PILATES AT THE PILLOW^® 101 Years of Contrology

Sept 24-26, 2027

Pilates at the Pillow^® is a three-day conference for pilates teachers at the historic Jacob’s Pillow and at Joe’s original studio in Becket, MA.

Joe’s Complete Archival Junior Reformer Parts 1 & 2

For the first time in modern Pilates history, Joe Pilates’ full, original Junior Reformer sequence will be taught in a comprehensive, workshop format on Junior Reformers replicated from the oldest original Junior Reformer to exist today.

The Workshop:

Following the original junior reformer sequencing documented by Joseph Pilates, we will learn the original names, exercises, and cues that he archived and intended for this workout.

This reformer workout differs from the archival and classical reformer workouts in that it follows a unique order and does not incorporate boxes or straps. Because Joe invented this series and apparatus for home use, he designed it to be less complicated than a studio workout.  At the same time, once learned, it provides a range of exercises that can be done by beginner to advanced students whether they are at home or in a studio setting.

Inspired by the enthusiasm received back in 2020 when Elaine Ewing first introduced the Junior Reformer Repertoire to the Pilates community through a weekly, virtual class, we are thrilled to finally bring this work full circle into a hands-on, in-person learning experience.  Like Elaine’s class, this workshop is based on negatives and other primary source documentation by Joe Pilates himself, preserved in Sean Gallagher’s Pilates Archives®,

The Apparatus:

In Pilates at The Pillow® tradition, this workshop will be the first of its kind to replicate apparatus from an archival and original piece from Sean Gallagher’s Pilates Museum™.  As usual, attendees at the conference will have the first opportunity in the Pilates community to experience the equipment and the work, staying ahead of what will inevitably trend ongoing.

The particular Junior Reformer being replicated for this workshop was once made by Atlas Athletic Equipment Company in the mid-1940s with Joseph Pilates. This will be the first time since Joe’s passing that these incredible home reformers will be made again as direct replicas from the original.

These historical pieces will be produced as limited run collectors’ items, complete with a one of a kind commemorative plaque which will be numbered- similar to the plaque that remains on Joe’s original.

Before It Was Codified: Romana’s Early Classical Pilates Mat Hands-On Techniques & Verbal Cues

Classical Exercises and Cues from Romana

The first fully comprehensive, classical pilates teacher training program and manual was developed by Romana Kryzanowska, Sean Gallagher, Pilates Inc®, and others in 1992. This set the standards in Pilates education ongoing. Before this, training seminars were taught more organically as apprentices took notes in their notebooks.

This time period marks the foundations of classical Pilates at its roots, from Romana herself when she first started teaching to teachers. Thankfully several of these early teacher training seminars were documented- forever preserving the vintage antidotes, verbal cues, and hands on techniques, many of which were handed down from Joe and Clara to Romana, and now from Sean to you.

For the first time ever, Romana’s early hands-on and verbal cues for the matwork have been compiled into a comprehensive, hands on learning experience in workshop form.

These techniques and personalized applications of how best to teach these mat exercises to students have been pulled from the vast collection of pilates historical recordings in Sean Gallagher’s Pilates Archives®, as well as from Sean’s personal and professional teaching relationship in working with and learning from Romana during these early developmental years of Pilates teacher training. They will inspire and deepen your teaching and practice in “new” ways connected to our collective pilates history.

Lecture: A Pilates Science Lecture on the Physics and Biomechanics Unique to Pilates

This lecture/workshop will explore the specific biomechanics related to both the body and the apparatus while working Joe’s Wā™. Sean will teach you the hows and whys of using wheels, springs, carriage, clips, straps, pulleys, bars, and handles in relation to open and closed chain skeletal integration while moving in gravity with the above elements of the apparatus.

Through this deeper understanding of Joe’s Contrology®, you will also gain a better insight towards the basic physics behind the work you do every day.

This workshop/lecture will combine lecture with hands-on teaching that transposes the ideology of the and physics biomechics into the exercises you teach every day.

*Workshop and Lecture Topics Subject to Change

This extra special, historical presentation will consist of an archival pilates slideshow featuring important highlights from pilates history over the last 100 years in the US, show and tell of the original, restored clawfoot reformer, and a question and answer period for attendees to ask Sean and Elaine their burning pilates history questions. This interactive presentation will be one of a kind in that it incorporates primary source photos, film footage, archival apparatus, and community in a way that will bring us all closer to Joe and closer to the Pilates Source®.

Pilates Historics™ Unique Guided Tour of Joe’s Original Property, Studio, and Apparatus- and Joe’s Voice Teaching his Method

Join Sean P. Gallagher and Elaine Ewing for a guided tour of Joe and Clara’s original Berkshire property, studio, bungalow, and apparatus collection. Start at the famous Yellow Lion Pilars and make your way through each iconic moment of pilates history on the property- from the Iron Shoe sun design, to the bungalow, to the fully restored studio.

Up-close study and sometimes even personal use of Joe’s original apparatus will take place. Original equipment on display includes but is not limited to: the Bednasium, the Junior Reformer, wooden Cadillac, an Electric Chair, a high chair without a back, an original claw foot Reformer, and Joe’s handmade Airplane board. 

On display for the first time from the museum’s Pilates archival collection: Joe’s original scale that has been painstakingly restored and put through remedial conservation so you can now weigh yourself just as Joe’s students once did at his New York City studio.

Along the property tour, Elaine will tell stories about pilates history in relation to the property and structures and provide an education about the original apparatus. Photos and videos of yourself using the equipment are welcome!

For the first time, a replica of Joe’s original flag pole will be displayed near his sunbathing garden, in the same area where his once stood. This will make for another new, fun “Pilates history selfie spot” on the tour to add to your collection.

Pilates 34 in 34^®

Sean Gallagher/Elaine Ewing teaches a mat class each day based on detailed notes from a dancer, Sharry Traver Underwood, who attended Joe’s mat class at Jacob’s Pillow during the summer dance intensive in the 1940’s. 34 exercises in 34 minutes, with additional, previously unknown breathing warm-up exercises that Joe taught as well as his specific cues not found published anywhere else and a little surprise as well. If you’ve been looking more to add to your mat classes for your clients at every level, then taking this classic mat will help you be more of “the source” teacher you’ve been looking to be.

Pilates Archival Standing Mat™ Class

Presented by Sean P. Gallagher

This complete and comprehensive standing mat class includes the majority of Joe’s standing mat exercises that most know as well as many that are rarely taught and some that are not widely known. Class will be lead by Sean P. Gallagher, PT and demonstrated by Elaine Ewing, with attendee participation.

Pilates Exercises: Original 1940’s Mat™ Class

Presented by Elaine Ewing

Based on newly discovered notes from 6 different, original mat classes taught by Joseph Pilates at Jacob’s Pillow in the 1940’s, this special mat class will be taught and practiced for the first time since Joe was there teaching it himself. Thanks to a young dancer who was also a student of Joe’s both at Jacob’s Pillow and his NYC studio, we have 6 sets of handwritten and typed notes describing Joe’s cues, exercise details, and variations that were previously unknown to have been taught by Joe.

The Pilatus Game of Stimulation™ 1 & 2

The Pilatus Game of Stimulation™ games 1 & 2 will make their Pilates at The Pillow^® debut! Join in on the fun of playing original games invented by Joseph Pilates that have not been played since Joe was alive.

Presented by Sean P. Gallagher and Elaine Ewing

Elaine Ewing

Elaine is the owner of Rhinebeck Pilates, and a third generation, certified Authentic Pilates teacher and Certified Teacher of Teachers through the New York Pilates Studio®. Elaine is also the owner of many pieces of original equipment from Joseph Pilates’ 8th Avenue Studio, which can be found within Rhinebeck Pilates.

Elaine has studied pilates extensively through lessons with Sean Gallagher, Pam Pardi, Steve Giordano, Cynthia Shipley, and Bob Liekens, to name a few. She teaches daily in her Rhinebeck studio, both in person and virtually, and also taught at The New York Pilates Studio® in New York City for four years. She has also taught mat classes at Jacob’s Pillow, the same place where Joseph Pilates famously taught his original mat classes.

Together with Sean Gallagher, Elaine presents workshops based on Joseph Pilates’ original method and apparatus. In 2018 Elaine worked alongside with Sean Gallagher to help create the yearly conference at Jacob’s Pillow, Pilates at The Pillow™. They continue to host and teach this yearly conference and that has been the first in the pilates community to present “lost” apparatus and original work, such as: The Lost Art of The Resister™, The Lost Art of the Ped-o-Pul™, and The Lost Art of the Bench Mat™. Elaine was thrilled to present The Lost Art of The Resister™ inside Joseph Pilates’ original Berkshires studio, (the property is owned by Sean Gallagher)- the first time a workshop had ever been presented within that historically significant location.

Elaine enjoys researching pilates history and maintains a webpage devoted to openly sharing accurate pilates history titled: Pilates History Research Archive.

Elaine can be found on Pilatesology teaching matwork, Gratz Push Up Devices, Archival Ped-o-Pul, the Resister®, and along with Sean Gallagher, Joe’s Four Original Airplane Boards.

A Pilates Source® Workshop:
The Archival Pilates Chairs

Monday, Sept 27, 2027
Rhinebeck Pilates, Rhinebeck NY

10:00 am -4:00 pm
$450 per person

This workshop takes place in-person at Rhinebeck Pilates in Rhinebeck, NY. There are no virtual options or recording options available. There is a “no cancellation” policy on this workshop and no refunds available.

This workshop will focus on archival exercises using the Electric Chair, Wunda Chair, and Baby Chair.  Once learned, these exercises are easily incorporated into beginner, intermediate, and advanced workouts for variety and as an extra challenge. In many cases, archival exercises also provide “new” and variable ways of teaching and practicing exercises that you already practice.

We will work primarily on classical equipment, while at the same time giving all attendees the opportunity to try the exercises on original equipment as well. This time to compare and contrast the subtle differences between what is old and what is new will enhance your understanding of the work as a whole.

Original apparatus used in the workshop will include archival/original Baby Chairs, Electric Chairs, and Wunda Chairs from both Joe Pilates’ and Carola Trier’s original studios, as well as a vintage Wunda Chair from BodyArt, an NYC Pilates studio that Romana Kryzanowska taught at in the 1970s.

Pilates at the Pillow^® is held at the Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts where Joe Pilates taught his historical and now-famous mat classes and had a studio on his nearby property. Once a hard-scrabble mountaintop farm, Jacob’s Pillow is now a home for international dance.

Joseph Pilates Becket Studio

Experience the recently renovated original studio of Joseph Pilates which is a museum and working studio where workshops and tours take place.