I thought about how great it would be to open up a Pilates studio of my own. I had been going to Pilates and boutique fitness studios all my life, and I was always aware of the lack of diversity, especially in the people who owned the establishments. I loved the idea of creating and holding space for humans to explore their bodies it came very naturally to me. At first, I would rent space in art galleries, studios and bars then after a year, I was hired by a hotel to teach classes five times a week. So I started teaching my own Pilates and barre classes. So after we moved, I hung up my pointe shoes for good. I was putting so much into this craft and getting almost zero return emotionally, financially and physically. I realized that ballet wasn’t feeding me enough anymore. He’s from Stockholm, and we decided to move to Sweden the following year. I met my partner, Joel, in London in 2012. It was a constant hustle, going back and forth to auditions. I auditioned for roles in London and looked for work in Toronto too, but the opportunities were slim. Over the course of a year, I performed regularly with the Salzburg Opera. All of my hard work was paying off-and I was living my dream. “It was thrilling to dance for such huge audiences. During the run of each season, we were based in Austria, and I would travel back to London in between seasons. in 2011, where I landed my big break-a role as a full-time lead dancer in a production of Carmen at the Salzburg Opera House. After I graduated from the Ailey School, I had short stints at dance companies in New York, Vancouver and Montreal. But school was so busy that I didn’t have enough hours in the day. “I continued to practise Pilates while I was at the Ailey School and earned numerous teaching certifications with the intent of teaching classes on the side for a little bit of extra cash. It was inspiring and overwhelming to study at an inclusive school and spend time with so many wonderful diverse movers and human beings from all over the world. It was founded in 1969 by Alvin Ailey, a Black man, at a time when Black dancers weren’t allowed in traditional ballet and contemporary dance spaces. The Ailey School is one of the biggest and most renowned ballet and contemporary dance schools in America. I was accepted into the Ailey School’s three-year dance certificate program.
FINETUNE PILATES TORONTO PROFESSIONAL
“After graduating high school in 2006, I packed my bags and moved to New York City to pursue my dream of becoming a professional dancer.
I was used to being one of the only Black ballet dancers around-I just tried to get on with it, but I was constantly reminded that I was different and felt like I was continuously apologizing for just being me. “Back in North York after the summer, I was accepted into the dance program at the Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts. It was the perfect complement to the rigours of ballet. Pilates is all about tender, low-impact, high-rep exercises that allow you to focus on your body. As part of our curriculum, we took a Pilates class once or twice a week. The stress and physical demands on the body were extreme.
We were dancing four to six hours a day, five days a week. “At 16, I was accepted into a prestigious summer program at the Juilliard School in New York City. It was a way for me to escape and be in my own little world. Dancing felt like a fairy tale to me–it was whimsical and magical. When I was six, my parents enrolled me in ballet class. “I grew up in North York, and as a kid I’d always put on performances in our home. But Winter was miserable sitting at a desk all day, so during the pandemic she quit and opened the doors to her Corktown Pilates studio, Have a Nice Day Pilates, in August of 2021. After retiring from the profession in 2016, she got a job working in admin at Soulpepper Theatre Company. As a professional ballet dancer, Jennifer Winter began practising Pilates to help offset the rigours of dance.
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