Sonje mayo biography

She has won many choreographic awards in South Africa, including the coveted Vita Award twice. Her unique style of blending contemporary dance with African dynamics, became her trademark. Amongst her many achievements in SA, she introduced contemporary dance at the Johannesburg Art School, the most prominent school for the performing arts. In she commenced her equipment certification with Peak Pilates.

Dancers and athletes with injuries are recommended to her by the medical fraternity and other Pilates teachers in Nashville. It usually takes years to complete the PT degree, but I got it in 3. Dancers in South Africa usually went to London because South Africa used to be a British colony and people were more familiar with London dance schools.

I have very long legs, and I assumed that teachers in America understood long levers better because they had so many tall leggy ballet dancers. So I went to my anatomy professor, but his knowledge was limited to anatomy, and nothing about movement. When I arrived at the registration desk, the lady told me she didn't see my name. Keep in mind there was no internet back in those days, so I explained that my father had sent a telegram but didn't hear back, but still paid the fee.

I even started to cry, and she told me to just to calm down and go in. When I returned to South Africa, my father dutifully wired the money after hearing about my ruse. She started opening some doors for me and I soon realized why she was such a renowned teacher. She assured us that we would learn more about the body from him than anybody else.

I will never forget when I first saw Joe. Here was this man in his 80s with beautiful silver hair standing upright with a twinkle in his eye. He had this charm that reeled you in and he was such an amazing teacher. I remember that first lesson well.

Sonje mayo biography

He was so clear and concise. You didn't miss a thing and no one's attention wavered. After class, I was speaking German with Christina to practice my language skills near the water fountain. Joe heard us and came down to ask if we were from Germany and asked our names. He looked at me and said, "That's a Jewish name. I am honored to teach someone Jewish because of our history in Germany.

We spent two weeks in Jacob's Pillow. I didn't want to single him out and bombard him with my questions, but I knew this man was going to be one to help me. He had such knowledge of anatomy and applied sonje mayo biography and was just way ahead of anyone I have ever met. I had to go back and finish my education, but I told Joe that I would come back.

Six months later, I completed my certification as a Physical Therapist. I got on the plane to the States immediately. I have many questions. By the time I met him, he had mellowed considerably. I got the impression that he was often depressed because Contrology had not taken off like he had envisioned, sadly because he was his own worst enemy.

He would get very irritated if his students did not listen or concentrate. He would refuse to teach them or hand them over to Clara. Physicians who were students would frequently question him and it drove him mad. They would argue with him and question his anatomical reasoning. In terms of understanding the body in motion, Joe was so ahead of his time and he readily dismissed people who were not in sync with his thinking.

If this had been 20 years earlier, he would have told me to shut up. I only wanted to be a better dancer at the time and I was desperate for help. I needed to know why I could not be consistently good at ballet. I knew there had to be a formula Joe took one look at me and said, "Lie down on the mat, bend your knees, and put your feet flat on the mat.

Can you get you lower back down? Now that you are a PT and sonje mayo biography aware, tell me what else is wrong. I lay there for 5 minutes and finally said "I have a tight, short lower back and I cannot get my lower back down because my abdominals are too weak to override a tight psoas muscle. He asked me what I needed to do to fix this problem and I thought it over and realized I have to lengthen my lower back and strengthen my lower stomach.

I also have to stretch the front of my hip. You are going to be your own teacher. Joe was relentless in the way that he demanded my full engagement throughout the lesson. I was used to this kind of discipline in the ballet world, but he was a hard task master. When I had difficulty doing an exercise on the mat, he would use a piece of equipment to get results.

I could not see Joe as often as I wanted because I was working as a dancer and that was demanding in NYC with so much competition. I would only arrive at his studio late in the afternoon, sometimes at 7 o'clock at night to practice. He would be upstairs but he'd hear me enter and come down. I felt bad about disturbing him and Clara so late and told him and told him that I could work on my own, but he would brush me off and start teaching me with so much passion and energy despite being about 85 years old!!

What do you love about teaching Pilates and teaching clients? What about your training, teaching teachers, and how do you see yourself as a leader and influencer? I started my own studio and enjoyed working with people who had a plethora of problems. I often asked myself, "What would Joe do? I learned so much in that year with Joe that I could never have learned with any training.

It stuck with me. Joe did not have an order for the Reformer in those days- it was just you and the mat. That was the method. The rest of the equipment was to make your mat better. I always stress the mat in my studio. I love teaching Pilates because if one teaches it correctly and adheres to the principles of the method, every client gets results.

Pilates can be adapted to all bodies and ameliorate most problems. Pilates is for everybody. I can take an 80 year old woman and get the best out of her and I can challenge a young, fit person with the same method. I advise more young people to consider Pilates as a career. I have persuaded some young girls to use their college funds towards a good classical Pilates training.

It is a wonderful, rewarding and lucrative career. Due to the pandemic and global health emergencies, COVID has financially impacted the Pilates Community and particularly studio owners pretty hard - how are you dealing with the challenges? The pandemic has opened new doors for me. I have been so busy with great new challenges. Apart from teaching my own clients on Zoom, people have reached out to me from all five continents.

I have had the pleasure of teaching Pilates people of all levels from all over the world. I would never have had the time to do this pre-pandemic. I am a stickler for detail and I work hard to give everyone as much of my knowledge as possible. I am a hard taskmaster guess who I learned that from and nobody gets away with anything. These Zoom classes have helped a lot of people through depressing times and they have also given me new purpose and focus.

Also I have been able to perfect my personal practice which led to more creativity on various pieces of equipment. Having the time to try different ways of doing exercises has been a luxury. Sadly a few studios had to close due to financial reasons but I am sure those teachers have found a way to reach out to their clients virtually. I also have had the time and opportunity to see other teachers at work and I appreciate their different approaches and cues Adjusting to opening up studios again will be a gradual process.

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