Joseph H. Pilates
Joseph Pilates, creator of the Pilates method, originally called, "Contrology," was of German origin, born on December 9th, 1883. As a child, he had asthma, rheumatic fever, among other physically debilitating conditions. His desire not to live a life limited by physical weakness, led him to become a dedicated follower of fitness. Pilates recalled watching animals move, noticing how they remained fit through their natural, daily movement and stretching. He studied Eastern forms of strength training, inspired by the Greco-Roman physical ideal, as well as the ancient Greek pursuit of a harmonious body, mind and spirit connection. With these influences, Joseph Pilates began to plant the seeds of what would become the Pilates Method of Body Conditioning.
Living in England during World War I, being a German national, Mr. Pilates was interned in a British Enemy Citizens’ Camp on the Isle of Man. There, he began to teach his fellow, often, injured, detainees the exercises that had restored his strength as a boy. For those who were bedridden, Mr. Pilates created and attached a spring system to their hospital beds, calling it a Bednasium. This way, even those who could not be on their feet would still be able to progress in regaining strength. For many soldiers, this gave them a post-war body that was stronger than their pre-war body. Not only that, but a flu epidemic that affected all countries involved in World War I did not affect or infect any of the soldiers partaking in Pilates’ exercise methodology. This ability of Mr. Pilates to work with and around an injury and still give an effective workout remains a revolutionary, unique component of the modern-day Pilates Method. His work on the Isle of Man also exemplified the connection between physical fitness and the strength of one’s immune system.
After World War I, Mr. Pilates returned to Hamburg, Germany. He continued to develop what was becoming the Pilates Method, using it to train the Hamburg police force. Either because of worsening economic conditions in Germany and/or pressure to train the German army, Mr. Pilates emigrated to the U.S. in 1925/26, settling in NYC. He met his wife, Clara, on the boat to America, and once they were stateside, Mr. Pilates opened a studio called the Joseph H. Pilates Universal Gymnasium on 8th Avenue, dedicated to practicing & further development of his exercise method called “Contrology.”
In his NYC gym, located near Madison Square Garden, a former boxer himself, Mr. Pilates trained professional boxers. A key component of this training was initiating thrown punches from what Mr. Pilates called the "Powerhouse," the mid-region of the body that houses the body's "core," or "center."
The building where the Joseph H. Pilates Universal Gymnasium was located also possessed dance rehearsal studios and, with time, injured dancers were seeking Mr. Pilates' help. This led to his eventual association with George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet. “Uncle Joe,” as Mr. Balanchine called him, worked with injured professional dancers who were looking to maintain their strength while recovering, as well as address the physical underdevelopment that led to their injury.
As physical fitness became more fashionable, so did Joe. Socialites began to flock to him for assistance with their physical upkeep. In 1965, Geraldine Stutz, then the president of Henri Bendel’s department store, had a Pilates studio installed next to the Paul Mitchell hair salon, on the 6th floor of the original Bendel’s. The studio remained there, run by one of Mr. Pilates’ original students, Kathy Grant, until 1988.
After Joseph Pilates’ death in 1967, Clara, who had always been an integral part of her husband’s studio, took over. She, along with Romana Kryzanowska, Mr. Pilates’ “star pupil” and former Balanchine dancer, ran the studio for another ten years, which is when Clara passed.
When the original Pilates studio closed for good, there were a number of Mr. Pilates’s former students who had decided to make it their life’s work to further Mr. Pilates’ legacy and teach Pilates themselves. These former students eventually became known as the “Pilates Elders.”
Naturally, each of the Elders possessed a different body, with different issues and, during their time working with Mr. Pilates, were each given slightly different exercises. Therefore, as they have passed along their Pilates work to their students, each of the Elders has created a unique Pilates “lineage.” While the principles remain consistent among the lineages, some of the exercises you see in one lineage, you won’t see in another. This unfortunately has led to confusion as to what “is” Pilates and what “isn’t.” It is important though to not lose sight of how meaningful the Pilates Elders are. Were there just one Elder, it would have been difficult to perpetuate the method. Ten of Mr. Pilates’ students were so positively influenced by the Pilates method, that not only did they keep the method from dying with its creator, but they guided the Pilates method into the mainstream so that all of us non-dancers, non-boxers, non-socialites, and non-German police officers, could too reap its benefits.
