WELL-BEING MATTERS

Brought to you by Texas Health Community Hope

Well-Being Matters is an ongoing series highlighting different members of our community and their strategies for well-being. Texas Health Community Hope is Texas Health Resources’ unique approach to promoting healthier futures through a broad range of impactful initiatives, investments and collaborations. This month we meet Melanie Klaus, born in Chicago and raised in Midlothian. After a knee injury ended her hopes of a dance career, she rediscovered Pilates and the joy of functional movement, which she shares with clients in her studio and with young dancers and athletes.

Q: You attended TCU and majored in dance, hoping to turn that into a career.

A: I did summer programs at New York’s American Ballet Theater, but it became apparent I was never going to be a prima ballerina and center stage. My knee gave out. As a dancer, I was getting injured all the time. It wasn’t that healthy of a lifestyle.

Q: How did you make the change from dancer to Pilates instructor?

A: In 2002, I moved back to Chicago to be around extended family and friends, and I worked for Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue. I realized I missed taking Pilates classes and how good my body felt after those classes.

Q: Pilates is a form of body conditioning focusing on strength, flexibility and body awareness. It seems natural that you would shift from dancing to teaching.

A: Pilates works you from head to toe, all major muscle groups. It’s about functional movement. I want you to be aware that you had a workout, not hurt from it. Pilates facilitates living your life.

Q: You teach a particular kind of Pilates, which focuses heavily on body alignment and injury prevention.

A: Stott Pilates is a technique that comes from Canada. Moira Stott created a meld of traditional Pilates and physical therapy. I signed up for the introduction class and the studio owner tapped me to work in the studio while I became certified.

Q: And this wasn’t a weekend certification, was it?

A: It takes three years to be certified in Stott because it’s incredibly immersive. You must have a kinesiology background. Being a ballet dancer did that for me.

Q: Now your studio space is located within the Cowtown Marathon offices in the Westcliff Shopping Center.

A: Yes, and as a bonus I get to teach mobility classes to Cowtown runners and kids running camps.

Q: Do the kids use the equipment?

A: The kids camps focus on teaching younger runners to run injury free and how to take care of their bodies so they last as long as possible. That’s something I was never taught.

Q: You also focus on very practical skills, like how kids can use their bodies to regulate emotions like anxiety.

A: The anti-anxiety exercises include motion. Open your mouth wide like a lion and scream! Kids spend so much time being told to stop moving, to stop wiggling – but that’s regulatory for your nervous system.

Q: You have a great phrase: “Motion is lotion.” That really makes sense for a lifetime of well-being.

A: I have a wide range of clients, many are older. Enabling them to do everyday tasks and small movements like getting on the floor to play with their kids or their grandkids – then getting up again – is so important.

Q: You have an active family – your husband and two children love moving around and being out and active like you do. What are some of your favorite family activities?

A: I’m thrifty so we love to do Free Fridays at The Modern or the Amon Carter Museum. We hit those museums pretty hard in the summer. As a family, we’re involved in St. Andrews Catholic Church. I love how active our church and the school are!

Q: You also have a love of reading that you’re passing on to your kids.

A: We are heavy library consumers, especially in the summer – all that stuff is free! We love classes at the Reby Carey Library, Southwest Library, and La Gran Biblioteca on Seminary. It’s a good place to experience Hispanic culture as most of the material in that library is in Spanish.

Q: And if that’s not enough, you’re about to launch a kids ballet class at the Fort Worth Southwest Community Center.

A: You shouldn’t have to pay an exorbitant amount to get your kid into an activity. The YMCA and community center are affordable and close.

Q: Community centers are a great place to introduce dance and the arts to young children, but it’s a hard skillset to fill?

A: They haven’t had a ballet teacher because they couldn’t afford one. My family believes in helping others when we can and healing others through community and movement. Our community is an easy place to do that!

Learn more about Texas Health Community Hope at TexasHealth.org/CommunityHope