How Dance led me to Pilates...

Local Pilates teacher Nicola tells us about her introduction to Pilates and the health benefits it has given her, inspiring her to become a Pilates teacher.

“The mind when housed within a healthy body, possesses a glorious sense of power”

I know it may sound like a cliche, but I was born to dance. Nothing would have stopped me from living my dream of making a career as a professional dancer; except one thing... Injury.

Once I proved, through hard work, that I was good enough, I gained a place at the famous Sylvia Young Stage School in London. At 14 years old, that’s where the hard work and 100 percent dedication really began. Then at the age of 16, I successfully auditioned for London Studios, a dance college where I completed a diploma in Musical Theatre.

Naturally, the physical demands on a dancer’s body are extremely high, and as a result, my college offered Pilates as a form of rehabilitation. This is where my education regarding physiology began. Through my own injury experiences, I learnt how to protect and strengthen my muscles and joints.

I went on to have a career as a professional dancer, which took me to many different parts of the world and eventually gained me my Equity Actors membership.

I later put my professional dancing career on hold whilst I had my young family. Despite not dancing full time, my passion for remaining fit and healthy continued, and so I decided to start teaching and share my knowledge and passion for exercise with others. I qualified as a fitness professional in the mid-nineties and enjoyed teaching and choreographing classes in England. I then moved to the Isle of Man and continued to teach and exercise throughout all of my pregnancies.

Shortly after starting my new career I decided to focus on teaching the fundamentals of what had kept me relatively injury-free, mindful and overall healthy: PILATES.

This is something I have done for over 20 years now and constantly learning the techniques of the awareness of Pilates, continues to be a way of life for me, and one that I love passing on to others.