A dancer’s investment in improving over time is unparalleled, and each class is an opportunity to hone. This commitment to growth and progress, along with keen body awareness and attention to detail, is why dancers also excel as Pilates and Gyrotonic teachers. “I’ve always loved movement and body mechanics,” says Everly Bryant, a professional dancer, Pilates instructor, and founder and studio director of the Pilates Certification Program. “When I observe someone’s body patterns, I use my dance experience and vision of the dancer to understand how the person is moving and how the tools of Pilates can help them make better adjustments. Understand what you can create.”
move accurately
Dancers tend to demonstrate Pilates exercises very well as a result of their training, conditioning, and awareness of the details of their movements. Bryant found that the deep knowledge of the body and movement patterns he had developed as a dancer was essential to teaching Pilates. “I’ve been memorizing choreography for decades, both in performance and in class,” she says. “Classical Pilates has over 530 exercises. Trying to memorize 530 random facts can be overwhelming, but arranging them in a choreographed sequence makes them more accessible.”
Similarly, dancers experience that their bodies gradually become warmer and stronger as they take dance classes. “The same thing happens in Pilates classes,” Bryant says. “Start with relatively simple exercises and work your way up to more difficult and complex movements.”
Founded by Joseph Pilates during World War I to rehabilitate injured and sick prisoners of war, Pilates uses principles from physical therapy, yoga, and gymnastics to provide a comprehensive approach to movement and movement. We are creating a new approach. Bryant credits Pilates with advancing her own career as a dancer. “I was a very mobile dancer and had chronic dislocations,” she says. “Pilates has helped me become very stable.”
Teaching also provides a way for dancers to work in fields more directly related to their passion for movement. “You can make money doing work that actually impacts your dancing,” Bryant said, explaining that many of his dancing friends had side jobs at restaurants or retail stores. “Teaching Pilates gives me the opportunity to communicate health to my own body while also helping others move better. It gives me a career that is directly related to health, wellness and exercise. ”
strength of spiral
Karen Safrit can draw directly from her own dance training and teaching to her success as a Gyrotonic teacher. Safrit, who was a figure skater when she was a child, later danced professionally with Nikolai and Murray Lewis Dance. She decided to get certified to teach Gyrotonic over 10 years ago as an asset to teach in her college dance program. She was instantly impressed. “Dancers are generally unaware of how to achieve the strength of their movements because it’s not often talked about in ballet or modern classes,” Safrit says. She says, “The Gyrotonic Expansion System focuses on giving people the ability to strengthen their entire body and identify what they can do to achieve that strength and balance.”
The Gyrotonic Expansion System was created by Giuliu Horvath, a former principal dancer with the Romanian National Ballet. He emigrated from Romania and settled in the United States, where he was a principal dancer in the Houston Ballet Company. After his Achilles tendon rupture ended his acting career, he moved to New York City and developed gyrotonic and gyrokinesis exercises. For Safrit, who also studied Pilates while earning a master’s degree in dance at New York University, gyrotonic exercises are “more three-dimensional, with more spirals in all four limbs.”
Safrit finds that teaching fits well into many dancers’ schedules. “Most dancers work at night if they are performing, and take classes at night if the city doesn’t have open classes during the day. Many of those who practice Gyrotonic do I’m looking for a session.”
The instruction also utilizes the skill of concentration that many dancers possess. “I remember when I was dancing professionally, class was where all my worries of the day disappeared and my only concern was dancing,” Safrit says. “My client today said there is a similar joy in Gyrotonic. It requires concentration on each movement, but this mindfulness is much easier to achieve in a busy life full of distractions and screens. It gives people an hour of concentration that they often forget.” Differentiate between the pressures of life outside the studio and an hour of travel inside the studio. Dancers understand that joy. ”
education certification
To teach Gyrotonic, which is trademarked, you must become a certified trainer. The Gyrotonic certification includes a pre-training course, a foundation course, an apprenticeship, and a final certificate/assessment and costs just under $5,000. Continuing education credits must be taken every two years and cost between $400 and $1,000, and instructors are also required to carry their own liability insurance (approximately $160 per year). Masu. A Gyrotonic instructor typically charges clients her $100 to $175 for a one-hour private session.
“Legally Pilates is considered a common term, meaning anyone can open a Pilates studio and start training teachers,” explains Everly Bryant, adding that dancers must be certified before teaching. We strongly recommend that you obtain the . She recommends looking for an established program with instructors who have extensive experience in teacher training. Bryant acknowledges that earning certification can be expensive, with “some programs costing more than $10,000 for comprehensive training,” but most teachers points out that you can earn many times more than your training costs.
There are ways to reduce or spread costs. Bryant oversees the studio, which offers work-study positions and internships. “People can pay for their training while still earning an income,” she says.
