Instructors
All of our superior instructors will guide you through focused, whole-body workouts. Whether you're recovering from an injury, building strength and flexibility for a specific sport, or looking to improve your posture - you will benefit from the individual attention of our skilled trainers.
Jean Sullivan
Studio Director and Founder of ITT Pilates
Jean is known internationally as a Master Pilates instructor and movement educator. She travels extensively throughout the US and abroad to certify instructors in the ITT Pilates Teacher Training Program. Jean has been teaching Pilates, GYROTONIC® and fitness for over 30 years and certifying Pilates instructors since 1998. Jean draws on her experience as a professional dancer and flying trapeze artist to bring an interdisciplinary approach to her teaching. She enjoys helping clients improve their movement patterns to alleviate pain, recover from injury or increase sports performance. She has extensive experience working with scoliosis, back and hip pain, shoulder issues, posture and alignment.
Cathie Caraker
GYROTONIC®, Pilates, Master Trainer
Cathie Caraker brings over 30 years of movement studies and teaching to her work with clients. She originally trained in Pilates with Mary Bowen, one of Joseph Pilates' longtime students in NYC, and taught in Mary's studio for seven years. A professional dancer, she taught for ten years on the faculty of the Choreography Dept of the Theater school of Amsterdam, where she also introduced Pilates mat to the general public. Cathie has been certified in Gyrotonic® since 2007. She holds an MFA in Dance, is a certified Practitioner of Body-Mind Centering® and a Registered Somatic Movement Educator. Since returning to her hometown of San Francisco, she has studied with a number of master teachers, including Jean Sullivan, Madeline Black, Jean-Claude West, and Tom Myers.
Clare Cleveland
BodyTalk, GYROKINESIS®, GYROTONIC®, Master Trainer
Clare studied biology and psychology and has over twenty years of experience in medical research for Stanford University Psychiatry and UCSF Department of Medicine. Her multi- disciplinary background enables her to work well with adults of all fitness levels, dancers, and those recovering from injury or with chronic conditions. She works to facilitate her clients' overall well-being by teaching them to re-pattern movement and postural habits, and improve body and breath awareness.
Nicole Bonadonna
GYROTONIC®, Pilates, Master Trainer
As a professional dancer, Nicole used Pilates and GYROTONIC® as a supplement to her training, for rehab and to help condition her body for the highly physical demands of the work. As a teacher, she draws on her extensive knowledge of the body in motion to facilitate her clients discovery of their own movement and flow. She has a strong interest and knowledge in alternative health and nutrition, which she graciously shares with her clients to complement her teaching.
Margaret Tappan
GYROKINESIS®, GYROTONIC®, Pilates,
ITT Pilates Educator, Master Trainer
Margaret is former professional ballet dancer and an avid and enthusiastic teacher of movement. She is especially interested in the therapeutic applications of the Pilates and GYROTONIC® methods as a means of stimulating the body’s natural ability to heal. She specializes in correcting faulty posture and movement patterns, alleviating chronic pain in clients with special needs, such as scoliosis, sports and dance related injuries. Ultimately, she aspires to bring the joy of movement into people’s lives.
Fran Sholly
GYROTONIC®, Pilates, ITT Pilates Educator, Master Trainer
Fran embarked on her now 30-year exploration of fitness and movement therapies seeking to ease the musculoskeletal pain and imbalances in her own body resulting from scoliosis. She specializes in treating musculoskeletal issues, such as scoliosis, and is skilled at restoring optimal balance in musculature and minimizing patterns of compensation. She can tailor and modify exercises for those recovering from accidents, injuries, and surgeries.
Hilary Power Steinberg
Pilates, Expert Trainer
Hilary is a graduate of the ITT Pilates Comprehensive Instructor Training Program and is passionate about sharing her love of Pilates with her clients. She particularly enjoys helping her clients attain better overall health through increasing their body awareness through mindful movement. Hilary brings energy, creativity and humor to her sessions and loves to share her knowledge and enthusiasm with clients of all ages and fitness levels. In addition to singing professionally, Hilary’s interests include yoga, hiking, reading, cooking and nutrition.
Jeff Cope
Pilates, Expert Trainer
Jeff was introduced to mindful movement as medicine in his teenage years after being hit by a car. His life of team sports and aquatics was turned into a pursuit for physical comfort and ease. He has been teaching yoga and meditation classes for over 10 years, and completed the comprehensive Pilates Instructor program with ITT Pilates at A Body of Work. Jeff’s teaching approach is to let each person find their own unique strengths and limitations, to challenge them safely within their boundaries, and to design personal sequences to optimize their individual growth.
Yun Choi
Pilates, Expert Trainer
Yun discovered Pilates while trying out many different rehabilitation methods to alleviate chronic pain. She found that Pilates was a perfect complement to her love of dance and fitness classes from her earlier years. The story of Joseph Pilates life and the genius of his work, inspired her to become a certified teacher in 2005 through The Physical Mind Institute. After becoming a mom, Yun took a hiatus from Pilates. During the pandemic, she reconnected to her "core" self and found her path back to teaching. Yun loves working with people from all walks of life, and helping clients feel stronger and more flexible. She is currently studying to become a Functional Nutrition consultant.
Pilates, GYROTONIC®, Master Trainer
Mary Power is a master trainer with over 30 years of experience in Pilates, Gyrotonic, TRX, Feldenkrais, yoga, qi gong, martial arts and dance. Mary is artistic director and producer of MpowerDance Project, author of “Visionary Dance Oracle, A Book of the Soul,” and a member of the S.F. non-profit dance community through Independent Arts and Media. She holds an M.A. in Kinesiology. As Senior Dance Medicine Specialist at St. Francis Sports Medicine Clinic, Mary helped clients quickly return to performance. At UCSF Cancer Resource Center, she taught
weekly mindbody fitness classes for all Cancer types. Mary specializes in orthopedic
conditioning/re-education programs for elite movement performers. She enjoys qi gong, fresh air and nature, while maintaining awareness of joy and suffering in our lives.