Instructors

Katherine (Kate) Kassouf Cummings is a Pilates instructor and movement educator. Katherine trained in the Pilates method under the instruction of Jennifer Golden at Pilates Chicago, where she also served as a studio instructor and assistant faculty for the Pilates Chicago Instructor Training Program from 2013–2020. She continues her movement education with Pilates experts Blossom Leilani Crawford, Carolyne Anthony, and Elizabeth Larkam.

Katherine believes in the intelligence of the body. Her goal as an instructor is to foster awareness and deepen connection within the body. Through her teaching, Katherine nurtures curiosity, compassion, and wonder for our unique ways of being in and moving through the world. 

When she’s not in the studio sharing her passion for movement, she can be found swimming in the lake, playing harp, tending her garden (and young olive tree), and writing and editing for a nonprofit.

My name is Miila. Originally from Colombia, I moved to the USA 13 years ago with a deep passion for fitness and photography. Over the years, I discovered the transformative power of Pilates firsthand, which led me to pursue and complete my 450-hour comprehensive Pilates training with Equinox in 2024. For me, Pilates is not just about strengthening the body; it's about the profound connection between mind and movement. I am committed to helping others experience the same physical and mental transformation that I have through this practice.

ze (they/elle/yēhuātl) is a community-made movement practitioner and has been teaching Pilates and designing education programs for over 15 years. ze began practicing Pilates, studying anatomy, kinesiology and somatics in 2008 learning from their mentor, Khita Whyatt at the University of Michigan. ze teaches both classical and contemporary Pilates exercise methods and is also comprehensively certified in Pilates mat and all apparatus equipment.

While working abroad for the Japanese government as a cultural ambassador with representatives from 50 different countries, ze simultaneously held a professional hip-hop/breakdance career and taught Pilates internationally throughout Asia and the Pacific Islands. Upon returning to Turtle Island/North America, ze managed training programs in a variety of organizations including tech companies, and used to own and operate a corporate wellness and ergonomics business. 

By integrating the Pilates technique into their training, ze has improved the quality of life for folks in their advocacy, administrative and artistic communities, including the Blue Man Group and at DePaul University. ze’s passion and dedication to engage diverse populations of desk workers, pre/rehabilitation patients, athletes, pre/post natal, service professionals and people of all lifestyles inspires them to teach with a holistically human-centered approach rooted in intersectionality and our mixed multitudes to make Pilates accessible and results obtainable. 

ze’s Indigenous/Native Mesoamerican and Asian cultural heritages, abolitionist praxis, community organizing, and international experience deeply impacts their life, teaching and informs the why and how they embody their movement practices and live their life in ways that support decolonization, bodily integrity, multigenerational & cross-racial solidarity, Black reparations, #LandBack & Indigenous sovereignty to move toward and for collective liberation. 

ze is known for being detail-orientated in their clear, direct, nuanced, collaborative, education-driven, and exhilarating teaching style that fosters a healthy practice of wonder, wisdom and whimsy in how we move.