Kathleen Stanford Grant

August 1, 1921—May 27, 2010

It is with great respect, honor and love that we at Peak Pilates remember Kathleen (Kathy) Stanford Grant. Her many contributions to the world of dance, movement and Pilates will truly become realized now that she is gone.

Kathy studied at the Boston Conservatory of music and was a former dancer whose background included Broadway, off Broadway, television, industrials, touring companies and the concert stage not only in the United States but also in Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East. Kathy worked as a chorus girl at New York’s famous Zanzibar Club. She had been assistant choreographer to Donald McKayle, Walter Nicks, Arthur Mitchell and Michael Smuin and served as co-director and partner of the Claude Marchant Dance Company. During her long career, she had performed with Mary Hinkson, Carmen DeLavallade, Mary Anthony, Donald McKayle, Paul Taylor, Geoffrey Holder, Bill Robinson, Honi Coles, Cab Calloway, Pearl Bailey and many others. She helped to choreograph the movie The Cotton Club and worked very closely with Arthur Mitchell and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Kathy served as a dance panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Delacorte Theatre and Dance Black America.

Perhaps Kathy is best known as a student and protégé of Joseph Pilates. She is one of only two individuals actually certified by Mr. Pilates in a program sponsored by the University of the State of New York, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Kathy became a Pilates teacher in 1957 and worked for Carola Trier in her studio on 56^thStreet in New York City. Later, at the request of Mr. Pilates, she took over the Pilates Studio at Henri Bendel’s Department Store in New York City, where she taught for many years.

In 1988, Kathy moved to her current studio at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Despite many health problems in her later life, she always bounced back and continued to work, taking the train from Brooklyn to Manhattan to work at Tisch and do what she did best—teach.

Kathy shared her wealth of knowledge with a fresh new recruit of Tisch students every year by teaching a year-long Pilates course in the dance department. She was known as a tough teacher and perfectionist for the nuances of movement, especially as they related to the Pilates method and what she had learned from Mr. Pilates. I was lucky enough to have spent time with Kathy not only at Pilates Method Alliance Conferences, but by phone, in person, over drinks and dinner and some special private lessons. I learned more about my body and my movement issues in one hour with Kathy than I had learned during a lifetime of working out.

Kathy had developed an injury to her hip a few months before the 2^nd PMA Conference in Miami, Fla. She was not happy about coming down to the conference and really wanted to cancel. I implored her to please come and we would do everything we could to make the trip easy for her. Reluctantly she agreed and Blossom Crawford got Kathy to the airport and flew down with her to Miami. Kathy and Blossom arrived just prior to the opening reception on Thursday evening and came in late. Blossom got Kathy situated on a bench at a table under the trees there by the Miami River. I walked over and smiled and sat down next to her and said in a joking fashion, “I know you must really hate me for bringing you down here," and she looked me square in the eyes with a scowl on her face and said, “You’re right—I DO,” and turned away and ignored me for the rest of the evening. The last day of the conference during our closing assembly, she sat in the front row and began waving her hands at me and motioning me over. I walked over to her with the handheld microphone; she grabbed my arm, pulled herself up out of her seat and proceeded to take the microphone away from me. She told the entire audience of 300 people that she hated me for making her come down to the conference. She didn’t want to come because she was not feeling up to it, but she was so happy that she had because she had truly enjoyed every moment of it.

Kathy loved to share her knowledge with anyone who would take the time to open up, listen, hear and grow. There were many who worked with Kathy over the years. These women and men have had the privilege of learning from a true master of not only the Pilates method but the moving body; they have moved on to become brilliant Pilates and movement teachers in their own right. The countless individuals throughout the world that Kathy has touched with her teaching, mentoring and wisdom will remember fondly the lady who just would not stop.

-Kevin Bowen, Director of Education