Instructors
Collette Stewart
Owner
Now available for new private session clients
(Collette & Scott Rate)
Pilates is a framework for achieving physical, intellectual, and emotional health through movement—integrating these aspects and their expression through the body.
Collette Stewart began studying movement at a very young age through dance. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Dance, Pilates certification through The Pilates Center in Boulder, and Yoga Certification through Kripalu Yoga. She has been teaching dance, Pilates, and yoga for 20 years.
As a Pilates instructor, Collette's method incorporates a deep understanding of the body gained through her many movement practices, meditation practice, and energy healing work. Collette has studied anatomy extensively and uses imagery and anatomy as a means to heighten students' internal understanding of movement and kinesthetic body awareness. Over the years, Collette has taught a wide range of individuals—from the very fit to the very injured—addressing tension and misalignment patterns in either case. Her expertise in this field comes from engaging with her personal pattern, a deeply embedded scoliosis curvature in her spine. Through that process, she continues to develop the skills necessary to teach alignment and awareness through movement.
Collette also teaches at UW Madison in the Dance department where she directs the Pilates certificate, training dance and kinesiology students to become Pilates teachers upon graduation. She also directs Mound Street Yoga Center in collaboration with her husband Scott Anderson and performs as a dancer with Jin-Wen Yu dance and in her own choreographed projects.
Scott A. Anderson, PhD
Owner
Now available for new private session clients
(Collette & Scott Rate)
Scott began practicing yoga as a teenager and refined his practice through his years as a college student/athlete. With a background in physics and biomechanics, Scott deeply explores the logic of the body's anatomical structures and its systems. Scott studied with Hatha Yoga masters Dona Holleman and Ramanand Patel, and spent six years studying intensively with Roger Eischens. By working closely with master teachers, Scott came to recognize the human body as a microcosm of the greater natural world, which inspires his creative and grounded teaching presence.
In addition to Scott’s extensive yoga training, he is also a certified bodyworker, Pilates instructor and Kinesiologist. Through Zero Balancing (ZB) training, Scott developed greater insight into the workings of the skeleton and how the bones influence the rest of the organism. Through his extensive Pilates training, Scott has deepened his understanding of the body's core and its contribution to wellness and vitality. Scott recently earned a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison; scientific rigor also informs his practice and teaching.
Scott is also a dedicated student of the meditation master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. He is a Senior Facilitator within the Tergar community, where he guides meditation group sessions, offers meditation interviews and leads non-residential retreats.
Julia Edwards
Instructor
(BLUE Rate)
Julia finds engaging in a regular movement practice allows us to know and share ourselves more deeply. Studying movement and the body never ceases to challenge, inform and enthrall her. Her personal favorite movement practices are dance, Pilates, somatics, strength training and mothering.
Julia holds a comprehensive Pilates Certification from PraXis Balanced Body Studio, where she was first introduced to Pilates. Julia has been teaching Pilates for over fifteen years. Prior to relocating from Brooklyn NY to Wisconsin, Julia was joint owner of The Swan, a studio in NYC, and concurrently taught Pilates at American Ballet Theater's Jackie Kennedy Onassis School for Pre-Professional Dancers. Her continuing education includes but is not limited to Functional Anatomy for Movement and Injuries (FAMI), freedom of motion in the head, neck and shoulder, prenatal and postnatal pilates, archival mat work, history of the cadillac and reformer, fundamental alignment on the mat as well as breathing and meditation practices. She has instructed clients with ages ranging from 11 to 90, individuals with chronic pain and limiting injury, elite athletes and professional artists.
In the studio, Julia draws from a lifetime of curiosity about the body and movement. She combines her enthusiastic study of anatomy, meditation and somatic practices, her love of people and a strong belief in the mind-body connection. She strives to deliver sessions that are exacting, filled with good humor and tailored to each individual client’s needs for efficient, healthy, dynamic movement. Attention is directed toward building and empowering the practitioner’s own mind-body awareness and confident command of their body. She creates an hour that is centering and invigorating.
Elisa Hildner
Instructor
(YELLOW Rate)
I am a Pilates instructor who values movement and the discoveries that open up from moving the body in relationship to space. I use the classical Pilates repertoire and contemporary Pilates exercises as an avenue to explore the body. The Pilates work helps amplify the individual body's unique patterns, strengths, and challenges developed from daily life. These findings allow us to create new patterns and pathways that aid in supporting the body for longevity. I enjoy helping each person who comes into the studio take time to connect deeper to their bodies.
When working with Pilates students, I value an outward-in approach: how does the outside world and outside knowledge affect the internal – our muscles, our bones, our fascia, our nervous systems – and how can it all work together? I spend time, I encourage consistency, and I empower autonomy. I appreciate anatomy, the understanding of the structure of the body, and am curious about how individual anatomical imbalances and strengths can be addressed and developed.
I value what my clients value—whether it be strengthening to support sports or hobbies, spending time with family and exploring how moving the body can find flow through daily activities, or trying to find less pain in life by finding deeper support through structure. I believe mindfulness is key and finding time to value the self is crucial.
All in all, I believe it is important to be patient, to work deeply, to find the joy in moving, and to appreciate all that our bodies do for us.
Megan Katz
Instructor
(YELLOW Rate)
Your body makes sense. It holds wisdom and the capacity for great joy.
Megan discovered Pilates in 2010. As a loose-jointed (hyper-flexible) person, she found a strength, stability, and connection to center that years of Yoga and other exercise had not provided. Her back and neck pain was relieved almost instantly and she was hooked. But pain relief was only the beginning. Megan loves Pilates for the simplicity and depth of what it reveals - showing you what your movement patterns are and teaching you to build the strength, awareness, and control that supports functional movement. Megan’s goal in teaching Pilates is to help students move through life with a deep sense of stability, ease, and connection. In a world that provides constant challenges to our ability to stay grounded and embodied, Pilates is a beautiful antidote.
Megan completed her Movement Insights teaching certificate in 2019 after years of personal Pilates practice. She brings depth, curiosity, and attention to detail to her teaching and weaves in knowledge from years of meditation practice, her 500hr Alignment Yoga teacher training with Scott Anderson, and a Level One training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for working with trauma and nervous system regulation.
Kelsey Macomber
Instructor
(BLUE Rate)
As a long-time practitioner of yoga and Pilates, Kelsey unearthed her passion for teaching movement practices while studying Psychology and Neuroscience at UW-Madison. Kelsey became an instructor for UW Rec Sports in 2010, and has been wholeheartedly dedicated to her work as an instructor and practitioner ever since. Kelsey is a certified instructor of yoga and Pilates, and has continued to expand her reach and experience of teaching and training. She believes yoga and Pilates have the power to change an individual’s experience of their body from the inside out, and offer an incredible peace of mind. Kelsey approaches each method with emphasis on mindful awareness, and physical precision.
Kelsey received her Pilates Teaching certificate through UW Madison in 2015, which enabled her to better understand functional movement practices more deeply than ever before. Kelsey blends the Classical Pilates Method with contemporary ideas and adaptations to help individuals find novel engagement and connection. She uses this approach to tailor each session to clients’ specific challenges and strengths. Kelsey strives to educate and enable participants through challenging sequences, but offers an accessible practice to any level of experience. Kelsey hopes to empower clients to unearth deep awareness of the strength, power, and potential of their own body and mind.
PMA Certified
Maggie Polzin
Instructor
(RED Rate)
Maggie Polzin is currently studying Pilates though the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she will receive her certification at the end of 2022. Growing up as a dancer, movement has been at the forefront of Maggie’s life. After cutting her dance training early due to Covid-19, she was eager to explore new ways of incorporating movement into her life. In the spring of 2021, Maggie decided to give Pilates a try after hearing about all of its benefits. What started out as a way to return to movement quickly became an integral part of her everyday life. Pilates has allowed Maggie to deepen her passion for investigating movement patterns and feeling connected deep within the body. Maggie uses her personal Pilates practices as a way to gain confidence within herself by deepening her mind-body connection. She first came to Pilates on Harrison during the summer of 2022 as administrative support and is excited to be a teacher at the studio as well. As a Pilates instructor, Maggie wants to assist her clients in deepening their connection with their own bodies. She believes that Pilates is about discovering beauty from within and finding healthy movement patterns to assist in everyday motion. Through teaching, she wants to set her clients up for success both physically and mentally by creating a welcoming and supportive environment.
PMA Certified
Ingrid Schaller
Instructor
Unavailable for private sessions
Mindfulness, Meditation and Movement
If Ingrid could recommend only two things for our growth and contentment, she would choose embodied movement and stillness. In her practices, Ingrid delves into the how and why of movement with special focus on the interaction between movement and the mind. While her journey into embodied practices began with a yoga class in1998, that path has expanded to include a 500 hour advanced practices certificate with Scott Anderson, a Pilates Mat certificate with Collette Stewart, the application of reflexology techniques, an ongoing meditation practice with Mingur Rinpoche, Scott Anderson and Michael Stone, the study of access consciousness, and thousands of hours teaching and learning on and off the mat. She’s run Ingrid Schaller Wellness since 2014, offering workshops on habits, resilience, anxiety and personal reflection.
All of this study to become more self-aware, resilient and content have helped Ingrid raise her two daughters in a more mindful manner, allowed her to live on a hobby farm with a few animals and a large garden, work a part-time job in property management and support a family business with her spouse. Ingrid likes to get outside for walks and hikes, and has become fond of nordic and skate skiing in the winter. She loves to travel, speak other languages, serve the community in the way of food or educational needs and share time with family and friends.
Following a playful, accessible, and biology-informed approach to her teaching, Ingrid offers private sessions, studio classes (online), workshops, and retreats in the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin and beyond.
MA- Spanish Language and Literature, E-RYT-500, Pilates Mat, Reflexology
Brooke Schroeder
Instructor
(YELLOW Rate)
Each person who walks through the door wondering about Pilates has at least one thing in common; a curiosity of how Pilates can benefit them. Brooke’s passion as an instructor is highlighting the ways Pilates can be specific to your individual life. From recovery to work out regimen, stress relief to building neural plasticity, each body is unique and therefore your approach may need to be different. Brooke’s goal is to have everyone leave the studio with a better sense of how Pilates supports their everyday life and wellness.
Brooke uses her empathetic personality to guide each individual on their functional movement journey to find ways movement can feel more fluid within their body. Starting a new movement practice can often feel daunting and Brooke provides comfort in the studio by cracking jokes and trying to make you smile. Her compassionate personality mixed with knowledge of the body from dance studies and numerous anatomy courses fosters an environment of self discovery and feel good movement.
Upon completing her 900 hour teacher training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021, she took to studying for the National Pilates Certification Exam. In January of 2022, Brooke completed the exam to become a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher in the U.S. in both Mat and Classical Pilates Equipment. Brooke has continued to seek education, beyond certification, by attending workshops with the Contemporary piece of equipment, CoreAlign, in Nevada, as well as attending seminars online and continuing to be a student of the Pilates practice each and every day.
PMA Certified
Cindy Stefanek
Instructor
(RED Rate)
A Wisconsin native, Cindy Stefanek grew up in Middleton on a pre-professional ballet track. After sustaining many injuries, she became incredibly interested in the human body and how she could integrate body, mind, soul, and spirit to heal and strengthen her body. She decided to pursue her love for dance and health at UW-Madison, obtaining a B.S. in Dance and an additional major in Health Promotion and Health Equity. It was at UW-Madison where Cindy first experienced Pilates and fell in love with the deep muscular connections that she discovered. She will complete her certification in Fall 2022 from UW-Madison, where she is studying under Collette Stewart, Kelsey Macomber, and Liz Sexe, and she plans to integrate her dance and Pilates training.
Outside of UW-Madison, Cindy is studying sports nutrition and personal training through AFPA. She has a passion for exploring how the body heals through movement, as well as how movement increases self-confidence, and self-efficacy, and provides joy. She approaches Pilates from an athletic lens to build strength, endurance, stamina, and perseverance in conjunction with postural alignment and functional movement. In teaching, Cindy looks for the interactions between the different parts of the body and how they affect each other. She focuses on building a supportive but productive environment while being adaptable to her client's needs at that moment.
Cindy wants to use her training to help people become healthy, whole, and well-rounded individuals and athletes.