Top Story: US News Touts Pilates for Building Balance in Elderly
A study about the effectiveness of yoga for preventing falls has some experts skeptical. Debra Rose, codirector of the Fall Prevention Center of Excellence at University of Southern California, told US News that the improvements in coordination and motor skills that Pilates and tai chi provide are more effective at preventing falls when walking.

Athletes Still Love Pilates
LA Dodgers’ James Loney is using Pilates to “stay ahead of the curve” on the baseball field, while Philadelphia 76ers’ Maurice Cheeks introduced his entire basketball team to Pilates. Golfers in South Africa are also getting into the method.

More Pilates News
• Read the story of Dolly Kelepecz, a former showgirl who brought Pilates to Las Vegas.

• Is Feldenkrais “creeping into the consciousness of American households?” The Detroit Free Press thinks so—here’s its in-depth look at Feldenkrais, complete with a 5-minute audio guide.

The British press is buzzing with more than just news of Prince Harry—we did a little digging and found a bevy of Pilates-related stories from the UK.

Britons Are Leaving the Gym
Memberships are plummeting at British gyms, which have “been elbowed aside by yoga, Pilates and outdoor boot-camp-style programmes such as park circuits,” according to The Times.

Pilates Wear Reviewed
The Telegraph takes a look at Manuka Life, a line of yoga, Pilates and meditation clothing. It’s only stocked in British stores, but they will ship to other countries, including the U.S.

London Physio Clinics a Great Place to Work
Congrats to Sports & Spinal Clinics of London, which was listed No. 65 in The Sunday Times’ Top 100 Best Small Companies to Work for 2008. This group of seven physiotherapy and rehab clinics incorporates Pilates into its clinical work and offers Pilates classes.

Cricket Player Paul Collingwood Credits Pilates
“I’ve got a Pilates bench that looks like a torture device,” said the stylish Collingwood in the Daily Mail.

…And in American news…
Instructors everywhere will appreciate this nice profile of Rosanna “Nahnie” Barberio, a dancer-turned-Pilates-instructor who left New York to start a studio in Lansing, MI.

We stumbled across this Pilates video clip on YouTube recently and had to find out the story behind it. It’s clean, crisp and professional—and an exciting example of what’s possible with Pilates. The fast-motion Wunda Chair sequence is especially amazing. It was produced by Louise Taube, a Polestar- and STOTT Pilates-trained studio owner in Melbourne, Australia. Click the link below to read our interview with her.

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Centered
114 West 14th Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY 10011
212-633-1233
info@thecentered.com
www.thecentered.com

By Jenny Sherman

Adding Value for Women
Limiting your client base may not seem like a smart business decision. But for Karrie Adamany, a certified instructor and founder of Centered, opening a Pilates practice catering solely to women was her raison d’être.

“I decided I wanted a place not just for moms, but for all women,” she says. “A place to focus on yourself—just a place to go hang out. I thought it would be great to have programs like discussion groups, nutritionists, workshops.”

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By Michele Larsson

Pilates instructor Michele Larsson has practiced the Pilates technique for 37 years, learning much of the work in sessions with first-generation instructor Eve Gentry. Larsson has spent much of her career preserving Gentry’s rehabilitative style of Pilates: She founded Core Dynamics Pilates and operates a teacher training program in Santa Fe and many other satellite locations. Larsson also teaches workshops internationally and at conferences. In this article she recalls her work with Gentry, as well as the first-generation instructor’s interest in working with young students.

Eve Gentry, 1909-1994, is often remembered as a Pilates instructor who taught at Joe Pilates’s New York City studio and New York University School of the Arts before retiring to Santa Fe, New Mexico. But Eve, a trained dancer, also taught dance In New York at the YM/YWHA, The High School of Performing Arts, and at The New Dance Group and performed with Hanya Holm and her own Eve Gentry Dance Company until 1968. Like many of her peers, this first-generation was strongly influenced by both dance and Pilates.

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For an introduction to the Ron Fletcher style of Pilates, I paid a  visit to Pat Guyton Pilates, Inc, a studio in the Boulder, Colorado foothills that educates students and teachers in the Ron Fletcher Work. Guyton who is also Vice President of the Pilates Method Alliance, showed me around the studio, which she shares with  Jonathan Oldham Physical Therapy. After the quick tour, we got to work.

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