A WOKING Pilates teacher, who was forced to continually adapt her classes by the changing lockdown restrictions, has now opened a new studio in Knaphill.
Jean Androne has credited her survival to the loyal support of her core group of clients.
“I can’t thank them enough for sticking by me,” she said.
Jean, who moved to Woking about ten years ago, built up her classes gradually until she was able to set up a studio in Wych Hill.
“I had to move out last year in the April lockdown. I was then lucky enough to be given a small space in a friend’s annexe in Woking. I thought I was only going to be there for a few months and never dreamed I’d still be there in July this year.”
Jean also ran Zoom classes and created an on-demand video library on her website.
“There were points where I was ready to hit the depths of depression. Zoom is a bit like a performance – you have to put on a smile and be that energetic person for everybody else. By doing that, it did keep me going personally and emotionally.”
The classes remained so successful that she has now been able to rent a large studio on the Lansbury Business Estate.
“It’s so great. There’s such a multitude of businesses on the estate, including a judo school, a ballet school, a couple of gyms, the hospice shop warehouse and a coffee shop. There is also plenty of parking.”
Jean is a former professional dancer and spent four years at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. When she was living in Cape Town, South Africa, she began training to be a teacher in Pilates, a low impact, full-body workout that focuses on strengthening the core and elongating the muscles.
She has been teaching for twenty years and started running her own classes when she moved to the Woking area with her Italian husband, Eugenio, and their two sons.
Jean said she is thoroughly enjoying having the new studio.
“We have classes for everyone, including men only, Pilates for kids, Pilates for teens, reformer classes, springboard classes and rehabilitation.”
* FOR more information, visit www.loving-pilates.com