Noam Gagnon
What I’ve learned from Contrology:
Trust the work, don’t change the work, the work changes us.
Education:
With over thirty-five years of client focused instruction and teacher training, I am the owner and creator of, as well as the driving force behind Beyond Pilates. Dedicated to the principles of expertise, empathy and trust, Beyond Pilates is the accumulation of a very long process and represents everything I have learned over my career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher.
Over the course of my career as an acclaimed dance artist, I helped lead Canadian dance to the forefront of the international stage. As Artistic Director of Vision Impure, a satellite company of The Holy Body Tattoo, I have created work that has received both critical and audience acclaim in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. Having performed independently for many of Canada’s and Europe’s leading choreographers, I have also taught dance, choreography, Classical Pilates and the Franklin Method internationally. I am honoured to be an Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre.
I began studying the Pilates Method in 1987 and, after an intensive 1600+ hours of training, received my first teaching certification in 2003 from the The Pilates Center of Boulder Colorado, North America's leading Pilates teacher training programme. In 2005, with my many years of experience in the Pilates Method, combined with my experience in dance performance, teaching movement and choreography, I founded Beyond Pilates in Vancouver, Canada.
My training programme for Pilates Teachers followed in 2006. I began studying the Franklin Method in 2011, graduating after a three year programme in 2015 as a Franklin Movement Educator Level 3. I am currently on faculty as a Franklin Movement educator. In 2016 I graduated from the year long intensive Pilates Masters Program at Vintage Pilates in Los Angeles, California where I studied with Jay Grimes, a first generation teacher who was taught by Joseph and Clara Pilates.
Why I teach?
I chose to become a Pilates teacher because I was profoundly affected by my own experience with the Classical Pilates method. In addition to my own love of learning and keeping myself highly trained in my field, I am caring, enthusiastic and dedicated to my students’ health and wellness. Whether you are interested in a better integration of mind and body or rehabilitating after an illness or injury, I truly believe that Classical Pilates and or the Franklin Method can be key for you to meet your personal goals.
While continually striving to learn and then to meet your health and fitness needs, my principal goals are to empower all who come to my studio to be in control of their own health and well-being, and to provide a supportive atmosphere in which practitioners may grow, learn, change, be nurtured and guided in their process towards a happy, healthy, self-actualized life. The reciprocity of the learning process is a joint endeavour between instructor and student. Because it is my sincere objective to meet your personal needs, your thoughtful suggestions, ideas and input are encouraged and appreciated.
The mandate of Beyond Pilates is to integrate both a holistic understanding of the complex and delicate intricacies that bind the body and the mind with the teachings of Joseph Pilates, keeping alive his original method and philosophy, while concurrently advocating the benefits of the Franklin Method. I am committed to providing superior service in a courteous, friendly manner: from convenient, flexible scheduling, to prompt attendance to phone calls and messages, with time and care given to your special, individual needs.
