Why did you start taking Pilates classes?
As a dancer, I did “Pilates” before modern dance classes. But didn’t know it was Pilates at the time.
What inspired you to become a Certified Peak Pilates Instructor and then a Peak Pilates Master Instructor?
I met a wonderful woman, Becky, who inspired me to audition for an “MVe” Teacher Trainer. Started as an MVe Instructor in 2008.
What do you love about teaching Pilates classes?
How it makes people feel.
What is your favorite apparatus?
Not sure anymore – like all of them.
What makes Pilates such a great workout?
It’s flow!
Share a memory from your experience as a teacher/coach/presenter that embodies the value of being a Certified Peak Pilates Instructor or Peak Pilates Master Instructor?
Just recently actually! In Saudi Arabia – sharing the joy of Pilates with the women there.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about becoming a Certified Peak Pilates Instructor?
Do it! It could change your life in so many positive ways!
What’s one of your favorite motivational quotes?
Never give up. The present is the future.
Do you have a hero in the Pilates community, someone who deserves recognition for their leadership?
My hero in the Pilates community is someone who doesn’t know about Pilates yet, and comes into a class for their first time, with an open mind and heart – and allows Pilates into their life.
Is there anything about you that would surprise people?
Lots of things! I love to surf – and can’t wait to move back to the ocean.
What year did you join the Peak Pilates Master Instructor Team?
MVe Team in 2008.
Where do you teach Pilates classes and/or Pilates Certifications/ Continuing Education workshops:
Still trying to organize a Peak Pilates training in the US. I currently teach at the “Movement Studio” in Santa Fe, NM, as well as the Santa Fe Community College as adjunct faculty.
In 1999-2000, Sarah began incorporating Pilates-based exercises into her own injury-prevention and rehabilitative work, and shortly thereafter, was introduced to Pilates Mat at the American Dance Festival in 2001. In 2001, while a student at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Sarah studied dance kinesiology, and dance science. She researched the science and kinesiology of the dancing body, and widened and deepened her own kinesthetic and somatic understanding of the body. Additionally, her graduate work at Mills College examined somatic practices that included Ideokinesis, the Bartenieff Fundamentals, Feldenkrais, and the Alexander Technique. Her enthusiasm for dance kinesiology inspired Sarah to pursue more rigorous studies in physical therapy and anatomy. Since then, she has completed a comprehensive Pilates certification through Polestar Pilates (2004), and Peak Pilates Level One (2009), and more recently certified with the PMA (2011). In 2011, she developed a Private Pilates Program at the Santa Monica, CA, YMCA where she volunteered teaching Pilates since 2005. In March of 2013, Sarah completed her PhD in Dance History and Theory at the University of California, Riverside. Her dissertation examined issues surrounding race, class, and gender in Pilates. These topics have been recently adapted for a book, to be published in 2016, by the Wesleyan University Press. Its working title is Reforming Pilates: Ballet, Masculinity, and the Construction of a Gendered Practice, and critically examines issues surrounding gender, performance, and bodily agency in the Pilates practice. Sarah works as a Peak Pilates as an MVe Teacher Trainer (2008), and more recently as a Master Instructor for the Peak Pilates Comprehensive Certification Level One course and teaches for Peak both nationally and internationally. This past summer, Sarah taught Pilates at the American Dance Festival (July 2014) and reaffirmed her belief that everyone must learn how to better care for, strengthen, and work with their bodies. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Scripps College, Claremont, CA, an M.A. in Dance from Mills College, Oakland, CA, and holds an AFAA Group Fitness Instructor Certification and ACE Personal Trainer Certification. Her future research endeavors include examining issues in Dance Science and Medicine and deepening her work in the embodied cultural and racial issues in Pilates and physical culture.
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