The Seer

As Balanced Body’s first and only Education Program Director, Nora St. John, a self-professed lover of movement, has a true Pilates superpower: the ability to see through all of the traditions of Pilates, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, helping to create a brand that appeals to the masses.

- By Amanda Altman

PILATES STYLE Tell us about your upbringing. Was movement a part of it?

NORA ST. JOHN I grew up in Pasadena, CA. I’m one of seven kids—in the middle, which explains my ability to tolerate chaos and need to be a part of large groups. Movement was definitely a big part of my childhood. My mom taught modern dance, and we all grew up dancing, swimming and pursuing movement in many forms. I was always drawn to more complex activities like ice skating, gymnastics, tap dance and ballet. I went to a science-oriented prep school, so science was also part of my background. I ended up studying biology and dance at UC Santa Cruz.

PS How did you discover Pilates?

NORA One of my teachers was a woman named Ruth Solomon, who was the head of the dance department at UC Santa Cruz. She taught a complete Pilates mat warm-up before each class, but never called it Pilates. So technically I’ve been doing Pilates since 1979.

After I graduated, I was performing as a modern dancer and broke my foot. It was 1988, and Ruth told me to go to the Center for Sports Medicine at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. St. Francis had a Pilates-based dance medicine division. I was there three or four days a week for six months. I would show up at 8 a.m. and wouldn’t leave till 10:30 a.m [laughs]. I was really depressed—I was a dancer who couldn’t dance. But I had this really flexible job (working for a theater production company) and was able to go often.