If there’s one person – besides Joe Pilates himself – who was integral to the foundation, building, and spread of the classical Pilates legacy, everyone will agree that it was his protege, Romana Kryzanowska.
It’s easy to find a lot of information about Romana’s life on the internet, but for instructors and students who want to know what she was like, who have dreamed of taking a class under her or even just meeting her once, we decided to ask a few of Romana’s students to share some of their fondest memories of the incomparable Romana Kryzanowska.
Check out what Brooke Siler, Celia Jones, Christina Gadar, Jamie Trout, and Tiziana Trovati have to say...
Romana was a beautiful blend of wonderful idiosyncrasies in one amazing and inspirational human being. She was very maternal to me, yet somehow mischievous. She could be strict and also playful. But one thing Romana was full of was life and passion.
She loved to laugh and had the greatest laugh ever. She even got this little twinkle in her eyes each time she laughed her infectious child’s laugh. Did you know that during Fridays, she would sometimes pop out a bottle of champagne, and we’d drink while in the middle of our practice?
One of the life lessons I learned from Romana was to live and celebrate life. I didn’t have to take things too seriously and miss out on fun. Sometimes the love we have for Pilates gets lost when we take it too seriously.
Romana really managed to balance discipline and play. And even though the exercises were difficult, she would make you want to work harder. She would make you want her to appreciate the hard work you put in.
I met Romana a couple of times, and the times that I did meet her, I was quite intimidated and petrified! She did have quite a reputation. But she was such a lovely person. She made us all feel very comfortable in our own skin.
I remember there was one time we went out to dinner, and someone had spilled white wine all over the side of my shirt, and I was so embarrassed, but she just shrugged it off and said, “Don’t worry about it, honey, come and have a drink with me.”
I’ll always remember her biggest advice to me, which was to have fun and enjoy the process.
I can tell you what Romana loved—the color royal blue. All the equipment in the studio was royal blue, so much so that we students actually started calling it Romana blue. She also loved culture, languages, and art. She loved music and dance, and she loved going out and having fun.
In terms of how she was as a teacher, Romana had the ability to demonstrate the hardest, most complex exercises in the simplest of ways. To me, Romana wasn’t one to rely heavily on words as much as on her actions. Words alone wouldn’t impress her, but actions would.
For Romana, Pilates was all about simplicity, motion in the body, and feeling. You have to feel it, she would say. You have to do it to feel it, and you have to do it to teach it.
Romana would say that the goal of Pilates is stretch, strength, and control.
She had a devotion to bodies in motion and her smile beamed from love from her soul.
I would say Romana’s life was an amalgamation of all that she loved. Of course, she loved the Method, but it was more than just Pilates.
Romana had this amazing chaotic, yet super exciting and lively aura about her. I remember there was one time when I was feeling frustrated in a seminar because I didn’t really get the chance to get on the equipment, and she went up to me and asked, “Why are you being so serious?” I instantly relaxed and realized there was more to what I was learning than simply getting a certification.
I was one of the very fortunate people chosen to have private lessons with Romana. For the first 3 months, Romana was extremely tough on me. Every time I had a lesson, she would shred me to pieces. I won’t lie, it was pretty brutal.
But Romana was a very intuitive, one-of-a-kind teacher. She always knew what to do with every student and client. She knew how to handle different personalities, and she was gifted with reading bodies.
I have so many memories of Romana. There was a time she gave me the nickname “Mighty Mouse” when I insisted I join two male students in their exercises. She said, “Oh, look at her. You better watch her. If you bump into her in a dark alley, she is a Mighty Mouse.”
Another moment I’ll always remember was during one of the teacher trainings. Someone wasn’t doing the exercise properly, and she said, “Stop, watch me.” And she did a full backbend out of nowhere, totally cold! Not just that, there was another time, she hung upside down from the Cadillac and did a full split, again without warming up! Now, mind you, Romana was already in her 70s at this point, and all of us students were looking at her, completely floored and impressed.
I will always remember Romana as this amazing presence. When she would walk into the studio, everyone would take a deep breath and just take her in. No words were spoken or needed, we all just knew that we were in the presence of a legend.
I just found her to be an incredible teacher. She made everyone feel empowered. She created different lessons for each of us, taking into account our different bodies and personalities. It wasn’t simply a cut-and-dry course plan.
She would change the way she spoke when addressing different people. I remember she never told me to squeeze anything, whereas, with my friend, she told her to squeeze away! She was very good at honing in on your body and knowing what you needed to do to improve.
One particular memory I have of her was when a few of us would go and eat out with Romana. We’d get a bucket of mussels and a bottle of champagne and situate ourselves by the sidewalk or by the window where we could get to watch as people passed by. Then she would point out a couple of people and ask questions like, “How does this person move? What do you think happened? What exercises would you recommend for that person?”
Romana showed me the joy in Pilates. The pure joy she exuded was so infectious. The empowerment she imparted to us was amazing. She made Pilates fun. She also reminded me about the reason I started training in the first place.
Pilates is about helping somebody move better, be better. A lot of people make Pilates to be this black-and-white divide, but it’s not. I hope that as big as this wonderful Pilates community is, we can all share in the life, the legacy, and the unbounded joy of Pilates that Romana has left behind.
