Marjorie Oron Interview with Tavis Bohlinger
“The goal of Pilates is for an individual person be in control of their body, and not at the mercy of their body.”
– Marjorie Oron
Marjorie Oron
The Gratz Interview series continues with an in-person interview with Marjorie Oron of The Pilate Studio in The Netherlands. Our European Correspondent, Tavis Bohlinger, traveled to The Hague recently to chat with Marjorie, photograph her beautiful studio, and capture her signature hands-on approach to teaching the Pilates Method.
Interview
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MARJORIE ORON INTERVIEW
TAVIS
Hi, Marjorie, thanks for sitting down with me for this interview. Before I ask you
more specific questions about Pilates, let’s go back to the beginning of your life and hear what has made you the woman you are today.
more specific questions about Pilates, let’s go back to the beginning of your life and hear what has made you the woman you are today.
MARJORIE
I started dancing when I was 10 because of my sister-in-law’s encouragement, and
because we had a ballet school just one door from our home. I was not a young talent, but I grew fast. At age 13, I went to the dance Conservatoire in the evenings, and during this time trained for ballet, modern, and jazz in addition to my school studies. At that time, there were not many black ballet dancers in Holland, and yet my role model was Nora Kimball who had very light skin. I completely looked up to her and I hoped I could join a ballet company, but I didn’t succeed. I ended up getting a contract with Djazzex, a modern jazz company, even though my ballet teacher wanted me to stick with ballet. My years at Djazzex were very fruitful because they cast you based on your qualities as a dancer, not whether you fit a certain costume, or fit a certain height.
because we had a ballet school just one door from our home. I was not a young talent, but I grew fast. At age 13, I went to the dance Conservatoire in the evenings, and during this time trained for ballet, modern, and jazz in addition to my school studies. At that time, there were not many black ballet dancers in Holland, and yet my role model was Nora Kimball who had very light skin. I completely looked up to her and I hoped I could join a ballet company, but I didn’t succeed. I ended up getting a contract with Djazzex, a modern jazz company, even though my ballet teacher wanted me to stick with ballet. My years at Djazzex were very fruitful because they cast you based on your qualities as a dancer, not whether you fit a certain costume, or fit a certain height.
One summer during my time with Djazzex, I met the artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and he asked me to audition. This shocked me, because I never thought that I could become a ballerina due to the various factors against me. In fact, my final thesis project at school had been about discrimination in dance, which affects you whether you are too short, too tall, wrong skin color, wrong body type, etc. But a few months later I got a phone call from Harlem. They needed a dancer. I flew to New York in December 1989 and started working in June 1990.
"The first year with Romana had the dramatic result of changing myentire perspective on the human body, and on dance training in general."
MARJORIE (Cont.)
Although this was a dream come true, I was having to maintain an Achilles injury with cortisone injections even while being cast in good roles. An orthopaedic surgeon sent me to
Sean Gallagher, who was actually the physical therapist of the big Broadway shows at that time. He was very sought after at that time in terms of his skills and knowledge. He started manual therapy on me with ultrasound, but he also told me that I needed Pilates. The way it worked with Sean is that he would do your physical therapy, and then he would
Sean Gallagher, who was actually the physical therapist of the big Broadway shows at that time. He was very sought after at that time in terms of his skills and knowledge. He started manual therapy on me with ultrasound, but he also told me that I needed Pilates. The way it worked with Sean is that he would do your physical therapy, and then he would
refer you to a teacher within his studio. That’s when I started doing Pilates. I found it helpful for my injury, but also saw it correcting my hyperextension and body imbalances. I started to work more economically with my body when dancing. And yet, although the Pilates Method was helping me immensely, it was too late; my ankles were already so affected that I decided to take a break from dancing. At 26 years old I left New York and moved back to Holland.
Initially, I worked as the rehearsal director of my old company Djazzex. There, I began to implement the mat exercises from the Pilates Method into the ballet classes. Pilates was
surprisingly well received by the dancers, but also by the ballet chiropractor. He was the one who actually encouraged me to study Pilates seriously, not only for the sake of helpingdancers, but also for the therapeutic benefit for everyday people. He wanted me to bring Pilates to Holland; I decided to go back to New York and do the formal education with Romana. At that time, Romana offered three training options:
1) a five-day, three-seminar option; 2) a 12-day intensive; 3) and a 20-day, independent individual study program with Romana herself. I chose the third option, just working with Romana for 20 days straight. I would arrive at her studio at 630am in the morning, then at 7am get my lesson.
The rest of the morning after the lesson, until 1pm in the afternoon, I was running around the studio helping other clients. Romana would start giving directions as regular clients came in: “Marjorie, can you to put that person’s headpiece down?” “Marjorie, can you go to this person and shorten the straps?” She completely threw you into the deep end from day one. Sari was there, too, and she would send you to different people. Romana would just say, “Go there, do this, drop the spring, bring the towers, go stretch him. That client, she’s a very stiff lady, go stretch her,” and so on. Then Romana would ask the clients directly, “How was it?” She would get feedback straight from the clients themselves, and that’s how you would learn.I stayed with Romana for a year, doing the workout every morning, then spending the rest of the morning working with clients at her direction. When Romana headed home for lunch at 1pm, I would head to Sean Gallagher’s studio to continue learning and helping with the teaching until evening. After that, I headed to my job working as a receptionist for a telecom company. I also taught ballet to kids in New Jersey. When not with Romana or Sean, I was working, sleeping about 6 hours or less a night, just to be able to pay for the Pilates education. About 4 months after training very hard with Romana, I went to a ballet class. I was just flying, performing 1, 2, 3, 4 pirouettes, just easy on-point turns. I couldn’t believe it. So I went again, and it was 1, 2, 3, 4 turns. That was the proof for me. I knew then that all dancers should be doing Pilates, because I felt it in myself. That became my mission. The first year with Romana had the dramatic result of changing my entire perspective on the human body, and on dance training in general.
TAVIS
What was the immediate impact of Pilates on your dancing?
MARJORIE
Dance teachers are very good at giving technical instructions, but not always in giving feedback that is specific to your body. The result is often injuries. For example, you’re told to stand on your leg and just balance, when really what you need is to strengthen a specific muscle in your inner thigh, for example. I got that from Romana. Coming to her was like getting into a warm bath with all sorts of little goodies. She taught me to nurture my body and still move beautifully.
TAVIS
What happened when you returned to Holland from New York?
MARJORIE
I started by teaching ballet at the dance academy in Rotterdam, now called Codarts. My passion was to teach ballet, and to nurture them with the Pilates mat. In June of 1994, I opened my own little Pilates studio inside a small dance studio; I had one reformer, that’s it. That was the point I started to teach privates. Five months later, in November, I rented an apartment above a pharmacy, right here on Keizerstraat 32 in The Hague, the same street on which the current studio is located. There were two rooms down the hall from my apartment that I used as my Pilates studio.
TAVIS
How did you price your services to a market that had no idea what Pilates was?
MARJORIE
For one private I charged 40 guilders, or about 20 dollars. But I also had a special dancer’s price of 25 guilders. It was really nothing, but I worked almost 60 hours a week and just tried to build gradually.
TAVIS
How did you market yourself? I'm assuming you already had access to customers in the dance community. What about normal people, non-dancers?
MARJORIE
That's why I moved to The Hague. Through the same orthopedic surgeon who gave me the cortisone injections during my dancing years, I had access to a network of physical therapists. I started to give lecture demonstrations to them, and they started to send me their clients. I really had to educate people here, both the therapists and the clients. People couldn’t understand why they had to pay the kind of money I was charging, which was still small back then. One very difficult part of teaching Pilates in The Netherlands is that most therapies are covered by the national the health care package; physical therapists and chiropractors are free. People who were willing to pay for Pilates came from a certain income level, or they were foreigners already acquainted with the Pilates Method.
TAVIS
Did your growing client base make you want to expand into this much larger space here at Keizerstraat 32?
MARJORIE
I had wanted to expand for some time, but what really pushed me was Romana. The question had come from her to open up a Pilates teaching center in Europe, but I didn’t have space in my two little rooms. One day I was walking down this same street, Keizerstraat, and saw this space we are sitting in now. It was deserted, the windows were dirty; it was just an old furniture factory at the time. Still, I saw the potential, but the banks were unwilling to lend to me. They didn’t understand the business model, the product, and they thought I was too young. Three of my clients loaned me the money to make it possible. I opened the space in December 1999. Romana herself came over in June 2000 to teach a 12-day intensive right here in our space.
TAVIS
What are some of the memorable things that Romana taught you beyond Pilates?
MARJORIE
Romana taught us to be really happy and to live a healthy life. She taught us that through the Work. Romana nurtured us in many ways how to take care of our mind, our body, and our soul. She taught us discipline: you don't come to the studio and not work out; you work out. Even if you have a little bit of aches and pains you work out, not beating your body up, but in a good way. Romana was always very positive, very uplifting, always lifting you up. She made you do things that you maybe thought you couldn't do. For whatever reason, she would be able to pull it out of you and make it work for you. That was her big talent, that she could move everybody. She was an inspiration just standing there, and her aura was so big that you just felt powerful. Those of us who were working with Romana carry that forward, although we’re not Romana. We’re trying to transfer her energy and positivity to show that Pilates is more than just exercise, more than just a beautiful picture on Instagram. No, Pilates is a way of life that you live from the inside.
TAVIS
As the global quarantine slowly eases up, what is the value for clients of being in the studio versus online? What value does the equipment actually bring to the work of Pilates?
MARJORIE
You don't have to work against gravity. You can see the reformer, for instance, like a support system. On the mat you work with your own bodyweight. And you have to work against gravity. The reformer puts you right into place. It supports your head. It gives you the posture that you need, and it brings you into your powerhouse. And then the springs move you through the powerhouse. The reformer sets you up in perfect alignment and positions that enables you to feel your body working from your center out. So that is the benefit of having a reformer, as well as all the other apparatuses; they give you benefits to work on your individual needs. That's why we have the system here at The Pilates Studio, including the Cadillac, the Chairs, the Barrels, the Pedi Pole, etc. Again, Pilates is not a choreography but a system that you're trying to build to help your needs. And each piece of apparatus has its value.
Also, the work will be different for different bodies. One person might have certain things that don't suit them on the Wunda Chair, but it suits them on the Barrels or another apparatus. The system requires really close, individual attention to every client. You can't treat every client the same.
"Remember: it's not about you, it’s about what you can bring to the client. What is going to make them feel good?"
TAVIS
What's your advice to new teachers who may not have the budget to have all the equipment, and will that be a handicap?
MARJORIE
It will be a handicap initially. They need at least to have a Reformer, a Cadillac and a High Chair, and then they can build from there. In any case, it's not about the quantity but quality of your teaching. That’s why it’s helpful to stay with a studio for a while before you go out on your own, because you have access to the full repertoire. If you get certified and go out too fast, you’ll lose 30 to 40% of what you've learned. If you get a little bit more experience with a teacher that has more seniority, who's been in the field, you will have a better experience when finally on your own. Your skills will be stronger, you’ll have more confidence, your network will grow, and you’ll be using the whole system of apparatuses.
Also, realize that life can be lonely teaching alone. I did that for six years in Holland and it was very rough. I would call Romana when I didn't know what to do. There are moments when you’re going to have many questions. A client might be scared of moving. Somebody may come in with all kinds of emotional baggage. Somebody has an amazing body but gets frustrated because they cannot pull it off. You have to really develop intuition, to develop a feel. Patience is a huge virtue. It’s better not to take someone to a certain place, than sometimes push them into it. Better not to take them to a certain place, although maybe you believe that they can go. Remember: it's not about you, it’s about what you can bring to the client. What is going to make them feel good?
TAVIS
What do you anticipate happening to the Pilates business model due to the pandemic?
MARJORIE
People are already accustomed to paying less money for online classes. But they are depriving themselves from all the benefits that they could have by coming to a studio. It's the whole body, mind, and soul. To make it work online, you would literally need cameras from all angles. The eyes of the teacher see so much from diverse angles when in the studio.
And don't forget the “touch,” the tactile guidance that along with the voice makes for good teaching. You need to give a touch. You shouldn't manipulate the body, but you should be able to correct the body by giving one touch. And it’s hard to feel the energy through a screen.
And don't forget the “touch,” the tactile guidance that along with the voice makes for good teaching. You need to give a touch. You shouldn't manipulate the body, but you should be able to correct the body by giving one touch. And it’s hard to feel the energy through a screen.
TAVIS
What does the future look like for The Pilates Studio, and for Marjorie Oron?
MARJORIE
I basically don't anticipate anything, especially now in the present global situation. What I look forward to is once again having apprentices in the studio, where we're free to travel in and out. I was so happy when three weeks ago I could go to Prague, because that was life for me. So, for me, that's the only thing I can wish for, is to go back to my normal. Nothing more, my normal is sufficient, it's enough to make me happy.
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