51 Upper Maynard Street
Gardens
Cape Town
8001
For directions to the Lisa Thomas Studio, click here.
I come from a dance background having attended the National School of Arts in Johannesburg. After school I did a BA degree at UCT majoring in History and English, and then a post-graduate diploma in Junior Primary education. After teaching in a school for two years I longed to work with the body again so I studied Personal Training through the Exercise Teachers' Academy. I worked at a small personal training gym for two years where I developed an interest in the rehabilitation of injuries. In 2001 I opened my own Pilates studio in Vredehoek having done Pilates courses through the Dance Department of the Pretoria Technikon. In 2005 I did the Body Control® mat work course.
I am now Reformer qualified and a Master Matwork Trainer as well as being a supervising teacher and lecturer for Body Control® SA.
I am passionate about the moving body and anatomy and I try to learn as much as I possibly can and pass on this knowledge to those I work with.
I hope that my clients will learn more about themselves through working with their bodies. I also hope to help my clients in the management and understanding of their bodies, in the hope that they can apply what they are learning in class to their daily life.
Although I work with a wide range of clients, my special interest is in rehabilitation. I also have a passion for the performing arts and I have worked with musicians, singers and the dancers of Cape Town City Ballet.
I was born in Windhoek and brought up in a small village in Germany.
I started my dance training in 2001 at the Ballet Academy in Fuerth (Germany), completing the four-year Diploma course to receive the Dancer for Stage and Teacher for Classical and Contemporary Dance (Diploma) qualification. Performance highlights include Manou, the solo of the water carrier in La Bayadère and the Paquita pas de trois and solo. In 2004, I was awarded the talent prize for my modern piece by the Theatre Society of Fuerth.
To increase my understanding of the performing arts, I took up Performance Studies at UCT School of Dance in 2005. I started to work as a freelance dancer in Cape Town in 2006. This has seen me perform in the Seychelles and work on various international television adverts.
In 2007, I decided to further my studies in human movement by enrolling in a Pilates Instructor course in Westlake with Body Control Pilates (UK). I achieved final sign-off as a qualified teacher in December 2008. In the future, I envisage myself specialising in sports rehabilitation.
Currently I teach Pilates classes at the Lisa Thomas Studio in Vredehoek, contemporary dance to young children and various movement classes in and around Cape Town.
I come from a dance background having studied ballet with Noleen Nicol and Dudley von Loggerenberg in Durban where I grew up.
After school I studied at UCT Ballet School for one year but left to join PACT Ballet in 1996.I really enjoyed the repertoire and especially enjoyed working with overseas choreographers and teachers, notably Patricia Neary and Sandy Stone.
When PACT Ballet closed down in 2000 I came to Cape Town to join Cape Town City Ballet, where I danced until my retirement in 2007.
Highlights of my time at CTCB include touring to China with Firebird and Les Nuits d’Etes as well as our tour to Ireland with Queen at the Ballet.After leaving CTCB I wanted to incorporate my years of experience in working with the body into my new career. I chose Pilates as I knew that it would also help my own body to recover from my years of rigorous ballet training and injuries.
In 2007 I did the Body Control Pilates® mat work course and was signed off as a qualified teacher in December 2008. I am looking forward to furthering my education and I am excited to see where the world of Pilates will take me. I would also like to study and possibly teach yoga.
I come from a dance background with my training starting at the age of four in Ballet, with Eve Borland, progressed to Modern with Gracie Sklar and later did the IDTA (International Dance Teachers Association) in Modern with Diane Fincham. I was also a full time student at the Maas-Phillips College of Speech and Drama.
I had my own Dance Studio in Cape Town and later Johannesburg where I moved to when I got married. It was in Johannesburg where I did my Creative Movement course with Nadine Segal and continued with my modern, jazz and contemporary dance education with Ros Apfel, Adele Blank and Debbie Rakusin. On my return to Cape Town, I reopened my studio.
Life takes us on many different journeys and eventually I stopped teaching and had to focus elsewhere as well as bringing up a son. I always knew in my heart that one day I would return to my passion when the timing was right.
After attending various Pilates classes around Cape Town, I realized that this was the area where I belong. The Pilates really helped to rehabilitate my dance injuries in and out of the studio. I wanted to be able to pass this knowledge and body awareness onto clients so that they would also benefit in our fast pace lifestyle that we lead today.
Before I made the commitment to further my studies, I did a lot of research into the world of Pilates to find the best school for me.
I chose Body Control® Pilates due to the in depth study of their course, what they had to offer as well as the fact that they are Internationally recognized.
It was in February 2009 that my new journey began. I did the Body Control® Pilates Mat Work course level 3 and had my final sign off and qualified in December 2009.
Since then I have done various courses and workshops to further my Pilates Education, one of them being Preggy Pilates. I am now Reformer qualified and a Master Matwork Trainer.
Telephone
Mobile
Fax
+27 021 465 1975
+27 083 375 9690
+27 021 465 1975
