PILATES UPDATE
Some of you may recall the recent evaluation that I wrote on the "Pilates"
method of conditioning. Well, since then, I have received some very logical
and professionally responsive letters and some highly emotional and personal
attacks on me for daring to suggest that Pilates should be subjected to
scientific scrutiny.
The different players all claim to offer the 'best' and 'only' official form
of Pilates training, some stating that Joseph Pilates himself did not even
start a highly commercialised "Pilates method". Conservative teachers
stress that the current craze is the financially motivated offspring of
various individuals trying to cash in on what Joseph wanted to simply share
with others out of the sheer joy of having developed something that he found
to be valuable with dancers and others who came to his early studio in New
York.
He did not even conceive of the idea of formal "Pilates Certification", which
apparently was devised as a financial venture only fairly recently. The
corporation, "Pilates Studio", was formed only in 1970 and drifted fairly
rapidly towards near bankruptcy before the end of that decade, not long after
Joseph's widow, Clara, passed away. In the late 1980s, one of Pilates'
early pupils, Romana Kryzanowska, established an informal certification
program for her version of "Pilates," but the certification was never
formalized and did not require any continuing education.
It was after that period that several different entrepreneurs moved in to see
if they could each take exclusive control over the Pilates method or their
interpretation of it, but no finality was ever reached. Consequently, the
problems multiplied and have now reached the stage of some bitter court
actions
The class action is just in the process of getting started. A complaint has
been filed and answered, but discovery, namely the taking of depositions and
the turning over of documents, has yet to begin. At the centre of the action
is a latecomer to the Pilates scene, Sean Gallagher, co-author with Romana
Kryzanowska, of a popular book "The Pilates Method Of Body Conditioning" .
Gallagher is aligned against a very large group of other "Pilates"
instructors and studios, a situation that has underlined the fact that there
are many variants of the "Pilates" method and that the 600 hour courses
offered through Romana Kryzanowska are by no means universally accepted or
recognised as the definite and sole educational source of "Pilates" training.
It is a shame that commercialisation and personal agendas have taken such
great precedence over the innovative and joyful conditioning system that
Joseph Pilates loved sharing with his earliest pupils. No doubt the Press
will carry a considerable amount of detail when the courts eventually decide
how the legacy of Joseph Pilates will continue.
For those who may be interested in the current status of the "Pilates"
situation and some additional topics, see the following websites:
http://www.balancedbody.com/nameuse.html
http://www.pilates-cancel.com/mccmls.htm (Court Deposition and History)
http://www.pilates-cancel.com/FAQ.htm (Pilates FAQ)
http://www.fitnesslink.com/fitpro/stott.shtml (Stott Version of Pilates)
http://www.stottconditioning.com/pilinfo.html (Stott Version of Pilates)
Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
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