Instructor Trainers

Lisa, originally from the UK, is a former member of the British National Gymnastic Squad. Currently based in Sydney, she has been teaching health and fitness for over 20 years. She is a Merrithew^® Instructor Trainer specializing in STOTT PILATES^® and CORE^™. She is also a registered fitness leader in Australia, an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Certified Physiologist and an Australian Pilates Method Association (APMA) Level 4 Professional Practitioner Member. Lisa teaches STOTT PILATES courses and workshops in Australia and has her own Pilates studio in Sydney that specializes in private Pilates training.

Lisa became a STOTT PILATES^® Certified Instructor in 2006 and an Instructor Trainer for Merrithew^® specializing in STOTT PILATES in 2011, ZEN•GA^® Mindful Movement in 2013 and Total Barre^® in 2014. She is an ISCA certified personal trainer, TRX trained, and is also a certified breast cancer exercise specialist. Lisa earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance with Honors and Highest Distinction from the University of Iowa in 2006. Lisa enjoys working with a wide range of Pilates clients; from those recovering from surgery to highly conditioned athletes. In addition to teaching Pilates, Lisa dances and performs professionally with Hurley & Dancers, a modern dance company in Des Moines, and teaches dance to a variety of levels and ages.

Lisa decided to pursue her passion of movement and the human body by becoming fully STOTT PILATES^® certified in 2005 and then an Instructor Trainer for Merrithew^® specialising in STOTT PILATES the following year. In 2016, Lisa received special recognition as a Merrithew Lead Instructor Trainer for STOTT PILATES, she is also a Lead Instructor Trainer for ZEN•GA^® and Total Barre^®.

Lisa is the founder and owner of The Movement Lab, Cape Town. Her studio is the only Merrithew Licensed Training centre in Africa, where she also offers music-driven, challenging and creative Pilates classes.

Lucy started as a personal trainer and aerobics instructor in her native England, but her connection to the performing arts brought her to LA in 1990. She discovered Pilates in 1995 when dancing with a modern dance company. Lucy has been teaching Pilates for 20 years and completed her STOTT PILATES^® training at the Corporate Training Center in Toronto. In 2004 she became an Instructor Trainer for Merrithew^® specializing in STOTT PILATES, and continued her training by qualifying as an Instructor in CORE^™ Athletic Conditioning & Performance Training^™. She has trained student instructors in San Diego and Los Angeles. Lucy specializes in both therapeutic and post-rehabilitation Pilates and athletic performance. After suffering a traumatic back injury in 2003, she passionately completed an extensive series of back therapy courses, all of which incorporate the latest research findings.

Lyudmyla has been working in the fitness industry since 1996, and in 2006 she received her first STOTT PILATES^® Certification. In 2011 she became an Instructor Trainer for Merrithew^® specializing in STOTT PILATES and currently works at Pilates Italia, the Licensed Training Center in Italy. She also runs her own Pilates studio in Grosseto, Italy.

Maki graduated from the Kobe College Music Department with a B.A. in Dance. While in college, she studied classical ballet (the Graham Technique), and also began to study Pilates and anatomy. After graduating from college, she received her STOTT PILATES^® Full Certification and is currently working as an Instructor Trainer for Merrithew^® specializing in STOTT PILATES and Total Barre^® at the Licensed Training Center Bcube in Osaka, Japan. With her passion for dance, Maki loves to incorporate elements of dance performance into her lessons which has enabled her to share her knowledge with students when teaching at the Takarazuka Musical Academy.

Mami Ozaki first encountered Pilates after restarting ballet lessons as an adult. She was looking for an appropriate conditioning class. Pilates relieved Mami of the back pain she’d been suffering from for a long time, and fell in love with Pilates instantly.

It had been a long-time dream of hers to work in the health and wellness industry, so she decided to become a Pilates instructor.

Mami became a STOTT PILATES^® Certified Instructor in 2015 and joined Sky Pilates Tokyo.

A professional dancer, Marcela was first introduced to Pilates as a means of conditioning. She became a STOTT PILATES^® Certified Instructor in 2001 and in 2007 she progressed to the level of Merrithew^® Lead Instructor Trainer specializing in STOTT PILATES. Marcela’s long history with body movement began with training in classical dance in her native Argentina and moved on to contemporary dance in New York City. She has danced with Ballet Proarte in Argentina, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and Ballet de l’Opera de Paris, and holds a French National Diploma in Ballet Teaching and a National Certification from the American Ballet Theatre. Able to teach in English, French and Spanish, Marcela’s passion is an integrated education with a focus on strong technique, a healthy body and a free spirit.

Marelize Badenhorst has been a lover of dance, art and movement all her life. While studying design and classical ballet, she discovered Pilates to treat an injury. She gained so much from Pilates as a way of rehabilitating and realigning her body that it inspired her to change career paths. She enrolled in one of the first STOTT PILATES^® Matwork courses offered by Merrithew^® in Cape Town, South Africa in 2000 and opened Pilates studios in Durbanville and Stellenbosch later that year.

Since then, Marelize has lived abroad and traveled all over the world to study. She has taught and presented in Oxford and at the YMCA in London. Marelize founded Precision Pilates, the first Merrithew Licensed Training Center in the Netherlands and hosted courses and workshops at various studios and facilities throughout the Netherlands. She re-located to South Africa with her family in 2014. She is currently working as an instructor and mentor at Core Concepts Pilates and Rehabilitation, a niche rehab-studio in her hometown of Durbanville, and is a part of the education team at The Movement Lab, a Merrithew Licensed Training Center in Cape Town.

Marelize is comfortable teaching a wide range of individuals, from seniors to young athletes in need of sport-specific training. Her greatest pleasure comes from assisting clients in a post-rehab program using Pilates to realign and strengthen their bodies to be the best that they can be, and sharing her knowledge and passion for Pilates with her students.

Margaret was a competitive gymnast from age 5 to 17 and has always been active. Teaching fitness classes seemed to be a perfect fit and she became an instructor at her local recreation facility in 2000. Realizing how much she enjoyed helping people get and stay active led Margaret to discover Pilates in 2007. She loved how the modality challenged participants and could be modified for any level. She started with her STOTT PILATES^® Matwork Certification in 2012 and completed her comprehensive STOTT PILATES Certification by 2017. Margaret’s strong desire to help others learn and teach STOTT PILATES led her to further her education and training. She became a Merrithew^® Instructor Trainer specializing in STOTT PILATES Matwork and Reformer in 2021. She currently teaches private and group classes at Pilates-4-Virginia Beach in Virginia. She is now part of the education team at Balance Pilates Studio in Charlottesville, Virginia.