Why Dancers Love the Pilates Method of Exercise

Why Dancers Love Pilates

Why do dancers in particular love the Pilates Method of Exercise? 

About 80 some odd years ago, Joseph Pilates, a trained nurse, developed an exercise program to help his patients in their recovery from illness and injury.

His program has morphed into the now popular Pilates Method of Exercise, an exercise program that uses fluid movement to strengthen muscles and increase flexibility. 

When he was a child, Joseph Pilates caught many illnesses, including the serious Rheumatic Fever.  After he began to recover from some of these illnesses, Pilates began to look for a way to get stronger through exercise.  He dabbled in many activities to find the right mix for his exercise program, including boxing, gymnastics, and even circus performing.  As he performed in each of these disciplines, he gleaned the movements that he liked and that helped him to grow stronger in flexibility and movement and then added them to his regimen. 

Joseph Pilates soon began to use his methods to help others during and after World War I.  During the war, Pilates worked as a nurse in an internment camp in England and began to use his very strict exercise methods with his recovering patients in their rehabilitation regimens.  The authorities over the camp began to notice that, although the Spanish influenza outbreak had ravaged most of the inmates in the camp, the patients who had been using Pilates' method of exercise survived the disease.  Because of this, Joseph Pilates' method came to the attention of many, including Adolf Hitler, who wanted Pilates to train his new army.  Pilates, who was of German descent decided to turn down Hitler's offer and instead immigrated to the United States.

It was in the United States that Joseph Pilates met his wife, Clara, a trained nurse.  They later opened up their own exercise studio and began to teach the exercise method that Pilates had been perfecting his whole life.  Pilates and his wife began to teach anyone and everyone who came into their studios by restoring their health and well-being.  However, soon they began to be recognized as the ones who could help dancers and theatre people to restore the overused muscles of dancers and theatre people. 

The Pilates Method of Exercise was used to help many dancers recover from injuries and to help with general physical fitness and stamina.  After a time, Joseph Pilates developed specialized Pilates machines and equipment that was used in the Pilates Method.  The machines and equipment were also used to improve the client's flexibility, muscle tone and balance.  The word soon spread and Pilates began to gain a reputation as the place where people went when they were serious about physical fitness. 

Today Pilates is known as one of the most effective but safest methods of exercise to get that physically fit body.  Many movie stars like Julia Roberts, Madonna, and Brooke Shields and other famous people have begun use the Pilates Method and to praise it as an effective way to get results.  Because these celebrities with their perfectly toned physiques have been in the public eye singing the praises of Pilates to the general public, everyone has become familiar with or interested in Pilates. 

The Pilates Method of Exercise manages to get great results by integrating the mind and the body.  Participants in the Pilates Method use small, precise, repetitious movements that strengthen the core muscles of the back, abdomen, shoulders, and pelvis.  This type of exercise adds flexibility, while improving muscle tone and posture.  The Pilates Method is a great way to build longer and leaner muscles, not the bulky muscles of the standard bodybuilder. 

If you are new to exercise or if you have been exercising for years and are looking for a good way to bump up your program, the Pilates Method of Exercise is a great way to accomplish your exercise goals.  Dancers find the Pilates Method to be one of the best to help them build agility, balance and strength, all essential for dance.  If the program is good for dancers, it is great for the rest of us.