Issue #434
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
“I never intended to be a Pilates teacher”
An interview with Sonjé Mayo – a student of JP!
Part 1
by Tricia Whitlock
Over the course of my career as a Pilates instructor, I’ve taken many workshops. Some of these workshops are more memorable than others, and Sonjé’s are amongst those more memorable ones.
So, who exactly is Sonjé Mayo and why should you care?
Sonjé is one of the few remaining people alive today that actually trained with Joe Pilates himself! She is careful to point out that she did not train with him to be a PIlates teacher, she simply trained at his studio for her own personal development as a ballet dancer.
Read on to hear about Sonjé’s Pilates adventures!
Tricia: Tell me how you discovered Joe’s studio and the Pilates method.
Sonjé: I first came to the USA in 1965 while I was still studying to be a Physical Therapist to attend George Balanchine’s American Ballet Theater summer school program. As a dancer, I had trouble with my long limbs, and this school was suggested to help me with my leverage. There, I watched the other long-limbed dancers work, but didn’t find the answers to my questions. A couple of the dancers recommended that I visit Martha Graham instead. Martha was in Jacob’s Pillow, so I attended a workshop with her there, and Martha insisted that we all attend Joseph Pilates’ class. I had no idea who he was!
Tricia: So you and the other dancers attended a class with Joe at Jacob’s pillow?
Sonjé: Yes, and after that one class, I knew it was Joseph who could help me. He just had such an eye! He knew exactly what my problem was. He invited me to the studio in New York. I returned to New York the following year after completing my PT education to work with him more intensively, but I had no intention ever of being a Pilates teacher. All I wanted was to make my dancing (ballet) better, which is exactly what he did for me. He honed in on the problem, he worked me really hard, he didn’t waste time. He loved teaching dancers because he knew dancers are disciplined, push themselves hard, and never complain. During that time, he taught me the value of the “vertical pelvis” and how important that was in relation to leverage. I had such a great time in my private lessons with him!
Sonjé stayed in NY training with Joe and dancing for all of 1966 and then went on tour with a dance company in 1967. She wanted to come back and continue to train with him, but then the sad news that he had passed away reached her.
Tricia: Tell me more about your days in the studio with Joe.
Sonjé: I would arrive at the studio late in the day, and there were lots of people there working on different pieces of equipment, with Joe moving from person to person, giving hands-on instruction. I loved this aspect of his teaching! Joe was all about the mat, it was the heart of his work. The equipment was only there to make the mat better. I was so pleased about that because you can take the mat with you anywhere, and used it as my dance warm up from that time on. It provided the cross training that I needed as a dancer. Pilates pulled me to the center time and time again, returning me to the deep core connection. Joe taught us that there was a reason that you could be technically proficient in performance EVERY time, IF you had the correct method and technique. He was very informative and helpful, but so strict, very demanding, and expected that his directions would be followed. You couldn’t lose concentration for even a second! If we had to teach like that now, we’d have no clients!
We shared another laugh, but I expressed my observation that Sonjé’s teaching is actually very much like this, and she agreed. The first time I met her was in 2017 at a scoliosis and osteoporosis workshop, and I distinctly remember that we were all standing around talking and apparently I was slouching, because Sonje looked right at me and said “Stand up straight! If you are going to be leading people, you need to set the proper example.” Some people might have balked at this, but while it may have sounded harsh, the penetrating look had a certain kindness in it, and her eyes twinkled a bit as she saw my wide-eyed, open-mouthed reaction. My lesson with her that day was no less exacting, and from that time I have attended many of her workshops, soaking in as much of her exacting style of teaching as possible. My own practice and certainly my teaching are better for it, though I am not nearly as strict.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this interview, where Sonjé and I discuss her return to South Africa, formation of her dance company, her eventual return to the United States, her introduction to the Schroth Method, and more!
Tricia Whitlock is the owner of Soul Body Works, a home Pilates studio in north Texas. She began her Pilates journey at the age of 41 after having worked in corporate America for her entire adult life, transitioning into the world of health and fitness after the untimely death of her mother changed her perspective on life. Discovering Pilates changed Tricia’s life in many ways – not only did it provide the fuel for her entrepreneurial spirit, it healed her body from many years of chronic infections, sciatica and lower back pain, as well as giving her the fluid, graceful ability to move that she had always desired. Tricia owned a busy studio from 2014-2023, and then happily transitioned into a busy and fun home studio setting, where she is able to devote more time to study, gardening, creating art, traveling, and animal rescue.
When she’s not teaching, Tricia is busy running her Facebook group Traveling Pilates Instructors, a group of nearly 14,000 Pilates instructors and studio owners with the shared desire to travel and teach Pilates. If you’re not on Facebook, you can sign up for Tricia’s mailing list here: https://plain-band-67132.myflodesk.com/mcsxl70vvj.