Meet Erica Shepherd • United States
Erica’s love of fitness began at an early age, when she participated in various individual and team sports. Erica found that Pilates offered her balance as she competed in multiple activities and strongly believes that it enhanced her athleticism and kept her injury free.
Erica studied Pilates under world-renowned fitness expert Tracey Mallett and completed her Pilates Teaching Certification through Body Arts and Sciences International (BASI), one of the most respected certification bodies in the industry. She is also certified through Pilates Method Alliance with a PMA-CPT as well as AFAA as a group exercise instructor. She was handpicked to be a Master Trainer for The Booty Barre®, as Tracey the creator was impressed with her attention to detail, execution of the choreography, great personality and love of teaching. Erica is also one of a handful of Pilates instructors in the state of Washington to be certified by the Pink Ribbon Program, a fitness program designed to address the rehabilitation needs of breast cancer survivors.
Erica and her husband Aaron are the proud parents of two children, Chloe and Jack. In June 2010, she opened a boutique Pilates and Booty Barre studio in Woodinville, Washington, which was awarded “Best Pilates Studio” by Evening Magazine’s Best of Western Washington. She was soon named as one of the Top 9 Trainer’s in the nation for Fab Over Fifty, and has appeared in 3 of Tracey Mallett’s best-selling exercise DVD’s. An Ambassador for Lululemon Athletica, Erica is very involved with her community and enjoys presenting continuing education courses to local health and fitness organizations.
Meet Natalia Haigler • United States & Spain
Natalia Haigler was drawn to ballet as a young girl, and attended the School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of fifteen on full scholarship. Natalia went on to perform for several seasons with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Washington, where she discovered Pilates while rehabilitating several dance-related injuries.
After retiring as a dancer, Natalia pursued her interest in Pilates, earning Pilates certification from Stott Pilates. Since then she has starred in many of Stott Pilates’ consumer and professional DVD series, and has joined them in fitness conventions around the U.S.
Natalia holds a PMA-CPT certification through Pilates Method Alliance and is certified as a group exercise instructor with AFAA. She is also a TRX-certified instructor, and has focused on combining TRX exercises and pilates into her personal training sessions. In addition, Natalia has written articles for Pilates Style Magazine, Fitness Magazine, Imagen, as well as other titles geared toward the Latin market.
Booty Barre is the prefect workout for Natalia as it combines both of her passions in life–Pilates and Dance. She is excited about sharing The Booty Barre® method as a teacher trainer. Natalia and her husband, Chris, currently live in her hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and are the proud parents of their son, Mateo.
Meet Laura Weston • UAE & Saudi Arabia
Laura has had a love for dance since she was a child; taking up ballet from age nine and jazz into her teens. Later these practices led her to explore yoga and pilates, which she fell in love with both instantly. She later trained with many well renowned teachers in both disciplines.
Laura has been an International teacher since 2004; where she spent three amazing years teaching in Nagoya, Japan.
She now lives and teaches in Dubai, UAE, and has been there since August, 2007. She is a certified yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 200 as well as a certified Pilates teacher through the Pilates Method Alliance. She is also a Balanced Body Pilates faculty teacher trainer. She is very excited to be adding Booty Barre classes and trainings, as she feels all of her passions for dance, yoga and Pilates are combined into a challenging and rewarding practice. Her students are also loving The Booty Barre classes for their fun flowing and intense energy! Laura expresses a creative feeling of mind, body and spirit awareness. She feels blessed to share her knowledge and grow with her students in strength, grace and love.
Meet Satoko Yoshikawa • Japan
Born as the youngest child in the family, it has always been Satoko’s love to entertain others around her. She started dancing and gymnastics at an early age and dedicated to cheerleading through her teenage years. Injuries from the acrobatic activities led her to discover Pilates and fall in love with the sensational method.
Satoko studied Pilates under Yae Tatebe, chief insructor of Body Arts and Science International (BASI) Japan. Her experience to live in the U.S. as a young child has given her the opportunities to assist/ translate at teacher training courses, workshops and conventions taking place in Japan. She is also certified as a Core Fitness Roller trainer and has been teaching dance conditioning with the equipment.
Booty Barre is the perfect fitness program Satoko has been longing for. She currently teaches at two of the twelve BASI Japan studios in Tokyo, Japan. She hopes to share this method with many people throughout the country.
Meet Alissa Graunke • United States & Canada
Alissa started her lifelong love of movement by dancing around the house as a toddler – her mom decided she could use some help and enrolled her in ballet class at age 2 1/2. She danced ballet, jazz, lyrical, and modern through college, and turned to Pilates to rehab after an ankle and knee injury in 2004. She completed her 500-hour comprehensive Pilates teacher certification through Body Arts and Sciences International under the direction of Rael Isacowitz in 2010. She continues to expand her knowledge of body mechanics through continuing educations seminars as well as experimenting with other movement repertoires such as yoga, kickboxing, and dance.
She believes that anyone can benefit from the mind-body conditioning principles of Pilates. Her training provided her with an extensive background in traditional and clinical Pilates, as well as detailed training in individualized program design for a diverse range of fitness and special conditions clientele. Throughout her career she has had the opportunity to work with a variety of students ranging from teenage athletes, pre- and post-natal mothers, clients wishing to enhance specific sports-related endeavors, and the elderly population.
In 2011, Alissa was certified in Tracey Mallett’s The Booty Barre®, a sexy, energetic, fun workout that fuses fitness techniques from dance, Pilates, and yoga that will tone, define and chisel the whole body. In 2012, Alissa was invited to become a Master Trainer in The Booty Barre®, and specializes in creating new choreography with Tracey and training fitness professionals who want to include The Booty Barre® in existing studios.
Meet Hannah Powsey • Booty Barre UK/Europe
Hannah competed from the age of three in the British Ballroom Championships and went on to graduate in Musical Theatre from the renowned Millennium Dance College in London, England. Whilst at college Hannah was introduced to Pilates guru Alan Herdman to help rehabilitate a spinal injury she occurred whilst dancing. She fell in love with Pilates and was amazed to see how much it had improved her dance technique. Hannah went onto a very successful dance career for over six years in the UK and Europe. She has now retired from dance and since devoted herself to fitness at her personal Riverside Studio, in Norfolk. Hannah has trained with Future Fit and Body Control Pilates. She is very excited to bring BootyBarre to the UK and Europe, and has no doubt that it will be extremely successful.
