Full Circle

Joseph Hubertus Pilates, the inventor of Pilates (though he called who passed in 1967, famously said that he was 50 years ahead of his time. With how popular Pilates has become 58 years later, it is striking how accurate that statement is today.

Pilates built his own equipment, or apparatus. The best known, with which many people are familiar, is the Reformer or Universal Reformer. Second is perhaps what he called the Table or Trapeze Table; “the Cadillac” was a nickname coined for it by one of his clients, since the Table has so many wonderful exercises on it, and a Cadillac car was one of the nicest around during that time period.

“Full Circle” is the name of an exercise done on a piece of apparatus not so well-known, called the Guillotine. Pilates originally designed the Guillotine to fit into a railroad-style New York City apartment, which had a linear layout like a train car; basically, the Guillotine was installed floor-to-ceiling, with the springs attached while in use and put away when not in use. Pilates’ protege, Romana Kryzanowska, was a ballet dancer training with George Balanchine in NYC before she met Pilates. She had an ankle injury, and Balanchine told her to see Pilates at his studio before returning to ballet class. It was the beginning of a fruitful and lasting relationship; she worked with and for Joseph and Clara Pilates for years, and after they passed, she inherited their NYC studio. Her dedication helped preserve the Pilates’ legacy: She traveled the world for six decades to educate the next generation of Pilates instructors. Kryzanowska’s daughter, Sari Mejia Santo, also had the opportunity of training directly with Joseph and Clara Pilates, and taught beside her mother for more than three decades. Daria Pace, owner of Romana’s Pilates International, is also Santo’s daughter, and joined her mother and grandmother in teaching the Pilates method.

I had the great fortune to be trained and certified at their NYC studio, and to teach there alongside all three generations for almost eight years. Some of the original equipment that Pilates built was in the studio and used every day, and some of the clients who came in for weekly Pilates sessions were originally taught by Joseph and/or Clara Pilates. This past April, I visited Sari and Daria at their studio, now located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They generously took the time for photos and questions for this article.

Despite its intimidating look and name, the Guillotine has a variety of exercises ideal for many clients. Sari and Daria said, “Romana always kept the Guillotine mats open, so that it didn’t look so intimidating. She wanted people to feel comfortable using it.” The Guillotine is ideal for taller clients who need more space than the Cadillac offers, and for someone with broad shoulders and less flexibility. Sari and Daria also told me that Romana preferred the “Tower” and “Monkey” exercises to be done on the Guillotine; she thought it was safer there than on the Cadillac. (The Tower exercise, not to be confused with a Tower unit.) And I remember Romana frequently said to everyone, teachers and clients alike, that Pilates could be described in five simple words: “stretch and strength, with control.”

The Guillotine is versatile and can be used in many ways: while lying down, standing on the floor, standing on the bar, for pull-ups or when hanging from the bar. And while there is a “front” and a “back” to it, it can be used on both sides. Not to be confused with the “Semi- Circle” exercise done on the Reformer, the exercise “Full Circle” can fully go in both directions, arching and rounding the spine, on each side of the Guillotine. When using the bar of the Guillotine, the bar has to be level horizontally to ensure the person is as symmetrical as possible. That’s similar to the pedal/bar on the Foot Corrector, another of Pilates’ inventions and, from my understanding, the first piece of apparatus that he patented.

Of course, after inventing the apparatus, someone had to learn how to produce more examples of it. Quoting The Gratz Pilates website: “Gratz is the original manufacturer of the Pilates apparatus,” and “He invented it; we make it.” Its website also has an interesting article written by Roberta Gratz, whom I taught on a few occasions at the NYC studio. She writes that in 1965 her husband, Donald Gratz, “… explained that he had gone to the studio of the man who designed the apparatus, and that it was some new kind of exercise equipment. I don’t remember if he told me that the studio belonged to a man named Joe Pilates; it would have meant nothing to me at the time.” Then, in 1968, Kryzanowska asked Donald Gratz to replicate that apparatus, which began a new production line. To this day, Gratz Pilates continues to manufacture the apparatus that Pilates invented, and Romana’s Pilates International studios continue to use worldwide.

While being one of my favorite exercises on the Guillotine, the title of this article is meaningful on a personal level. With the addition of a Gratz Guillotine, all of the equipment that was in Romana’s NYC studio where I trained and taught for almost eight years, I now have in my Midtown OKC Pilates studio, bringing it “full circle” for me. •