I am truly a native New Yorker! I was born in Manhattan in 1960, grew up in Douglaston, Queens and went to the High School of Performing Arts made famous by the movie "Fame". While attending the High School of Performing Arts on West 46th St I also attended ballet classes first at the famous School of American Ballet and then in 1975 was selected for the American Ballet Theater Scholarship Program where I stayed until 1978 when I graduated high school and began to dance professionally.
I made Pilates my career after reaping the benefits of Pilates as an injured ballet dancer. As a 21 year-old dancer, while performing with the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb, Croatia, I sustained a major back injury that was considered career threatening.
I became a Pilates devotee after experiencing its effectiveness in both my rehabilitation and my improved fitness. Thanks to Pilates I not only performed again, but was subsequently promoted to Soloist!
Although I stopped my performance career in 1986, I continue to perform daily in the Pilates studio as both teacher and perpetual student! Since 2002 our Pilates Reforming New York studios have been dedicated to making the Pilates reformer affordable and available to every...body.
I am PMA Certified and continue to further my Pilates education by attending several conferences annually, as well as through study with various Pilates educators. I completed the Pilates Master Mentor Program with Pilates Elder Lolita San Miguel in November of 2011 and am now considered a Second Generation Pilates teacher. I was certified by Polestar Pilates in the Reformer, Mat and Studio (all apparatus) certifications. I joined the Balanced Body Master Teacher Team in 2008 and currently teach the Balanced Body repertoire at Pilates Reforming New York studios in New York City.
Prior to my teaching for Balanced Body, I was an Educator for Polestar Pilates Education. In 2012 I had the pleasure of training with Darya Bronston, the inventor of the Core Fitness Roller. Balanced Body has since acquired this revolutionary portable apparatus and renamed it the MOTR (More Than a Roller). I have enthusiastically added this unique small portable apparatus to my repertoire of teaching specialties. I am also a Balanced Body Master Teacher for Barre, the Bodhi Suspension System and CoreAlign.
I feel the ultimate honor and challenge is developing and inspiring the next generation of Pilates teachers. My husband and I consider ourselves to be ambassadors of the Pilates method, enthusiastically traveling around the world to share our Pilates passion. I was a regular guest teacher in Lausanne, Switzerland where I taught the Balanced Body repertoire for several years. An avid traveler I am thrilled to have taught in many world cities including Hong Kong, Prague, London, Florence, Valencia, Belgrade, Moscow, São Paulo, Mumbai, India - where I was the first Pilates teacher invited by Yasmin Karachiwala of Body Image to train her Pilates teachers; and Monchengladbach, Germany - where the first Pilates Day conference under Lolita San Miguel was held in May 2011. This was particularly exciting as it was the 1883 birthplace of Joseph Pilates!
I describe my signature Reformer class as an intense, faster paced (I am a New Yorker after all) and demanding contemporary Pilates experience. A stickler for technique, I am very serious about my student’s improvement and there is a constant stream of encouragement and constructive feedback throughout my Reformer classes. As a former dancer I often incorporate creative choreography in my class making the class challenging for both dancers and non-dancers alike.
The story really goes back to 1981 when I injured my spine rehearsing for Don Quixote in Zagreb, Croatia with the Croatian National Theater. I was standing backstage warming up and doing a stretch where I pulled my leg up from behind me into an extension stretch over my head. I felt something strange but didn't think much about it. Within a week I was numb from my waist down to my toes. It started slowly from the outer edge of my feet up and from my tailbone down. I was sent to the top neurologist and orthopedist in Zagreb. The neurologist said "find another career", the orthopedist said "trust me and you will dance again". I took the advice of the orthopedist and within days was plastered into a body cast.
Within a month much of my feeling came back but with it also tremendous low back pain. I was sent to a rehab health spa on the Hungarian border and there I began a month of therapy and body conditioning exercises to strengthen my "core".
Based upon the exercises I was taught (similar to Joseph Pilates early Contrology exercises) and my dance experience I expanded them into a one-hour floor routine. I faithfully did these exercises in the morning and often repeated them in the evening. I maintained this routine until I began my official Pilates training in 1999.
One year after I sustained my injury after many challenges, I was back on stage in the very same ballet I had been inured in! The great news is that not only did I return to dance but the devotion to strengthening my body paid off and I was promoted to Soloist!
I continued my dance career faithfully doing my floor exercises morning and evening with no days off. I understood that what was supporting my spine health was the strong musculature that I had built to support my spine.
I returned to the USA in 1984 as the rumblings of the Yugoslav war started. I continued to pursue my career and subsequently danced with Ohio Ballet but ultimately decided in 1986 after a painful hamstring and then bunion injury I had had enough.
Fast forward a few years to 1994, I was cycling in Central Park (my new hobby), and had a bicycle crash where I injured my coccyx. I wound up in the Chiropractic office of Dr. Errol Toran (I had met him on a ride many months earlier) and there experienced the amazing results of Chiropractic treatment. Eventually Errol and I married (that's another story) and it was in 1999 that he began using Pilates based exercises on a Reformer in his practice for his patients. So that is where, in 1999, I experienced my first Pilates reformer session. It was instantly amazing and within months I decided to take a one-week Reformer course encouraged by the instructor. I absolutely loved the way the Reformer (an original Balanced Body Current Concepts) made me feel and felt by taking the course that I could conveniently work myself out anytime I wanted! I continued this way until I received a brochure about the 1st International Polestar Pilates Conference in Miami, Florida in 2002.
I attended this inaugural conference and soon after registered for Polestar Pilates Teacher Training. In April 2002 my husband and I opened our first NYC Pilates Reforming New York studio in Times Square. We were the first NYC studio to specialize in group reformer classes and honestly to this day I feel we are the best!
What I know now is that those early training's got me through the door, but it has been the years since of continuing education, and the teaching of tens of thousands of clients and tens of thousands of classes that I have really grown into the teacher I am today.
Please come take one of my signature Group Reformer Classes in my Virtual Reformer Studio.
Are you interested in obtaining a Pilates, Bodhi or MOTR education with me? I am passionate about sharing my many years of education and share my knowledge in every course I teach. Please check out my current Balanced Body Teaching Schedule.
Would you love to take some classes with me but live far away? Take my classe online through our MindBody Virtual Platform!
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We love our clients, so feel free to visit during studio hours at one of our New York City locations:
344 West 38th St NY, NY 10018
1462 First Avenue NY, NY 10075
Below is our Pilates Reforming New York Flagship location:
344 West 38th Street, New York, New York 10018, United States
Without a doubt my favorite course to teach is the Balanced Body Pilates Reformer course.I consider this my signature course and am passionate about sharing the expertise I have acquired since 1999!
Authorized Balanced Body Training at Pilates Reforming New York
Reformer 1 and Movement Principles (18 hours)
Reformer 2 (16 Hours)
Reformer 3 (14 Hours)
Mat 1 and Movement Principles (18 Hours)
Mat 2 (16 Hours)
Trap/Cadillac (18 Hours)
Chair (8 Hours)
Barrels (8 Hours)
MOTR (16 Hours)
Bodhi (16 Hours)
Barre (16 Hours)
CoreAlign
Anatomy in 3D - taught by my husband Dr. Errol Toran, D.C.
I love to travel and share my Pilates expertise anywhere there is an enthusiastic audience! Do you have a group looking for some inspiration to come your way? Contact me and let's chat!
I teach all kinds of 3-hour workshops:
Do you have a need or a specific workshop you want? Let's talk!
June 23-25, 2017
" Ann is an inspiring teacher & educator. I cannot say enough great things about Ann. Even though I have been teaching a long time, she encouraged me to learn something new about myself and to learn more to bring back to my students to motivate and inspire them just like how Ann inspired me. what an awesome weekend I had! I love her passion for teaching. It was such an honor to learn from her!"
June 23-25, 2017
" I took this class in order to learn more about the Pilates method and about my own body. Ann Toran definitely did the job so well! She is an amazing educator and I strive to one day use the knowledge she passed on to me to share in my own Pilates class. It was amazing, Ann is amazing! "
January 27-29, 2017
" Ann Toran is an excellent and passionate teacher. She makes the student to feel confident and ready! "
August 26-27, 2017
" Ann Toran is a brilliant teacher. Pedagogically, she taught the content very clearly. As someone who has a Masters Degree in Education, I can say with confidence that I trust Ann and her knowledge of Pilates as a movement form. The MOTR is a wonderful tool that I cannot wait to start using! I have already purchased one, and I am looking forward to continuing my Pilates practices with it. Thanks to Ann for giving me many tools and information to play with, teach others, and enjoy for myself! "
February 6-7, 2016
" I thoroughly enjoyed the training course. The instructor was very clear and comprehensive. She used different teaching techniques to give us a well rounded experience - lecture, hands on, physical etc... I learned a lot and feel that I got the foundational knowledge needed to start incorporating these exercises into my teaching. "
Jan 4-5, 2016
" Anybody who wants to expand their knowledge in fitness ; Balanced body Pilates certification highly recommended . V thorough , precise , in detail comprehensive course it is . Special Thanks to our teacher Ann Enron Toran who has changed my life with her magical teaching of Pilates . She is the reason fr me getting hooked to Pilates . Thank u Ann . "
We offer a $10 New Client Orientation Class everyday year-round! During this class we share a bit of Joseph Pilates story and have you experience a full Pilates Reformer experience.
Once you have taken our New Client Orientation Class we are confident you will want to follow up with our
New Client Deal: 5 Classes for $99