Meet the educators
Julia Oravisto
Creative Class Planning - Building Towards Advanced Pilates
Originally from Helsinki, Julia has been teaching Pilates for over 15 years. Comprehensively certified through Polestar Pilates Australia, she spent seven years living and teaching in Australia before returning to Finland to found BAY STUDIOS in 2017. Today, BAY STUDIOS includes two studio locations with four reformer spaces, an online platform, and a teacher training programme, where Julia has been educating and mentoring instructors for the past six years.
With a background in contemporary dance, studied in Finland and Germany, Julia’s teaching is deeply influenced by somatic practices including Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, and improvisation. These influences have shaped an approach that values curiosity, movement quality, and intelligent progression while staying true to the principles of Pilates.
Passionate about helping both teachers and clients develop a deeper understanding of movement, Julia is known for creating classes that are thoughtful, creative, and accessible, challenging people to explore their potential without losing sight of the essence of the method.
Chrisen Presence
Injury Awareness
Tuck into Flexion: Exploring Inversions Across the Apparatus
Chrisen Presence is an Australian Pilates educator with over 16 years of experience and a global community of Pilates instructors who follow his approach to teaching and movement.
Having spent more than a decade teaching thousands of hours in the studio, Chrisen now travels internationally delivering workshops and education for Pilates professionals. His work focuses on the skills that transform good instructors into exceptional teachers — intelligent cueing, programming, movement analysis, advanced Reformer repertoire and confident group-class coaching.
Known for making complex concepts practical and immediately usable, Chrisen encourages instructors to think critically, trust their experience and develop a teaching style that is authentically their own.
Sophia more
Sophia More, a seasoned Pilates practitioner and longtime Pi Studios teacher, has over 20 years of experience. Originally training under Holly Murray, she embraced Classical Pilates as both a practice and a philosophy.
Now a Teacher Trainer on Pi’s Full Comprehensive Teacher Training Programme, she mentors aspiring instructors while continually refining her practice through advanced training. Passionate about movement, Sophia’s personalised approach helps clients unlock strength, flexibility, and vitality. She has trained with esteemed figures like Bob Liekens and Kathi Ross Nash.
The Power of Touch - Effective Hands on Technique
Unleash the Magic of the Magic Circle - Precision, Strength and Control
Cecile Kaltenbach
From Pregnancy to Postpartum: Programming with Confidence
Cécile has been a professional ballet dancer for over 19 years.
She studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris before leaving France to perform with renowned ballet companies around the world. After dancing with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and the Royal Swedish Ballet, she settled in Berlin, where she has been a Demi-Soloist with the Staatsballett for the past 14 years.
Throughout her career, Cécile has faced many injuries. After a serious foot injury and surgery in 2009, she discovered STOTT PILATES while rebuilding her body with a one-on-one instructor. Returning to the stage stronger than before, she quickly realised the importance of Pilates as an essential part of her training and recovery.
In 2020, she completed the STOTT PILATES Instructor Training and is certified in Mat, Reformer, Cadillac, Chair, and Barrels.
During her first pregnancy in 2023, Cécile developed a passion for pre- and postnatal Pilates after experiencing its benefits firsthand. She went on to become a PCES (Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist) and has completed further training in diastasis recti and pelvic floor function.
Her goal is to share the tremendous benefits Pilates has on both body and mind, helping pre- and postpartum women navigate this transformative stage of life with confidence and strength.
Sophie Richards
Navigating Pain: Understanding Spinal Issues in 1:1 Pilates Practice
Sophie Richards has over 15 years of experience working 1:1 with clients across a huge range of injuries, pre- and post-operative rehabilitation, and complex conditions. She is the founder and owner of Pulse Pilates Berlin, her own studio, which she has run since 2010.
Before Pilates, Sophie trained and worked as a professional circus aerial artist, developing an in-depth understanding of strength, mobility, body awareness and the physical demands of high-level movement. This background continues to shape her approach to Pilates and working with the body.
Her extensive experience, combined with her movement background, has given Sophie a practical and highly individualised approach to working with clients navigating pain, injury and physical limitations.
dan o’brien
Beyond the Cue
Dan O'Brien (The Reformer Scientist) is an exercise scientist and Pilates educator from Australia, specialising in injury rehabilitation.
kirill kozlov
Strength Training Principles in Pilates
Kirill is a sport scientist with a professional track and field background. With well over a decade of experience, he combines his expertise in strength and conditioning with a deep understanding of athletic performance as well as physical rehabilitation.
GALINA ROHLEDER
The Teacher’s Eye: Seeing what the client needs
Galina Rohleder has been teaching classical Pilates for almost 30 years.
She first discovered Pilates during her time, when she lived in New York, where she had the fortune and privilege to meet Romana Kryzanowska, who she completed her training with, that making her a second generation trainer.
Back in Germany she opened Berlin’s first Pilates Studio, being a Teacher Training Institute with the Deutsche Pilates Verband.
She feels blessed to have a wonderful team working with her and enjoys passing on her experience to next generations.
Shirah perry
Shirah Perry teaches Pilates and Pilates-based integrative movement. With a professional background in dance pedagogy and a multifaceted training history as a dancer, Shirah brings a broad array of somatic influences to her work as a movement teacher. Her teaching explores the intersection between traditional Pilates and other mind-body movement practices, and draws on evolving understanding of the fascial and nervous systems to enrich and deepen her students’ relationship to their practice. As co-founder, teacher trainer, and curriculum developer of Regarding Form since 2019, Shirah also continuously explores the impact of a teacher’s technical and interpersonal choices on their clients’ experiences and outcomes.
Shirah is a 600-hour comprehensively certified Pilates teacher, 200-hour certified yoga teacher, Pilates and barre teacher trainer, and has studied special populations and topics such as pre- and postnatal, chest wall surgery rehabilitation, corrective exercise, pelvic health, myofascial release, and more. She holds a 4-year Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet Pedagogy.
From the Ground Up
Emily Ranford
Folding and Unfolding: Balancing the Thoracolumbar Fascia on the Apparatus
Emily is an Australian movement educator and Pilates teacher with 15+ years of experience teaching the Pilates Method through a clinical, contemporary, and somatic lens.
With a background in dance and a deep interest in human movement, Emily brings together anatomical understanding, embodied awareness, and an appreciation of how the body moves, adapts and learns. Her approach is grounded in curiosity, precision, and ease, encouraging a deeper understanding of the relationship between anatomy, sensation and movement.
In her work with Pilates instructors, Emily invites practitioners to look beyond the exercise itself, exploring how observation, touch, language, and movement choices can enrich the teaching experience and support more intelligent, responsive practice.
