Jill Cassady

Jill is recognized as a leading Pilates authority and Pilates instructor throughout Southern California and around the world.  She has been teaching for over 25 years and has certified many hundreds of successful Pilates instructors and Pilates Studio Owners.  She is one step away from Joseph Pilates, recognized as the ONLY Trainer in all of California to have worked in Romana’s studio with her for years. Jill also studied with Ron Fletcher, and is proud to have studied and taught with two of the Original Masters.

As the lead instructor at Pilates Technique, Jill has certified nearly 400 instructors, taught continuing education workshops, produced and starred in her own Pregnancy For Pilates DVD, and manufactured her own equipment including The Foot Corrector and Wunda Chair.  She has taught clients with debilitating injuries of all kinds, pre and postnatal, illnesses, misalignment issues, athletes, dancers and Pilates instructors.

Jill came to Pilates first through an ankle Injury, then became reliant on Pilates because of a debilitating back injury she received in a car accident. Pilates was a natural progression for Jill as she was a national competitive Gymnast, then a classical professional dancer.  After Graduating from UC Irvine with a degree in Dance/Teaching, she went to New York to study the East-Coast Style of Pilates. There she studied and then worked for Romana Kryzanowska at Drago’s Gym for 2 years. She moved to Los Angeles, and soon after, instructors were coming to Jill for sessions, wanting to learn the East-Coast Style of Pilates. In 1995, she started her Teacher Training program because of the need for more East-coast style instructors in California.

Jill believes Pilates is for everyone and is even more excited today about Pilates than she was when she first was introduced to the exercise method. Pilates exercises saved her life and continue to support her body through all of the different changes of life.

Nancy Preimesberger

Nancy has been studying Pilates since 1996, she was certified to teach Pilates by Jill Cassady in 1998, through a program that included several instructors from the Pilates community: Ron Fletcher, Kathy Corey, Jillian Hessel, Rael Isacowitz and Steve Giordano. She has been a part of the Teacher Training program since 2001. Nancy is also an AFAA Certified Personal Trainer and holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She teaches private clients at several studios as well as her home studio.

Nancy has long been interested in movement, dance and sports. She performed in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies as part of the field show. She has competed in several inline skate marathons. She loves dance, surfing, cycling (road and mountain) and martial arts.

Amy Geriak

Amy Geriak graduated from UCLA in 1996 and went on to receive her Masters degree in Physical Therapy is 2000. She owns and works in an outpatient physical therapy clinic in West Los Angeles. She became a certified Pilates instuctor in 2003 and uses Pilates as part of her physical therapy practice. She loves human anatomy and has been teaching it to Pilates teacher trainees since receiving her certification.

Michelle Cissell PT, DPT, OCS

Michelle Cissell is a board certified Orthopedic Clinical Speacialist and has been a physical therapist since 2007.  She received her Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in 2007 and Bachelor of Health Sciences degree from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2004.  She moved to Los Angeles, California in 2008 to start her physical therapy career and has worked at Sports Medicine Institute of Los Angeles since then.  

Michelle went through the Pilates Technique certification program in 2013/2014 and currently incorporates the knowledge she has gained about Pilates into her physical therapy career.

Rachel Lotspeich

Rachel is originally from Melbourne, Australia and moved to New York in 1995, where she had her first ‘taste’ of Pilates while studying drama when a friend became a teacher. After moving to Los Angeles, she completed Jill Cassady’s intensive PTC Teacher Training program and has been busy teaching ever since. She has worked at a physical therapy clinic, various studios and with home clients.

Gaining knowledge and experience by listening to her clients, her detail oriented work has created challenging workouts tailored to each client’s needs. Her clients range from severely restricted individuals to athletes, and both pre- and post-natal women. She did pilates throughout her pregnancy and credits the Pilates work she did to the fast recovery afterward.
She has also been an Assistant Teacher on the PTC training programs since 2005,  further adding to her repertoire, teacher trainer.

Rachel's dream of opening her own studio is now complete as she opened Classic Pilates Body in Brentwood in 2009.

Irene Razze

Growing up as a dancer, Irene Razze has been taught the discipline of keeping her body centered and in control. This passion for movement led Irene to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. While attaining a BFA in Dance there in 2000, Irene was introduced to pilates. She was amazed at how it changed her body and improved her dance performance so much that she started teaching these methods to her own dance students as part of their daily warm-up routine.

In 2002, Irene’s career in dance moved her to Los Angeles where her interest in pilates and overall fitness continued to grow. This led her to Jill Cassady’s Program where she was certified in 2008. Having five years of experience teaching all styles of dance, naturally Irene felt that giving instruction and helping others feel strong and confident through movement was her calling. Irene has dedicated the past 7 years to sharing her passion for pilates, dance and fitness through personal training and group classes in various studios all over Los Angeles.

While teaching the east coast style of classical pilates to her private clients, Irene has also developed her own fitness program that combines her dance and ballet barre background with the pilates method. Recently she has perfected her method and helped open a small Barre Studio in West Hollywood called Best U where she worked as Program Creator and Fitness Director in 2014.