Instructor Bios.

Pilates is for everybody and we prioritize the one on one client/teacher experience for the best application of the method to each person’s individual needs and goals.

Celeste has been teaching since 1999 and calls her work the Integrated Classical Pilates Method (ICPM). The work is defined by the classical vocabulary with additional emphasis from contemporary methodologies. This work is also informed by Celeste’s extensive study in Osteopathic Manual Practice. She holds both a Diploma in Osteopathy (DOMP) and Master of Science in Osteopathy (M.Sc.O) from the London College of Health Sciences.

Celeste has been featured in various local news publications and has appeared on her local cable TV network in “Health Break”, during the acclaimed “Profiles” program hosted by Mickey Burns. She was the first nationally PMA – Certified Pilates Teacher ™ on Staten Island, and her studio boasts instructors with extensive knowledge and experience in the method of Contrology by Joseph Pilates.

Celeste teaches both nationally and internationally and is available for mentoring, workshops, and intensive trainings with those in the Pilates field and all allied professionals and movement educators.

For those looking to enhance their food health and overall state of being, Celeste is able to offer guidance as a natural food chef. She graduated from the renowned Natural Gourmet Institute for health and culinary arts, founded by the late Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D. She also holds a doctorate in Theology (Th.D) from Warrior Notes School of Ministry, under Dr. Kevin Zadai. In an earlier season of her life she also worked for a premier investment bank in New York City, Goldman Sachs, as a Network Manager for the Latin American markets.

Celeste is former dancer classically trained in ballet and Martha Graham technique. She studied and performed with the Clive Thompson Dance Company, performed in the acclaimed productions of ‘La Cage aux Folles’ and ‘Chicago’ with the Staten Island Civic Theater and also studied under the direction of Ellen Tharp of the Staten Island Ballet and Marie Lorene Fichaux of French-American Ballet Theatre. It was her dance background that inspired her love for Pilates. Celeste initially studied the STOTT™ method of Pilates and received her certificate of comprehensive training (all apparatus and mat).From that introduction she realized her personal desire to discover the origins and learn the method of “Contrology” as designed by its creator, Joseph H. Pilates. Celeste enhanced her training through study, either privately and/or in small workshop settings, with Pilates 1st generation teachers; Mary Bowen, Lolita San Miguel, Kathy Grant, and Ron Fletcher, along with expert 2nd generation teachers Sean Gallagher and Elaine Ewing. In 2005 she sat for her national credentialing examination and became one of the first nationally certified PMA-NCPT’s in the US.

She had the great pleasure of serving on the Item Writing committee for the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), writing questions for the national professional examination in 2007. Celeste served on the PMA Board of Directors for 6 years from 2009 – 2014, serving her first year as Secretary and following years as Vice President. She co-founded a non-profit organization, Pilates Youth Organization, Inspiring Youth for Life , and wrote the publication Pilates for Children and Adolescents, a Manual of Guidelines and Curriculum, with Brett Howard. Joseph Pilates believed in “first educating the child” as he wrote in his publication “Return to Life Through Contrology” (please find chapter by chapter audio recording of this treatise by Mr. Pilates on this site, narrated by Celeste). She also co-developed The Lift Program for pelvic floor health with Silvana Kimhi Mam in Israel.