Recently, I was browsing social media and saw the comment, “Fitness studios are about to become more diverse than ever.” It was a response to Lori Harvey crediting her physique to Pilates. I reflected and sat with the idea that blacks and POCs did not participate in fitness practices until recently. I knew that despite the recent uptick in Pilates fashion, our culture is rich in the wellness space.
It begins with the work of pioneers like Kathleen Stanford Scholarship. Grant was a dance artist and protégé of Joseph Pilates, the mastermind and namesake of the exercise method. Joseph was an avid skier, boxer, and gymnast. During World War I, in 1914, while on tour with his circus number, Joseph was arrested with other German citizens in Britain. It was his arrest that led to the invention of Pilates. While performing for sick detainees, he was inspired by watching the cats’ movements; his ability to stretch and lengthen their bodies captivated him. Intrigued, he manipulated the springs in hospital beds, allowing sick patients to use the resistance to aid in their recovery. After being released from the internment camp, he moved to the United States and settled in Manhattan, training many with his methods.
In 1954 he met the dancer Kathleen Stanford Grant. Grant was 30 years old at the time; an acclaimed dancer who had been dance captain of the Zanzibar Club in Harlem in the 1940s, and who had danced on Broadway and toured the world. He had performed alongside the leading lights in black dance history: Pearl Bailey, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Cab Calloway, Carmen de Lavallade, Geoffrey Holder and more. Grant came to Pilates after injuring his knee; she started the program as a form of rehabilitation. But he quickly devoted himself to the method, studying directly with Joseph himself and teaching his first classes.
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In 1965, he received his certification after studying for 2,200 hours with the founder. Grant became the executive director of the Dance Theater of Harlem and later directed a popular Pilates program at New York City’s iconic Henri Bendel department store. He also taught at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, institutional alliances that meant Grant and his teaching style were hugely influential in the growth of Pilates in the United States. If you’ve ever been to a class and been told by an instructor to “zip your jeans” while doing an ab exercise, it’s thanks to Grant, who worked to implement image-based instruction to make Pilates more accessible to everyone. .
Pilates was never intended to be an indicator of wealth. It was designed to help people heal.
Pilates was co-opted and renamed in the 1970s by Ron Fletcher, owner of The Ron Fletcher Studio for Body Contrology, the first West Coast Pilates studio. Fletcher was also a protégé of Joseph Pilates. But his studio was in Beverly Hills and it represented a big change in the culture of the practice. Located above an exclusive lounge on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, it attracted Hollywood royalty like Cher and Barbra Streisand. Pilates became Hollywood and less well-being for all. In the late ’90s, fitness infomercial gurus like Mari Winsor attracted the attention of a celebrity clientele that included Miley Cyrus, Drew Barrymore, Emma Stone and Steven Spielberg. In 2009, fitness influencer Cassey Ho of Blogilates turned Pilates digital, bridging the gap between fitness and social media for millennials.
As Pilates became more ingrained in pop culture, it caught the attention of black celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Robinson Peete, and, more recently, younger black celebrities like Normani and Lori Harvey.
Lori Harvey leaves a Pilates class
But Pilates was never intended to be an indicator of wealth. It was designed to help people heal and recover. Grant believed that Pilates was not a glamorous, frivolous luxury, but essential work for life. Black women like Grant got the job done, so black women like me can continue to understand the community and organizations like Diversity in Pilates Y black girl pilates can continue to center black people and POCs in the Pilates space.
Our bodies matter in these spaces. We belong here. We have been here. We have created here. We don’t follow trends; we are simply claiming our rightful place. In a world where we’re told we’re too dark, too fat, too loud, too mean, too tough, we need a space to recover. We need a space to actively seek our own healing. We have returned to our roots and found recovery not only in wellness practices, but in others as well.
When I think of women like Kathleen Stanford Grant, I am reminded that Black women learning to be more mindful and intentional about honoring their bodies is a revolutionary act. It takes courage to prioritize your own well-being when we live in a society heavily affected by mommy syndrome. We are expected to move quietly through a world that wants us to raise it while ignoring ourselves in the process. We are seeing divinity by acknowledging ourselves, and it feels good. Our entitlement and quest to be okay will continue regardless of fleeting viral moments. We will continue to create and affirm who we are and what we believe in in our own spaces, on our own terms.
Princess Owens is a New Jersey-based wellness writer, nutrition educator, and children’s sleep specialist.
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