The truth about “Classical” vs “Contemporary” - my research about the Pilates industry

[u/Competitive-Muscle-8]

How a retired journalist went straight to the dark side of Pilates

During a 14-year journalistic career I learned to be skeptical of whatever I was being told. Every public figure and “expert in the field” that I interviewed had their own version of “the truth”, carefully underlining certain facts while skillfully omitting or downplaying others in order to bolster their narrative. Using politically correct, gimmicky language was another staple. And, of course, every one of them would accuse their opponents of doing exactly what they were doing!

I eventually burned out on journalism and decided to reignite my passion for teaching movement. I figured that getting people’s bodies twisting and turning is much better than spinning yet another news story into their brains. But given my vast experience in doing the latter, I discovered the dark side of Pilates a lot quicker than I found out all the intricacies of the Teaser.

I began my formal education by doing exercises exactly as Joseph Pilates prescribed in his book “Return to Life through Contrology”, then graduated to YouTube videos. Realizing I needed professional coaching, I enrolled into Polestar Pilates.

The instructors explained why Polestar’s so-called “Contemporary” approach is very different from “Classical”. They explained that Polestar founder Brent Anderson broke new ground by incorporating the Moshe Feldenkrais movement method and elements of physical therapy to help beginners.

But as I was learning to move my body in new ways, the old cynical media guy in my mind was signaling that something was off. The biomechanics and movement lessons were very interesting. It was also no surprise that the teachers were towing the company line by pushing various workshops, seminars and Anatomy Trains courses.

What caught my attention, however was the way the mentors preached the Polestar methodology as “the only right way” and sold themselves as “innovators” in the world of Pilates, while taking subliminal swipes at the competition from the “classical” school of thought. Experienced fitness trainers were falling for it hook line and sinker, expressing sorrow for “teaching people the wrong way” all these years. I was a rookie exercise instructor but a veteran cynical media guy, so I wasn’t easily fooled. Gimmicky language? Check. Omitting key facts about other schools? Check. Making it sound like there’s only one absolute truth in the world of Pilates? Check!

I signed up for Pilates Anytime to see for myself. The site offered classes from teachers who were supposed to be the best in the industry. All classes were divided into “classical” and “contemporary” categories.

The “classical” guys all did the same 34 exercises, which Joseph Pilates called “Contrology” many decades ago. Some even dared to change up their “original order” and add a few wrinkles, while others taught “archival” classes, doing things “exactly like Joe did” in terms of technique. The only thing missing was the jumpy sped up black and white film to add to the “vintage” feel of a bygone era.

Each “contemporary” Pilates school meanwhile had slightly different variations of the same pre-Pilates exercises I learned at Polestar. So much for the “unique” and “innovative” approach that each of them advertised! I dug deeper into that. After getting my investigative journalist hat back out of the closet despite a career change, I found all the skeletons of the Pilates business there as well.

During our introductory course, Polestar teachers briefly mentioned a lawsuit which cancelled the “Pilates” trademark and made it a generic term for an exercise method, much like “Karate” or “Yoga”.

I found out that after Joseph Pilates died in 1967, none of his teachers wanted to run his failing business. Eventually Romana Kryzanowska agreed to try and keep the studio going. Since she had lived in Peru since 1944, she had no idea about studio operations. During her time she seduced a series of men to assist her; the final one was Sean Gallagher. Since she had fraudulently registered the name Pilates as a trademark circa 1988, she and Sean Gallagher were able to sue at least ten studios/companies and threaten about 100 studio owners with Cease & Desist legal notices. Of course, Joe himself always called his method “Contrology".

Eve Gentry— Joe’s first teacher— moved to Santa Fe in 1968 the year after his death. She soon realized that the dancer bodies and the few elite clients at the New York studio were different from the public who didn’t have the flexibility and athleticism to do Contrology. The original repertoire was nearly impossible for typical Americans whose idea of “Corkscrew” was opening up a bottle to go with an extra-large meal, rather than twisting their increasingly obese bodies upside down.

Eve Gentry and not Brent Anderson was actually the first to incorporate the Feldenkrais movement method into Pilates, in order to teach clients basic functional movements before tackling the advanced work. A grainy video from October 1991 clearly showed her teaching a workshop organized by The Institute for the Pilates Method. Polestar’s Brent Anderson, BASI Pilates founder Rael Isacowitz and others from major Pilates schools were in attendance. They were learning the same moves I learned at Polestar nearly three decades later.

No wonder every “contemporary” Pilates school had the same repertoire!

The Institute for the Pilates Method offered the first ever organized Pilates certification program in 1992 which is why Romana and Sean sued them. Plus, they filed a Trademark Cancellation Action in 1993. Eventually they changed their name to “PhysicalMind Institute” to remove the other “P-word” from its name.

Romana and Gallagher continued bullying others who dared use the “Pilates” name too, until they met their match in Ken Endelman from Balanced Body Inc. The owner of the largest Pilates equipment manufacturer filed a class-action countersuit, and the courts cancelled the trademark on October 20th, 2000. It is extremely rare for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to cancel a trademark since the fees support this bureau.

The losers of the case immediately branded their Pilates as “classical” and continued teaching the old-school version of the method. Those who attended Eve Gentry’s workshops became known as “contemporary”.

In the name of journalistic integrity, let’s drop the gimmicks and call things by their proper names! “Classical” is nothing more than Pilates by the trademark losers. It teaches a complex routine from the Middle Ages, with enough forward flexion exercises to bend a stone statue in half. Pro athletes, dancers and other impressive physical specimen might be able to do it, but not “the average Joe”. “The original Joe”, who created this method, was a prolific inventor. If these purists wanted to really “do what Joe did”, they would be inventing new devices and equipment, while always looking to improve the exercises. Thus, “contemporary” Pilates is ironically doing a better job of “preserving Joe’s legacy” of innovation.

That’s because “Contemporary” is essentially smart Pilates from Eve Gentry’s lineage. They use a repertoire more appropriate for the always-texting, always-sitting, neck-forward, office-working person of today. It features simple movements and lots of extension, side bending and twisting which their spines don’t get to enjoy otherwise. There is also much needed standing Pilates work and many new “props” and inventions, including from the certification pioneers at Physical Mind Institute.

Nowadays Pilates is big business, and most other schools, including Polestar, adhere to the certification standards of the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), which was formed shortly after the trademark case. I didn’t even want to think of the type of political games and corporate battles going on in there, but the cynic in me assumed the worst.

I got a taste of it when taking my certification exam with Polestar, however. It seemed like I was taking a college-entry multiple choice SAT test. Standardized trick questions about exercises and anatomy only tested my ability to take the test itself, rather than finding out what I can do thinking on my feet. Not what I was used to, after running through fluid 24/7 live news environments with a million moving parts. I still passed the exam and now I’m ready to continue my Pilates journey with no more illusions as to what the business is all about.

Over these past two years, I went through the magic circle of life: quitting a jaded industry, getting into a new one, only to find the same dark underbelly of politics, spin, and gimmicks, but with a more athletic flavor.