OUR EXPERT PILATES INSTRUCTORS

During her time in NYC, Melissa performed in a number of Broadway shows, including the Guys and Dolls, Chicago the Musical, 42nd Street, and Dracula the Musical. In addition, she performed as a Radio City Rockette in The Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Frank 

Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way, Can-Can at City Center, ​along with many of other performances nationally televised.

Off Broadway, Melissa danced and sang with Deborah Gibson's cabaret Pop Goes Broadway, with Royal Caribbean International, and at The St. Louis Muny Opera.  Upon completion of her performing career, and given her background in structured dance, Pilates was a natural career transition.  Since moving to Pittsburgh, Melissa has been teaching Pilates and has earned a Comprehensive Peak Pilates Certification, including over 1000 hours of education.

Peak Pilates is a classical Pilates education program distinguished by an emphasis on Pilates as an integrated movement system, as Joseph Pilates intended. Melissa was recently accepted into the Peak Pilates Master Instructor Program and completed her training for the first level of the Master Instructor Program. She is able to certify others to become Level 1 Peak Pilates Instructors. 

Adjoined to Fox Chapel Family Dental, At the Wall Pilates INC opened in June 2013.  Melissa has created a culture of experience that is fun, encouraging, and welcoming.  Married in 2012, she and her husband Marc, a Pittsburgh native, have a 3.5-year-old daughter, their fur baby bubbles and two kitties Tinkerbelle and Squeeks! Outside work, they enjoy spending time with family, being in the great outdoors, and traveling.

"Pilates is hard work, but we have a lot of fun and laughs at At The Wall Pilates INC".

Cheryl has four children, which she and her husband, Bob, raised while residing in Glenshaw. Prior to marrying Bob and having a family, Cheryl worked for Forbes Travel and later Gulliver’s Travels. After the birth of their second child, she was able to primarily stay at home and work part-time in a retail environment. Over the years, the part-time work grew into a larger role, and Cheryl is now a part-time account executive for CLARINS.

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​It is with a tremendous amount of gratitude that Cheryl shares her knowledge of the classical method of Pilates with others.

As a PT, Marcie is acutely aware of the value and importance of movement and exercise to maintain health. She says, “I have taken Pilates classes for the past 5 years following retirement from my career in Physical Therapy. In addition to enjoying the classes, I became convinced that Pilates was an excellent form of exercise for people of all levels of physical ability. Pilates helps to develop basic core strength, which is the stabilizing force that allows a person to gain strength throughout their body. This form of exercise is not traumatic to joints and enhances mobility throughout the body. The strength that I have gained from this practice has allowed me to continue to enjoy my retirement years.” With this conviction she started training to become a Pilates instructor and recently completed her Level 2 Peak Pilates Instructor certification.

Although Darlene has been a practitioner of yoga for decades and is an experienced yoga teacher, her primary career was in musicology. Darlene received her BMus from the University of Michigan and her MPhil and PhD in musicology from Yale University. She taught at Yale, at Yeshiva University, at the Stern College for Women in New York City, and at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She also wrote program notes for a number of concert series, including Chamber Music Pittsburgh (formerly the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society), for whom she served as a program annotator for 25 years. She presented community and student lectures for CMP and taught for Osher at Carnegie Mellon University with Renaissance and Baroque Pittsburgh. Early in her career, Darlene worked for CBS Records and Sony Records in New York City for their classical labels and was an award-winning producer for WQED FM, the local public classical music radio station in Pittsburgh.

Darlene has been an active board member of numerous arts and education boards, serving terms as president for several of them. She also enjoys playing tennis and paddle, sings with Belle Voci of Pittsburgh, and visits facilities with her therapy dog, Archie. Darlene and her husband, Bob Zinn, a lawyer with K&L Gates, have two children, both of whom reside in New York City.

Jackie really began to focus on Pilates after the birth of her son. Suffering from severe back pain and barely able to get out of bed, she rediscovered Pilates training and was pain free after just a few months. That experience was a big part of her later decision to get certified and spread the amazing benefits of Pilates to others.

Jackie is also passionate about animals, both wild and domestic. She has a French Bulldog named Peaches and a Sphinx cat named Link. She's traveled to Borneo to learn about Orangutans with Dr. Birute Galdikas (the third of Leakey's ladies) and also trekked through the mountains of Uganda and Rwanda, studying and learning about the Mountain Gorillas. She also worked as a docent at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

The main focus of Jackie's life is her son, J.J. Since his birth, she has dedicated herself to being a full-time mother, involved in all aspects of his life. She's a hockey mom, a homeroom mother, event planner, and fundraising chair for his gymnastics team. But now that he's a bit older and more independent - with Melissa's encouragement - she decided to train as a Peak Pilates instructor and share her love of Pilates with everyone.