Inside Pilates E-Motion Week: Education, Community, and the Classical Method
Written by Adrian Radwański
Pilates E-motion Week will take place in Poznań, Poland, from October 12–18, 2026. Hosted by Pilates Boys, it will bring together an international community of Pilates teachers and practitioners for a full week of workshops, individual sessions, examinations and shared practice
The Classical Pilates program will include:
- Monday — a dedicated workshop for Pilates E-motion School teachers
- Tuesday — examinations and individual sessions
- Wednesday through Sunday — workshops and individual sessions with the international teaching team
The full-week participation fee is €500.
The vision for Pilates E-Motion Week
Pilates E-motion Week is built around a simple but essential idea: the method serves the person, not the other way around.
The Pilates E-motion School approaches Pilates as a complete, interconnected system, but always keeps the individual at the center of the work. The purpose is not to reproduce perfect shapes or follow choreography mechanically. It is to understand the person in front of us — how they move, what they need and how the system can support their development.
Throughout the week, participants will learn through movement, observation and direct experience. They will explore how the Mat and the different apparatuses communicate with one another, how exercises relate across the system, and how a teacher can adapt the work without losing its original intention.
The event will bring together teachers from different countries, studios and professional backgrounds. Each presenter contributes an individual perspective, but all share the same foundation: respect for the classical system, trust in the intelligence of the body and a deeply human approach to teaching.
The goal is not only to expand the participants’ repertoire. It is to help them observe more clearly, make better decisions and use the Pilates system to meet each person where they are — while guiding them towards what they are capable of becoming.
Learn about the Pilates Presenters for the Workshops and Individual Sessions
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Gloria Gasperi: founder and educational director of the Pilates E-motion Teacher’s Educational School. A second-generation Pilates teacher and longtime student of Jay Grimes, she completed both The Work and Teaching the Work at Vintage Pilates in Los Angeles. She teaches Pilates as one complete and intelligent system, while always placing the individual person at the center of the process. Through the international Pilates E-motion School, Gloria has created a community of teachers who learn to observe, think and respond rather than simply reproduce exercises.
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Carlotta Giordana: Pilates teacher, Teacher Trainer with the Pilates E-motion School, and Gloria Gasperi’s personal assistant. She began practicing Pilates in 2010 and became a teacher in 2014, developing her work through the authentic system created by Joseph Pilates. Her teaching combines a deep understanding of how the apparatus and exercises connect with close attention to the individual person and their needs. Through her teaching, workshops and ongoing work alongside Gloria, Carlotta plays an important role in supporting the development and international community of the Pilates E-motion School.
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Adrian Radwański: Pilates educator, Teacher Trainer with the Pilates E-motion School, and co-founder of Pilates Boys in Poznań. His teaching is rooted in understanding Pilates as a complete, interconnected system rather than a collection of individual exercises or shapes. He focuses on helping teachers develop connection, observation and the ability to guide each person through the method with clarity and purpose. Through Pilates Boys, its two Poznań studios and educational programs, Adrian actively contributes to the growth of the classical Pilates community in Poland.
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Patryk Nowak: Classical Pilates teacher, Teacher Trainer with the Pilates E-motion School, and co-founder of Pilates Boys in Poznań. His work combines a strong understanding of the classical system with an attentive, individual approach to the person in front of him. He uses the apparatus and exercises as tools to support each client’s development rather than as goals in themselves. Together with Adrian, Patryk has developed two Pilates Boys studios and helped create a welcoming local community centred around thoughtful, high-quality Classical Pilates.
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Dina Vitale: founder and director of Enjoy Pilates studios in Corato and Bari and leads the Corato branch of the Pilates E-motion School. With more than 20 years of teaching experience, she combines deep respect for the classical system with sensitivity to the needs and possibilities of each individual. Having worked with Gloria since the early years of the school, Dina plays an important role in developing the Pilates E-motion community in southern Italy and making its human-centered educational approach accessible to new generations of teachers.
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Lesley Bell: founder of Palermo Pilates, creator of the Palermo Pilates Symposium, and a Teacher Trainer with the Pilates E-motion School. She completed the school’s Comprehensive Teacher Training Program in 2019 and its Master Program in 2022. Her teaching combines an understanding of the complete system with curiosity about the individual experience of the person moving through it. Through her studio, teacher training and international events, Lesley has built a community founded on education, openness, exchange and shared growth.
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Kristina Havartsova: founder of Pilates Journey in Warsaw, a Classical Pilates teacher, and a Teacher Trainer with the Pilates E-motion School. Her approach combines knowledge of anatomy and movement with an understanding of Pilates as a complete system that must always respond to the individual. Through Pilates Journey, she contributes to the development of Classical Pilates in Poland and creates a space in which clients and teachers can experience the method as a personal process rather than a pursuit of external perfection.
- Roi Karpathiou: Classical Pilates teacher based between Athens and Abu Dhabi. She completed Jay Grimes’s Weekends with Jay program and continued her studies through Gloria Gasperi’s Pilates E-motion Master Program. Her teaching explores the depth of the original system while remaining grounded in the individual experience, helping each person discover greater strength, connection and confidence through the work. As the creator and host of the Athens Classical Pilates Conference, Roi also brings teachers together and supports the growth of an open, international classical Pilates community.
Individual Session Teachers
The international teaching team will also include:
Although each teacher brings a different background, experience and way of communicating the work, they share the educational foundation of the Pilates E-motion School: an understanding of Pilates as one complete system and a belief that the person must always remain at its center.
Their individual sessions will give participants an opportunity to experience how the same method can be taught through different perspectives without becoming rigid or impersonal. The objective is not to fit everybody into the same form, but to use the system intelligently to support the person who is present.
A Gratz Equipped Pilates Event
Throughout Pilates E-motion Week, Gratz apparatus will be used as an integral part of the teaching rather than simply as equipment for separate workshops.
The event will feature:
- Reformers: The Reformer will provide the central structure for much of the work, allowing participants to explore rhythm, transitions, resistance and the relationship between the springs and the body.
- Cadillacs: The Cadillac will expand this work through a different relationship to gravity and spring resistance. It will be used both to prepare the body for more demanding exercises and to deepen connections that can later be carried back to the Reformer and Mat.
- Pilates Chairs: The Chairs will challenge vertical organisation, control and the integration of the upper and lower body. Their compact structure makes the intention of the work especially clear and leaves little room for compensatory movement.
- Ladder Barrel: The Ladder Barrel will support work on spinal articulation, extension, side bending and the relationship between strength and flexibility. It offers a valuable bridge between supported movement and exercises requiring greater independence.
- Pedi Pole: The Pedi-Pole will bring the work into standing, asking participants to organize the body against spring resistance while maintaining balance and control. This is particularly important to our approach because the purpose of the system is ultimately to prepare people to move confidently and efficiently in everyday life.
Each apparatus offers different information to the body, but none exists in isolation. Used together, they reveal the intelligence of Joseph Pilates’s original system: one exercise can prepare for, clarify or improve another exercise elsewhere in the studio.
Why Gratz?
The dimensions, spring resistance and construction of Gratz equipment allow teachers and participants to experience the intention of the classical exercises with clarity.
During an educational event of this kind, consistency of apparatus is especially important. It gives participants a common physical reference, allowing them to compare exercises, observe how the body responds and understand why the original proportions and resistance matter.
The event will offer teachers the opportunity to experience the apparatus in active teaching conditions. This creates a natural connection between education and the remaining Gratz pieces available for purchase: participants will not only see the equipment but understand how each piece contributes to a complete and functional Pilates studio.
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