Certifications
GYROTONIC® – 2025
Pilates Comprehensive Training Texas Christian University

 

Continuing Education
Progressing Ballet Technique Level 1 – 2025
Studying Munz Barre

Contact

info@richardsonpilates.com

Janet is from Seattle, Washington. She was first introduced to Pilates as a ballet student, and then Gyrotonic later on at the LINES Pre-Professional Summer Program.

Janet began her movement journey at age 8, dancing ballet. She was selected to participate in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s DanceChance, a scholarship program that tours elementary schools for potential ballet students, choosing based on personality, concentration, and build. She vividly remembers not knowing what ballet was, but being very impressed with how the panel of teachers held themselves with poise and dignity. She then studied there for 10 years on full scholarship, graduating through the school.

Upon graduation, she chose to study Ballet at the collegiate level,  at Texas Christian University while on the Pre-Physical Therapy track. It was there that she enrolled in the Pilates Training Program, a comprehensive 650+ hour Pilates Certification course available for Dance Majors of the School for Classical and Contemporary Dance.

After obtaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet and her Pilates Certification from TCU, she moved back to her hometown of Seattle to complete an internship with Atlas Pilates, a Classical Pilates studio dedicated to preserving the original methodology of Joseph Pilates. During this time was also when she attended the LINES Program, and was introduced to Gyrotonic Method.

 She then traveled over to the Eastside and taught in Bellevue, Washington at two studios. Bellevue Pilates, a Classical Pilates studio, and Pivot Movement Studio, a Contemporary Pilates style and Gyrotonic studio. Pivot was where she was further introduced to Gyrotonic Method, which propelled her to being certified in Gyrotonic Level 1.

Janet believes that individuals are ones who know their bodies best, and it is her role as an instructor to provide them with tools on how to navigate a deeper understanding and awareness of their bodies. By cultivating a patient, encouraging and supportive environment, while introducing principles and ideas, active learning and self-expression is possible, and one is free to express themselves thoughtfully in an authentic way.

Recently, she was certified in Progressing Ballet Technique Level 1, a Conditioning method that uses the support and instability of various sized stability balls paired with ballet movements, to find the internal strength needed to stabilize and lengthen the body. She is currently studying for her certification in Munz Barre, a Ballet Barre Method that utilizes natural spirals in the body to find length and decompression of the body while dancing.