Founders Bio
Dance
My career path as an educator and designer of training equipment began with my profound longing to achieve my own technical excellence as a dancer. During my career in Modern Dance, I was privileged to perform nationally and internationally with a number of dance companies, including Elise Monte/David Brown, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, the Tunisian National Ballet, and many others.
EDUCATOR
I have been privileged to share information with my students, and peers since the earliest days of my dance career. I have taught contemporary modern dance around the world, in Russia, throughout Europe, North Africa, and the United States. I began teaching Pilates at the California Institute of the arts in 1984 under the guidance of Ron Fletcher. I was the first instructor after Julu Horvath, and Hillary Cartwright hired to teach what at that time (1987-1999) was called the White Cloud Method. From 2000–2020 I devoted myself to bringing together the different lineages of movement education that had influenced me, into the body of work referred to as Shen Tao.
ACCREDiDATION
In addition to a BFA from California Institute of the Arts, I hold degrees and/or certifications in the disciplines of: Anatomy and Kinesiology, Laban Movement Analysis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Ericksonian Hypnosis, Myofascial Restructuring, and numerous forms of Deep Tissue Bodywork.
DESIGNER
I have no formal training as a designer of exercise equipment. I was however, raised from the day I was born to build things I fabricated my first Pilates machine in 1986. I apprenticed under Juliu Horvath from 1987-2000, assisting with equipment fabrication, construction, maintenance, and repair. In 2000, Juliu Horvath gave me his woodshop, and his blessing to develop my own line of training equipment. For the last 25 years I’ve experimented with, and developed hundreds of different prototypes. This website represents the best, and finest of those creative explorations.
DEVELOPER
One of my gifts is the ability to identify the common, underlying principles across multiple, complementary disciplines. I have sought to understand the common factors that allow people to change, whether it is their neurophysiology, psychology, or emotional well-being. My mission in life has been to organize, and develop this body of work in such a way that it can be passed, like a torch, to the next generation of movers/explorers/developers.
The Barge Years
