our instructors
Martina Nevermann- owner
Martina has been practicing Pilates for over 25 years and teaching in Ditmas Park the last 18.
Martina’s approach uses Pilates as a workout as much as a tool for analyzing one’s body in its strengths, weaknesses, alignments and new or reoccurring issues. She believes that anybody can practice Pilates and likes to relay to her clients the importance of bringing learned techniques and exercises into their everyday lives to address and break ‘bad habits’, or simply get stronger and more aligned. Her client’s ages range from ‘in utero’ (hallo moms to be!) to 97. Her favorite clients come with aches and pains and discover how to improve with the powerful tools of Pilates. She enjoys when clients have the ‘aha moment’ discovering muscles they have not felt ‘in action’ before, as well as working on little or big misalignments (scoliosis) that Pilates can correct so beautifully.
Martina has been living and working in Ditmas Park for 23 years. She is happy to be a vital part of the community, helping neighbors and friends connect with each other through her studio and achieve healthy lifestyles.
EMILY TARRIER- Principal
Emily was first introduced to pilates while studying at Interlochen Arts Academy. She went on to pursue a degree at SUNY Purchase and received her BFA in Dance in 2015. She has traveled to Turkey and Israel numerous times to study dance techniques and to gain an international perspective on Pilates. Upon coming back to the States, she studied under Ann Toran and earned her Pilates certification through Balanced Body. Emily strives to give detail-oriented classes to challenge both her beginner and advanced clients.
Michelle quiba-Senior
Michelle was introduced to Pilates during rehab for an ACL tear she acquired during a dance competition. After enjoying the practice of Pilates for years she decided to become an instructor herself. Michelle is currently finishing her training with Ellie Herman. Michelle's fitness background spans over a variety of formats that heal, strengthen, and balance the body and mind. She is also trained in Barre, bodyART, Qigong and Zumba and a variety of fitness dance techniques.
Her passion is to help people develop a true understanding of the capabilities of their bodies and experience freedom and confidence in the movement they create.
She currently is the lead instructor at Expressive Arts Dance Program at the ACS Nicholas Scoppetta Children's Center, facilitating trauma-informed performing arts activities for children in New York's Foster Care System. In addition she has taught Chair Yoga to chemotherapy patients at Brookdale Hospital.
Michelle is excited to work at Pilates on Cortelyou to pass her knowledge on to her neighborhood.
Samantha meryhew-Senior
Samantha is a STOTT Certified Instructor and has been teaching since 2019. Ever since she was young, Samantha has always been moving and dancing. She first was introduced to Pilates in high school where Mat Pilates was a part of her conditioning classes. She found that Pilates really helped her stay strong and supported her in her dance training. She believes that Pilates is a great way to stay strong and flexible as well as keep in tune with her own body and what it needs to stay healthy.
Today, her knowledge of dance inspires her Pilates work and is a large part of her instruction.
Alexandra haag-certified
Alexandra Haag grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and started dancing very young at the age of 3 with a local competition studio. She recently graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in May of 2024. Through the program, she studied dance, anatomy and learned about the body through a dancer’s lens. While at Purchase, she was given the opportunity to train abroad in Australia at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts for 5 months. She was awarded the 2024 Outstanding Senior, representing the highest level in artistry, academics, and citizenship. In her senior year at the conservatory, she earned her Pilates Mat Certification. After she graduated, she moved to Brooklyn and got her certification for Reformer. She is happy to deepen her Pilates knowledge under Martina Nevermann’s mentorship while pursuing a career in dance.
Lisa Brenner -Principal
Lisa is Polestar Reformer and Balanced Body Comprehensively Certified. Lisa has been teaching pilates reformer group classes and private sessions on all apparatus since 2022. Lisa loves doing and teaching pilates for the ways it can add depth and nuance to our relationship with our bodies through breath, focus, alignment, and slowness.
HEATHER OLSON- PRINCIPAL
Heather Olson Trovato has been teaching Pilates for over 20 years. She was first introduced to the method while working toward her BFA in dance at North Carolina School of the Arts, and completed her teacher training in 2002 at the Kane School of Core Integration.
Heather is a two time Bessie Award winning dancer, and she credits Pilates for keeping her body healthy during a very long, and physically demanding, dancing career. Having worked through many injuries herself, she is uniquely knowledgeable when helping clients work through physical issues. Heather is also a mom of two! Pilates helped her stay strong during two pregnancies and recover swiftly from two c-sections.
Heather’s teaching is a mixture of classical and contemporary Pilates, and is influenced by her study of ballet, modern dance, Feldenkrais technique, and the work of master teacher Clarice Marshall. She is a firm believer that Pilates is for everybody! Every level of fitness (or not), every body type, and every age! To that end, she commits to meeting each client where they are in each session, and gently encouraging them forward. Her hope is to empower her students with more awareness of their bodies in order to enhance their lives.
Sofia Thompson-certified
Sofia was born and raised in Brooklyn, where she discovered Pilates and began training with Ellie Herman at a very young age. She carried her passion for teaching to the Hudson Valley, where she attended Bard College and received a degree in Mathematics. She has always believed that a healthy body is critical for maintaining a healthy mind, and for that reason physical fitness is very important to her. While she still loves math, she has found that her analytical mind is challenged and engaged every day that she teaches Pilates, as she attempts to solve the problems of what is causing her clients’ pain and injury. Sofia embarked on this journey originally as a learning experiment, but truly fell in love when she discovered the curative powers of Pilates and the extent to which she could actually use her knowledge to help people.