates’ success. One of the most talked-about is Beautcamp Pilates (a pun on the military bootcamp), a Hollywood craze credited with creating the lithe figures of Liz Hurley and Nicole Kidman.

A recently opened London studio in Westbourne Park means that Beautcamp Pilates is open for UK business. There’s little of Joseph Pilates’ key principles left in this class, created by Sebastien LaGree, personal trainer to the stars. Called Systeme Dynamique, it combines Pilates with circuit and weight training. It’s been called “Pilates on speed” and pushes the body to its limits keeping the heart rate up to burn every last possible calorie and to create “abs of steel”. Indeed, it’s a fast-paced and effective work-out for toning the body that screams “no pain no gain!”, but the experience is a world away from the calm and gentleness of a pure Pilates session.