Pilates Reformer Teacher Training with Alicia Head
This course is inspired by the legacy of Marie-José Blom’s approach to the Pilates method, which absorbed the ever-changing findings of scientific research and applied them to Contrology. Taught by Alicia Head, a master trainer with over 25 years of teaching experience, the course will explore the principles of the Pilates method and highlight both the depth of the work as well as the need to be able to teach it in a group setting. Anatomy and movement principles will be woven into each exercise as well as modifications and progressions. The course will include developing manual and verbal cueing skills as well as assessment skills for private clientele. Exercises on the reformer will be studied in depth and will be deconstructed in such a way as to understand the potential benefits of each one – the ‘why’ – as well as creating clear, process- oriented cues – the ‘how’ – that give instructors the tools with which to teach movement in life-changing ways.
“It’s a process, not an event.” Marie-José Blom
Part 1: Core Necessities
Dates: September 13-15
This course provides students with an introduction to the relationship between breath, posture, and movement. It explores manual and verbal cueing techniques designed to establish optimal core connections and apply them to Pilates repertoire. Students will also learn to identify important bony landmarks and assess postural patterns. An approach to alignment using three dimensional skeletal cues will be presented. Finally, exercises designed to prepare students for Pilates Reformer repertoire will be presented.
Cost: $560
Hours: TBA
Part 2: Reformer 1
Dates: September 20-22
Reformer 1 will cover basic exercises on the Pilates Reformer and provide an introduction to the safe and correct use of the apparatus. A special focus on spinal alignment, decompression, and stabilization will be highlighted. Anatomically based manual and verbal cueing options will be presented as well as the use of props when necessary to support the development of optimal movement patterns.
Cost: $560
Hours: TBA
Part 3: Reformer 2
Dates: October 11-13
Reformer 2 will feature progressions of basic exercises on the Pilates Reformer. The topic of exercise sequencing will be highlighted as well as considerations for increasing or decreasing resistance.
Cost: $560
Hours: TBA
Part 4: Reformer 3
Dates: October 25-27
Reformer 3 will introduce more challenging Pilates Reformer repertoire. Long levers are featured in many of the exercises, and cues to maintain internal support will be explored.
Cost: $560
Hours: TBA
Part 5: Reformer Apprentice Review
Dates: TBA
This course will provide a comprehensive review of the Pilates Reformer 1-3 material. Related anatomy, manual and verbal cueing will be discussed as well as client assessment and program design.
Cost: $560
Part 6: Pilates Reformer Test-Out Course
Dates: TBA (fall 2025)
Students will receive a certificate of completion after demonstrating teaching proficiency in all aspects of Pilates Reformer Repertoire.
Required Apprenticeship Hours
About the Instructor
Alicia Head discovered the Pilates method in 1989 while rehabilitating a dance injury at St. Francis Memorial Hospital’s Center for Sports Medicine in San Francisco. Dr. James Garrick, a pioneer in the emerging sports and dance medicine field, had included a Pilates studio within the facility and Alicia’s first teacher was Elizabeth Larkam. In 1994, upon returning to Los Angeles, Alicia began the Long Beach Dance Conditioning teacher trainingprogram under the direction of Marie-José Blom. Alicia completed the Advances in Pilates Technique course in 1995 and, after a year of self-integration, became a faculty member of LBDC.
In 2005, Alicia started mentoring new graduates of the LBDC Teacher Training program by starting a Reformer Class for Instructors, which continued until 2012. Meeting weekly, LBDC teachers attended the class to explore how to sequence Marie-José’s material in a group setting. During this period, Alicia presented a workshop on sequencing at Marie-José’s second studio, Angel City Body Kinetics.
Marie-José invited Alicia to become a teacher trainer for her LBDC course in 2009 and in 2010 Alicia became a Balanced Body Master Trainer. In 2011, Alicia travelled to Tokyo, Japan to teach a Pilates mat course for Marie-José’s instructors there. From 2012-2016, Alicia was a master trainer for the LBDC teacher training program under the direction of Kendel Pink, held at Studio 3 Pilates (now Intergrated Movement and Wellness).
When Marie-José retired in 2013, Alicia became the new owner of the Long Beach Dance Conditioning studio and created Up Studio, a fully equipped space that featured both the Pilates Method and the GYROTONIC® Expansion System as well as an attached ballet studio. Alicia has also been a ballet teacher and coach for 25 years and created The Inner Life of Ballet™, an anatomically based approach designed to bridge the gap between the clinic and the dance studio, using Up Studio as her base. Up Studio closed in 2021, due to the sale of the building.
Alicia’s continuing education has included workshops and courses with Tom Myers, Phillip Beach, Jean-Claude West, Robert Schleip, Alan Herdman, Marika Molnar and Marie-José Blom.
Alicia is also a GYROKINESIS® Specialized Master Trainer and a GYROTONIC® Master Trainer for the Archway and Jumping Stretching Board.