Expert Instructors
Elizabeth Larkam, Director of Pilates & Beyond
Elizabeth is internationally recognized as an innovator of Mind Body movement techniques for fitness, clinical, entertainment, arts, and academic settings. She transforms Pilates techniques by taking a Feldenkrais approach to mat and apparatus vocabulary, infusing core control with rotation, arcs, and spirals to create movement that is functional, healing, and aesthetically pleasing.
Elizabeth began her study of Pilates techniques in 1985 while teaching dance at Stanford University. A guild-certified Feldenkrais practitioner, certified Gyrotonic® and Gyrokinesis™ instructor, Elizabeth received her bachelor's and master's education at Stanford University. She is an OM Yoga instructor (completed the certification in July 2005). Elizabeth has worked as a Pilates and Dancemedicine Specialist with the San Francisco Ballet, Cirque de Soleil, and at the Center for Sports Medicine at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital. While director of the Saint Francis program, she developed Pilates protocols for rehabilitation of a number of orthopedic and spine diagnoses.
Elizabeth is also a lecturer at the University of San Francisco in exercise and sports science, a mind-body spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, and a Reebok Master Trainer. She is a contributor to and member of the Advisory Board of PilatesStyle. Since 1992 Elizabeth has created 30 instructional videos/DVDs for fitness, rehabilitation, and home markets. As program director of Balanced Body Pilates, she created the instructional video series that launched the Pilates Allegro Reformer. She also created the Mat with Roller & Ring program, Mat with Rotator Discs, Reebok Core Pilates, BOSU Pilates, and PilatesPerformance.
Andre Levitt
Andre began ballet training in high school and continued through college. He went on to a successful career as a professional dancer, performing internationally with Hartford Ballet, Oakland Ballet, and as a soloist with Dance Theatre Harlem (DTH). Andre began his Pilates studies while performing in New York when the artistic director of DTH encouraged him to study Pilates as a cross-training technique to enhance his jumps and partnering strength. Andre further refined his performing skills by studying Gyrotonic® with that system's founder, Juliu Horvath.
While performing with DTH, Andre began his career as a teacher, instructing dance in New York's artist-in-the-schools program. Andre's transformative experiences with Pilates and Gyrotonic® combined with his love of teaching led him to his current career—that of a Pilates, Gyrotonic® and Gyrokinesis™ instructor. His depth of knowledge is rare in that it combines the choreographic intricacies of these original movement systems together with their applications for rehabilitation and sport-specific cross training.
Andre and his wife Olivia have performed together all over the world. They have made their home in the Bay Area to raise their two children.
John Ferguson
John Ferguson, certified Pilates instructor, NASM-certified personal trainer, and certified massage therapist, began studying Pilates in 1998 and started his Pilates teaching career in 1999. His comprehensive 500-hour instructor course emphasized the original Pilates repertoire on the mat, reformer, chair, trapeze table, and barrels. John honed his Pilates skills teaching in physical therapy clinics in San Francisco before introducing Pilates mat and apparatus programs to fitness clubs. John teaches mat, Pilates Allegro, and individual studio sessions at The San Francisco Bay Club and Bay Club Bank of America. His practice includes Pilates studio cross-training for golf.
Mary Power
Mary loves working in the arena of movement. She holds a master's degree in exercise physiology/kinesiology, and her Pilates career has been forged in sports medicine. Since 1991 at the Saint Francis Memorial Hospital Dance Medicine Center, she has trained professional athletes, performers, and dancers in movement re-education, rehabilitation, and conditioning with both specificity to individual needs and innovative Pilates design. At the Marshal Hale Sport Medicine Clinic, Mary taught classes for spinal and knee rehab and provided massage therapy.
Since 1999 Mary has taught Pilates mat at the UCSF Cancer Resource Center. She has also taught university-level cardiovascular and strength training classes, and has been a licensed and certified massage therapist since 1987. Mary has served on the board of directors for the Southwest Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine and the San Francisco Omulu Capoeira Group.
Mary values and nurtures the creative spark of human nature. She loves creating dance. Currently Mary directs, choreographs, and performs dance with the MPOWERDANCE TROUPE based in San Francisco. Her movement style is a fusion grounded in Japanese Butoh dance, African dance, American dance, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Capoeira African/Brazilian martial art, yoga, and Pilates.