by Marjolein van Sonsbeek
Romana Kryzanowska was born into a very artistic family on June 30th 1923, in a town near Detroit. She always remained the only child in the family. Without a doubt Romana was the one who remained most loyal of all Elders to Joseph and Clara Pilates. Unfortunately Romana died not too long ago in her sleep, on August 30th 2013. Her death is a big loss to the Pilates community.
Faithfull to Joe’s method
In my opinion; there wouldn’t be traditional Pilates in the Netherlands without Romana Kryzanowska. Maybe something would exist that would resemble it, but I don’t think Contrology would exist. Joseph Pilates initially called his method Contrology and that original heritage is what Romana taught the world. She never stopped to pass on Joseph’s original version. She has never deviated from the original and has always remained true to what Joseph has taught her since 1942.
Joseph’s biggest fan
In 1942 Romana came to Joseph’s Pilates studio for the first time. That same year she got accepted as a dancer to The School of American Ballet; George Balanchine’s school. Due to track, Romana was unable to dance anymore. She was 19 years old at that time. After some visits to doctors who couldn’t help her, George Balanchine (a client of Joseph himself) took her to Joseph’s Contrology-Art-Studio-Pilates of Joseph Pilates. When she got there, she was ordered not to dance for at least two weeks, and do the assignments Joe had given her instead. She later told her mom she hated the studio. It was an old, dark building and the studio reeked of sweat. She also thought it was odd that this weird, surly and intimidating man had barely looked at her foot. She didn’t want to go back, but her mom made her. But, in no time Romana changed her mind. Not only did her ankle and foot heal, her dancing had improved and so had her stamina. She became Joseph’s biggest fan.
Follow in Joseph’s tracks
Romana continued to come to the studio as often as she could next to her dance practice, sometimes even twice a day! She mostly worked on the machines, because matclasses were mostly taught to clients that often travelled. She learned all Contrology- techniques and after a year Romana became an assistant and taught classes herself. She did not get paid for her services, but she got the knowledge about the method.
When Romana was 21 she married a wealthy businessman from Peru; Pablo Meija. They decided to move to Peru, which saddened not only Romana’s mother, but Joseph and Clara too. She had became a good friend to them, and also indispensable to their studio. Romana and Pablo had 2 children; Paul and Sari. She always kept in touch with Joseph and Clara, and in 1958 Romana returned to America and started teaching in Joe’s studio again. At that time Joseph and Clara had gotten pretty old, but they still worked in their studio every day. Their friendship became even closer and she called them “Uncle Joe” and “Aunt Clara”. Together with John Winters Romana started managing the studio. In her copy of “Return to life through Contrology”*, Joseph wrote that Romana was to be the one to step in his tracks.
Romana kept the studio running
Romana kept working and studying in the studio until Joseph died in 1967. Clara and Romana kept the studio running and in 1970 Romana became the manager of ‘The Pilates Studio’, which was the name of the studio at that time.
After Clara died in 1977 Romana kept working in the studio in New York together with her daughter; Sari. They later founded Romana’s Pilates and travelled all over the world to teach other trainers about true Contrology.
Full commitment
Romana closely watched the level at which exercises were performed. She was very strict. She wouldn’t accept her students doing their exercises halfheartedly. She demanded full dedication, but her sense of humor and her “every day is a party”- attitude made her a well- loved person. A few trainers even lived with her, where they were able to train with her intensively. Romana continued – even until she was very old – to demonstrate the pure Pilatesmethod all around the world; she demonstrated advanced exercises on the Cadillac with ease until she was 80.
She often came to Marjorie Oron’s studio on The Hague to teach Pilates. Her daughter Sari Meija Santo is now in charge to teach Joseph’s heritage to the world.
It later became apparent that Joseph started a few myths. She never thought it was true that he had been untrue about his age and other things. Javier Pèrez Pont and Esperanza Aparicio Romero wrote the biography about Joseph Pilates – The Biography; Joseph Hubertus Pilates – at her request. For years she relentlessly asked them to write this book about her hero and this resulted in a bulky and complete work about the life of this genius. The authors, Javier and Esperanza, frequently passed on what they had found out about Joseph’s life to Romana. Romana just couldn’t believe, even though this was proven by clear facts and documents, that Joseph had not always told the truth.
(physical trainer, was born near Düsseldorf, Germany. His exact date of birth and the full names of his parents are unknown. His father, a champion gymnast, was Greek; his mother, who was German, worked as a naturopath. The family name, of Greek origin, is pronounced “Puh-lah-tees” and was derived from its original version, Pilatu. As a child, Joseph Pilates suffered from a variety of ailments, including asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, and was bullied by other boys who made fun of his name, calling him “Pontius Pilate, killer of Christ.” Determined to improve his spindly physique as well as his self-esteem, he became obsessed with bodybuilding, gymnastics, and the practice of yoga. 
By the age of fourteen he had become so physically fit that he was hired to pose for anatomical charts. Pilates attributed the dramatic turnaround in both his health and his physical appearance to proper breathing techniques and correct posture, and he devised a series of exercises to maintain the well-being he had fought so hard to gain.
As a young man Pilates variously earned a living as a self-defense trainer, a boxer, and a circus performer in Germany and later in England, where he emigrated in 1912. Two years later, following the outbreak of World War I, he was classified as an enemy alien by the British government and was sent with other German nationals to the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea. He was interned there for the duration of the war. To pass the time, he began teaching fitness exercises to other inmates. He devised special programs for those who were bedridden and created makeshift devices for strength training.
Following his release at the war’s end in 1918, Pilates returned to Germany to work as a fitness trainer in Hamburg. The routines and machinery that he fashioned on the Isle of Man became the basis for what became known as the Pilates Method, the fitness program that he began to develop and refine during the postwar years. Word of his success with individual clients spread, and he was hired by the city of Hamburg to train its policemen. His techniques were also adopted by the German army. However, worsening economic conditions in Germany prompted Pilates to consider emigration yet again, and in 1925 he sailed for the United States. On board the ship he met a woman named Clara, who shared his interest in physical fitness. A romance developed, and they were married soon after their arrival in New York City.
The Pilates Method–in its early years it was called Contrology–was grounded in a series of exercises that called for stretching, pulling, and contracting parts of the body to strengthen muscles in the abdomen and pelvic area and to foster proper spinal alignment, while simultaneously practicing rhythmic breathing. Some of the exercises, which had such names as the Corkscrew, Hot Potato, and Can Can, were done on the floor; others, such as the Cadillac, the Barrel, and the Reformer, involved the use of simple machines that Pilates designed. The Pilates Method was demanding and the training was expensive, which meant that devotees had to be committed to its practice. Pilates’s students thus formed a rather exclusive club that over the years included the celebrated dancers and choreographers 
Pilates wrote several books about his method, including Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising that Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education (1934) and Return to Life Through Contrology (1945; repr. 2005), the latter coauthored with William John Miller. He also patented more than two dozen exercise devices.
