She went on to study with three of Joseph Pilates original disciples throughout her professional dance career, starting with Eve Gentry,
moving on to Romana Kryzanowska and then Ron Fletcher. With her
background as professional dancer and yoga devotee, she brings a
dynamic and progressive, yet traditional perspective to her Pilates
teaching. Her work transforms bodies and minds in keeping with the passionate spirit that led Joseph Pilates to create his system. She
holds a certification through the original Pilates Studio under the
guidance of Romana Kryzanowska and is one of a privileged few 2nd
generation Pilates Master Teachers in the country. She has practiced yoga since 1988 and has been teaching and inspiring thousands with her
unique approach to yoga since 1995.
She trained and certified with Lindsey Clennell at the Iyengar Institute in New York City, with Alan Finger, Founder of the ISHTA System and BeYoga Studios also in New York City and with Sarah Powers, master teacher of Yin Yoga and Buddhist meditation at the Kripalu Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Jennifer's yoga style blends a heating flow or Yang Vinyasa practice, influenced by Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar and Kundalini styles with a Yin component, a practice of long held poses to enhance and harmonize the body’s the meridian and organ systems to create total balance and health in the body-mind.
As much a dancer as a fitness phenomenon, she made her professional debut at sixteen in Balanchine’s “Serenade” with Edward Villella’s Eglevsky Ballet. She trained with The School of American Ballet and after becoming a member of Pennsylvania Ballet at sixteen, was discovered by Matt Mattox disciple, Shimon Braun of Philadelphia’s Waves Jazz Dance Company. She quickly rose to the rank of principle, performing in such houses as the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Royal Festival Hall, London and L’Opera de Paris, as well as making guest appearances with Philadanco, the Bat Sheva Dance Company, Lar Lubovitch, Roland Petit’s Ballet de Marseilles, Opus I Contemporary, Balletto di Toscana in Florence, and in film, Donald Byrd’s Next Step. She has an eclectic number of choreography and teaching credits, among them, New York City Ballet, Hubbard Street Chicago and Pennsylvania Ballet Summer residencies, Bat Sheva Dance Company, Tel Aviv and Sade’s music video “No Ordinary Love.”
The synergy of her Pilates background, her intensive study of anatomy with renowned exercise physiologist and movement scientist, Irene Dowd, coupled with her own study of eastern philosophies and schools of movement such as the "soft arts" of Chi-Gong and Bone Marrow Nei Kung with Chi-Gong Master Mantak Chia, led Jennifer to develop her Hot Body Cool Mind system. She is responsible for starting the Pilates Program for Towne Sports International’s New York Sports Clubs and World Gym, New York. After introducing the idea of Pilates to public gym facilities in 1990, her idea caught on like wild fire and was adopted by gym programs across the nation. Her mat class was voted one of America’s Top Ten Group Classes by Shape magazine in 1999, she was A-listed by New York magazine three years running from 2001-2004 as New York’s Top Pilates Instructor and her work and fitness programming concepts have been introduced to a wide range of public and private fitness facilities in the United States and abroad. In 2005, she named Pilates Midwest in Petoskey Michigan her official affiliate and Midwest education center where she holds teacher training programs and workshops attended by students from all over the world.
One of the country’s preeminent Pilates master teachers, she is responsible for launching many of today’s most respected professionals who teach either traditional Pilates or The Method, her trademark mind-body synthesis: Pilates, yoga, and dance. She is the founder of New York’s, Balance Pilates, Yoga, and Dance, Hot Body Cool Mind—The Studio in Philadelphia, Artistic Director and Founder of Contemporary Dance Theatre New York and most recently, creator and producer of yet another ground-breaking four part DVD series, Hot Body Cool Mind: The Life Force Power Workout!
Her approach to personal fitness is unsurpassed. Jennifer brings unmatched clarity and an extraordinary perspective to her teaching. She has inspired countless readers, practitioners, graduates of her programs, and viewers alike to embrace her all-encompassing philosophy of movement, art, health, life and energy. Through her inspiring work, she helps people transform far more than their bodies, enabling them to tap into a reserve of power never before experienced. Her attention to detail, superb teaching style, artistry, and knowledge of Eastern healing techniques, anatomy and energy dynamics makes her one of the most highly sought-after mind-body teachers in the world today.
