The Pilates industry has a long tradition of passing on knowledge through mentorship. “Passing the Torch,” recently launched by Balanced Body University (BBU), is expanding that tradition with a formal program featuring a list of mentors that reads like a who’s who of the Pilates industry.

In the program, a small cohort of mentees works with a designated mentor for 12 to 18 months, spending three separate weeks alongside them, in addition to other curriculum. Signed on to mentor are Pilates elders Mary Bowen, Ron Fletcher and Lolita San Miguel, along with masters like Amy Taylor Alpers, Rael Isacowitz, Julian Littleford, Michele Larsson. Read the full list here.

“These teachers helped create the modern Pilates industry,” says Al Harrison, Director of Education for Balanced Body University. “A light went off for us—why don’t we ask all these people if they’d work together under a common banner to create this mentor program?”

“Passing the Torch” was born out of a conversation with Pilates elder Lolita San Miguel in 2008. Harrison and BBU Progam Director Nora St. John had noticed that students were wanting educational experiences deeper than mere chunks of hours at conferences and seminars were able to provide. Harrison and St. John sketched out the program’s design on a cocktail napkin in a single plane ride after seeing San Miguel at a conference.

BBU is hoping to draw in instructors who have around five years of teaching experience. They’re also encouraging students to not take lightly the process of choosing a mentor. “Whether it’s a workshop or conference—or even in the worst case, a video—we want them to have a sense of an essence of the teacher, or a longing for that teacher,” Harrison says.

Balanced Body is not defining the curriculum so the learning structure and materials will vary from mentor to mentor. Most of the mentorships are slated to kick off in 2010. The program does come with a price tag: tuition runs $5,325.

“The whole idea is creating the next generation of leaders. We’ll be successful when someone takes this class, and becomes a mentor and is teaching this class,” Harrison says. “That’s going to be a great day.”

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