Continuing Education Weekend
October 5 & 6, 2024
Absolute Pilates is excited to host Sonjé Mayo, Lori Coleman-Brown, and Victoria Torrie-Capan in Nashville, TN for a weekend of classes dedicated to moving your personal practice forward.
Nashville Pilates Events curates continuing education events for busy studio owners and teachers, our goal is to help fill your cup. We will give you a weekend to nourish your body with movement, replenish your passion for teaching, meet and connect with other like-minded teachers and business owners.
The weekend will include 10 hours of educational workshops geared toward leveling up your teaching skills. Workshops will be led by industry educators Lori Coleman-Brown, Sonje Mayo and Victoria Torrie-Capan, addressing subjects which are relevant to the success of your clients individual practices. Daily workout classes will keep your body motivated, too.
By the end of the weekend your muscles will be sore, your body will feel vibrant, and your mind will be restored. You will experience new exercises, unique variations on exercises you are already familiar with, and be surrounded by people passionate about Pilates. Moving with a group can be an intoxicating experience, the energy of the group will push you to a place that can sometimes be hard to reach working out on your own.
The weekend includes a professional networking breakfast so you can connect with other studio owners and teachers. Community makes us stronger together and we want you to be a part of our Nashville Pilates community.
Join us October 5 & 6 at Absolute Pilates in Nashville, TN.
Questions? Please email us a nashvillepilatesevents@gmail.com and we would love to help you.
Weekend Workshops
Transitions on the Reformer with Sonje Mayo
Often neglected or overlooked, but a determining factor in the level of skill in your client’s workout are the transitions. Sonje will share the classical transitions between exercises as well as ones she learned from Joe. Learn when it is appropriate to teach certain transitions and why this is a key factor to the skills of an advanced practitioner.
Reformer on the Cadillac/Tower with Sonje Mayo
If you want to challenge your intermediate to advanced clients, this workshop will inspire you. Transposing the Reformer exercises to the Cadillac/Tower will bring a new perspective to the sometimes elusive goals of the reformer exercises. Sonje will share her own unique variations of the reformer exercises on the Cadillac as well as some more well known variations.
Shut the Box: Relationship of the Lower Limbs to to Powerhouse with Victoria Torrie-Capan
This workshop will explore the relationship of the lower limbs to the powerhouse to better understand how the position of the pelvis, muscles of the hips and pelvic floor relate to feet and knees. Often, teachers ask clients to move their legs “from their powerhouse” without a good comprehension of what the mechanics of this statement truly mean. In her true style, Victoria will break down the choreography of the Pilates exercises into segmental movement skills to build a more comprehensive understanding of how to teach your client better movement patterns. Learn how to use segmental strengthening and global exercises to train your client with less words and more movement.
Bridging the Gap: Transitioning Clients Through the Levels of the Classical Pilates System with Victoria Torrie-Capan
In traditional Classical Pilates training programs, students are taught 3 levels of repertoire: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. These levels were created by modern training programs in an effort to organize the vast choreography of exercises created and developed by Joseph Pilates and First generation teachers who trained under him. This workshop is designed to help students better understand the organization of the classical Pilates repertoire, when and how to change the order of exercises to progress or challenge their clients.
Pilates Equipment Safety and Maintenance Fundamentals with Regina Arras
Regina will walk you through everything you need to know about your Pilates equipment, the tools you should have in your studio to maintain your equipment and understand how often it should be serviced and what needs to be maintained. Preventative care of your equipment will keep it moving smoothly and safely for your clients.
Reformer and Wunda Chair Workouts with Amy Berger
Amy brings over 20 years of Pilates training to her classes. In recent years, Amy has gained an appreciation and passion for teaching teachers. Amy helps her students achieve their goals by thinking outside the box with cues and progressions, while still respecting and maintaining the Classical Pilates principles. Amy encourages her students in a challenging yet fun way, so that everyone who works with her can understand the essence of each exercise and gets the benefits of doing pilates safely and correctly. Amy will lead small equipment classes.
Pilates Business Networking Event
Pilates instructors spend a lot of time on their training but learning to share your vision, expertise, and passion in a succinct manner is how to attract new clients and business relationships. We will provide an outline to help you craft a pitch which you can practice sharing with other Pilates pros. Develop new relationships in a relaxed friendly atmosphere.
Weekend Presenters
Victoria Torrie-Capan
Pilates Instructor / Owner Studio 66
Victoria Torrie-Capan is the owner of Studio 66, a boutique fitness studio in Nashville, TN. Her core values as a teacher trainer and business owner, is to elevate the education and professionalism of the Pilates teacher. Victoria is engaged with the Pilates industry traveling internationally to train teachers as well with workshops and mentorships. Victoria began studying Pilates in 2002 at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2004 with extensive coursework incorporating Dance Therapy, Psychology, Anatomy and Kinesiology. Victoria completed her Pilates certification through Romana’s Pilates in 2005.
Victoria also is a certified ELDOA trainer and student of world renowned osteopath Dr Guy VOYER and has been training under him since 2016. Victoria deliveries the Pilates system through an effective combination of strong cues and client-specific adjustments, empowering each individual to achieve their unique goal.
Victoria guides her clients in building movement strategies. She systematically develops specific movement patterns educating the body through the various environments of Pilates apparatus. Victoria resides in Nashville, TN with her family. Her children Theo and Rosie inspire her continued journey as a movement educator.
Sonjé Mayo
Pilates Instructor/Owner Pilates Atelier
Sonjé Mayo was born in South Africa in 1945. After certifying as a physical therapist at the University of Cape Town, her career as a professional dancer took her to the USA in 1965 where she studied jazz dance initially with Luigi and then contemporary dance at the Martha Graham School. Ms. Graham insisted her students take class with Joseph Pilates and Sonjé followed her advice. The many Pilates sessions she had with Joseph Pilates, his wife Clara and Romana Kryzanowska proved to have a profound influence on Sonjé’s future.
During the four years she spent working as a dancer in NYC, Sonjé danced with the Alvin Ailey Company and this experience in particular inspired her to return to South Africa to pioneer modern dance in her country. On her return to South Africa in 1972, Sonjé formed the first multi-racial modern dance company in the history of South Africa, JAZZART, which is still in existence in Cape Town.
Sonje’s unique style of blending contemporary dance with African dynamics, became her trademark and led to worldwide acclaim for JAZZART. During the 70’s and 80’s Sonjé’s protest choreography brought the plight of Apartheid to audiences in and out of South Africa.
Sonjé returned to the USA in 1995 and settled in Nashville where her husband was offered a post at Vanderbilt University. In 2003 she retired from dance and returned to Pilates on a full time basis. Sonjé runs her own studio, The Pilates Atelier, in Nashville, where she has been teaching for 10 years.
Lori Coleman-Brown
Lori teaches Pilates lessons and trains, tests and mentors Pilates instructors. She’s responsible for Atlas Pilates educational program development and management.
A dancer from childhood, she pursued and earned a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy from Temple University. Her decades of experience include providing physical therapy for professional dance companies and backstage on Broadway shows in New York and Seattle, staff physical therapy positions and partnership in a successful PT clinic.
In the early 1980’s Lori was sent to Joseph Pilates protégeé Romana Kryzanowska by a dance instructor in order to deal with a knee injury. The knee healed completely, and Lori became captivated by The Pilates Method. By 1986 she was teaching Pilates and in 1999 was honored when Romana asked her to be a Pilates Teacher Trainer.
In 1993, Lori moved to the Pacific Northwest to co-found The Pilates Studio of Seattle (now known as Pilates Seattle International) where she served as a Director for 16 years and successfully trained more than a hundred new Pilates instructors. Lori ultimately reached Master Teacher Trainer status (Level II) in the Romana’s Pilates organization.
A featured instructor on Pilatesology, Lori also tours and teaches Pilates and Anatomy in studios of all sizes in Austria, Australia, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, and across the United States.
Lori stepped away from studio ownership in order to focus on her teaching and is now happily working at Atlas Pilates in Seattle. She learns something new every day while helping her clients get stronger, more flexible and happier by using the Pilates Method.
