About Beth
Having recently relocated to Portland, Beth is a fully-certified, classical Pilates instructor and former professional dancer. She has been a teacher of movement for 27 years, and she has worked with a wide range of clientele, including celebrities, dancers, actors, children, pre/post natal women, senior citizens, and people with disabilities, among others.
Beth began her movement studies as a young dancer and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and Dance from James Madison University. In 2002, she relocated to New York City to pursue her dreams of a professional dance career. Shortly after her relocation, she was introduced to Pilates through a friend’s recommendation and discovered a passion for it that complemented her dance background well.
In addition to having the dance background, Beth also had the anatomy background she needed to understand the healing proponents of Pilates and she caught on quickly. As part of her degree program at JMU, she took courses in anatomy and kinesiology, studying it initially with cadavers and afterward with skeletal models as well as live bodies. Immediately after being introduced to the Pilates Method, she noticed that despite her constant dance training, her body and performances became even stronger than ever before. She also noticed that her chronic dance injuries began to heal within a few sessions, a testiment to the fact that movement heals!
In 2005, Beth decided to get her Mat Certification through Dance Space Center, after which she immediately began teaching private clients. After seeing immediate results with her clients, her passion for movement and anatomy steered her to obtain a more complete Pilates background, so she decided to embark upon the comprehensive 600 hour certification program at Power Pilates under the tutelage of Susan Moran and Bob Liekens.
Immediately after having finished the comprehensive program, Power Pilates hired Beth as an instructor, where she taught for 5 years and became a senior trainer in addition to her other work of performing, teaching at various places, and of directing the dance program at Greenwich House Music School. After working at Power Pilates, Beth relocated to Milan, Italy, where she continued to teach Pilates, first to English-speaking expats and later, she acquired the ability to teach also in Italian.
Her experience in the dance field has given her a deep knowledge and understanding of the body and has given her the ability to clearly communicate to clients, making Pilates more tangible. Having performed and taught extensively throughout the United States for Monica Bill Barnes and Company, Cora Dance, Kelly Bartnik, Donna Costello, and Human Company, among others, Pilates has helped her remain injury free. Beth is passionate for the classical method, created by Joseph Pilates, simply because she has never seen another movement system that heals the body and mind so completely.