Pilates Spaces and Stories : 3rd Quarter

Below are the 3rd quarter finalists in our Share your Space contest. Finalists are chosen each quarter and are qualified to win a Grand prize at year end. A total of four Grand Prize winners are chosen each January, from all finalists selected during the preceding year. Each Grand Prize winner receives a $1,000 USD gift certificate from Balanced Body.

We would love to hear from you, too. More details on how to enter »

Congratulations to our finalists, and thanks for sharing!

Pilates Spaces Finalists

• Beautiful Studio
• Creative Design on a Budget
• Creative Design in a Small Space

Pilates Success Stories Finalists

• Community Service
• Marketing Success
• Launch or Expansion Success
• Launch or Expansion Success, 20+ Year Legacy

PILATES SPACES

Finalists: Beautiful Studio

Studio Evolve
Seattle, Washington

Mercury Fitness
San Francisco, California

Finalist: Creative Design on a Budget

Informed Body
San Francisco, California

Finalist: Creative Design in a Small Space

Jonny Pilates, LLC
San Diego, California

SUCCESS STORIES

Finalist: Community Service

Community Service through Pilates
On June 16, 2007, the Pilates community of Montreal rallied together to raise money for a spunky 5 year old named Stephanie or ‘Stephie’ as she likes to be called. In her five short years, Stephie has lived through countless surgeries and doctors are still unable to explain her pain or medical complications. She is no longer able to eat or drink anything. I realized how much she and her family needed help and began to think of fundraising ideas. I’d been a volunteer at many such events, but never the organizer, and did not want to get in over my head. Osteopathy and Pilates are my business and my passion so I decided to use what I know in order to have a hope at success. Plans to host a Pilates Mat-A-Thon began.

I approached 9 colleagues from different Montreal studios to donate time to teach at the event; they generously and enthusiastically agreed. Instructors represented their studios well, with a wide variety of personalities and teaching styles The day promoted health, wellness and camaraderie, with a true sense of sharing, community, professionalism and coming together for a common goal. For $50 per ticket, over 200 participants tried one or several 30-minute mat classes. 45 volunteers helped provide food, drink, door prizes and chair massage plus a silent auction. Every item needed for the event was donated and 100% of the proceeds went straight to Stephie’s Fund. We were proud to present Stephie’s family with a cheque for $43,761.18.

The event was such a huge success that we’ve decided to make it the first annual Montreal Pilates Mat-A-Thon. Whether we continue to raise money for Stephanie, or choose a different charity each time, the Pilates community will band together to host this amazing event on a yearly basis. I encourage other studios to do the same.

Core Basics, Centre d’osteopathie et de Pilates
Kirkland, Quebec, Canada

Finalist: Marketing Success

Successful, creative marketing to keep a studio going through thick or thin
We opened in the summer of 2003 in a 10x20 room with six reformers. Our very small studio grew with great equipment, great teachers and great marketing. In subsequent years we survived a fire, evacuation due to Hurricane Rita, and embezzlement from an office manager, all of which made us the strong vibrant studio we are today.

Not only did we have to rebuild clientele following these setbacks, we had to do it during our slow summer months! To begin, we advertised on a billboard – expensive, but it worked! We also mailed $20 coupons and gift cards to all our former clients to entice them back. That was the last slow summer we had. This past summer was very busy with no low times but rather an explosion of growth. We hold 60 classes a week and have a waiting list!

To bring in new students, we sell t-shirts with our studio name printed on them, at a very low cost, as an additional type of “billboard” advertising. To make the studio a visible presence in the community, we use Pilates to promote breast cancer awareness, donate to local schools, Toys for Tots, etc.

We also work hard to retain our clients. This fall we began a reward program for those who stayed committed in the slow summer months, and it was a big success. We also have specials where we provide complimentary water, fruit, and classes.

Fantastic students, instructors and staff make the studio what it is. No fire, wind, or rain could keep us down! Having faith in what we do for the people we serve is what keeps us going…and going…and going.

The Pilates Studio of Friendswood
Friendswood, Texas

Finalist: Launch or Expansion Success

From the CIA to Pilates!
During the last 10 years of my 34-year career at CIA headquarters in Virginia, they began offering lunchtime exercise classes to encourage employee fitness. The instructor was wonderful, and I began taking mat Pilates twice a week. I immediately noticed a difference in the way I looked and felt, and vowed that I would teach Pilates as a second career.

After retiring in 2001, I attended a beginning mat certification course and began teaching at a local health club. It was extremely rewarding. I saw first-hand how Pilates can help people when, on the morning of 9/11, members still wanted to take their classes to help center themselves.

That fall, I began a full mat and equipment certification program in Washington, D.C., and one thing led to another. My first Balanced Body purchase was an Allegro reformer, then a Wunda Chair, and eventually a Cadillac.

In 2002 I opened my own studio, The Pilates Spot. It was such a success that I had to turn away new students. I recently moved to Delaware and built a 700 square foot, sprung wood floor studio in the lower level of my house. It’s not open quite yet, but there’s been plenty of buzz and I anticipate teaching small mat classes of 4-6 students in addition to private lessons. I have finally found my passion, not to mention the reward of seeing others grow stronger and flexible, with improved breath, control and balance!

The Pilates Spot
Milton, Delaware

Finalist: Launch or Expansion Success, 20+ Year Legacy

A 20+ year commitment to Joe’s legacy
I have been practicing Pilates for over half my life and teaching for 24 years; I guess I’m an “old timer” or a second-generation teacher. While a member of the Frankfurt Ballet in the mid-1970’s, I enjoyed the wonderful challenges of the Balanchine repertoire, but began to have knee “issues.” Only after moving to California to join the Los Angeles Ballet in 1978, did I discover Pilates at the Ron Fletcher Studio for Body Contrology. The work was a revelation to me; I learned to breathe, found my “center” and began to rehabilitate my knees. I am forever indebted to my teachers, Ron Fletcher, Diane Severino and Michael Podwal. By 1984, they asked me to teach! There were no certification programs at that time, rather I had absorbed the work by being in the studio daily, practicing and observing my teachers at work.

Twenty years ago, August 1987, I opened Studio du Corps/The Pilates Center of Orange County with one Reformer in a tiny room within a local dance studio. The work was unknown south of Los Angeles and I began with only 2-4 clients per week. Gradually, through word of mouth, I developed a base clientele who became devoted to the work. I bought more equipment, enlarging my little space and eventually moving to my present location.

Studio du Corps currently sees 100+ clients per week in both private and small group format, employs 6 instructors and offers a teacher training/certification program. Not only do we have a waiting list for new students, but many original clients have remained with me since 1987!

I can’t quite believe how Pilates has grown! Joe knew what he was doing!

Studio du Corps/The Pilates Center of Orange County
Orange County, CA