Diana Maves, BS
Stott Pilates Certified
TRX certified
Diana began dancing at 5, through college in ballet, modern and jazz. After high school in the Chicago area, her career began at Sunrise Health Complex where she taught Contrology (Pilates) mat classes. She later moved to the gym fitness world teaching and managing dance aerobics and weight lifting in Texas. When she married she relocated to Pensacola and taught Dance Aerobics and Step classes at the Downtown & Langley YMCA for several years. Later transferring to Orlando she began as a Fitness Director, Aerobic Coordinator, fitness & swim instructor at the Dr. Phillips YMCA for 10 years, and introduced Pilates Mat classes, to the Orlando area. She obtained a Bachelor degree in Health from Barry University. Afterwards taught credited college P.E. courses at Valencia Community/State College for several years. During this time she became a Stott Pilates Mat, Reformer and CCB instructor. A friend later asked Diana to assist opening the new Fitness Studio of Orlando & Pilates studio. As a private & Pilates trainer instructed Mat, Reformer, and Chair classes, as the first Chair class instructor in the south east. Later she transferred to Tampa area, instructed at Club Pilates, Trinity and West Chase locations. Her husband retired and has now moved back to her husbands hometown to enjoy the beautiful coast, family, and of course, teach her passion, Pilates!
Melissa Banks, BFA
NCPT
Moe Banks fell in love with dance as a child and has made movement an important part of her life ever since. Moe was invited to dance with Ballet Theatre South in 1993. She then danced and performed with the Southern Mississippi Repertory Dance Company. In 2003, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance. She has taught dance since 2004. Since then, she has had the opportunity to instructor and choreograph for competitions throughout the Gulf Coast. Moe was introduced to Pilates in 1999 as a young dancer and returned to a regular Pilates practice in 2015. Returning to Pilates as an adult sparked a desire to deepen her movement knowledge as a Pilates instructor and for its applications in the dance studio, and in 2017, she began her Balanced Body apprenticeship under Master Instructor Susan Clark. Moe became a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher in 2020 through the Pilates Method Alliance after completing the Balanced Body comprehensive teacher training program with Pure Pilates.
Kathleen Carter, BA
NCPT
Yoga Certified
Kathleen Carter, a Pensacola native, began her dance training at Pensacola School of Ballet with Anthea Nader in 1995. She joined the sister company, the Emerald Coast Ballet, in 1997 and danced at the Senior level until its closure in 2008. In 2000, she joined the Northwest Florida Ballet as an Apprentice to the Company and studied under Ballet Mistress, Dorothy Lister. She has attended several summer intensives including workshops at Pensacola State College, the Northwest Florida Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet School in NYC. She has been teaching dance since 2005 and has had students of all ages and levels. Kathleen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Writing with a minor in Public Relations from the University of West Florida
Kathleen completed her 200 hour Hatha Yoga Certification through URU Yoga and Beyond under the tutelage of Rebecca Sathre and Tammy Virchow Urbansky in 2015. Kathleen is comprehensively trained through Balanced Body under the tutelage of Susan Clark at Pure Pilates, and completed her Pilates Method Alliance National Certification in 2018. Kathleen is a staunch advocate for the physical and mental benefits of a regular movement practice and enjoys guiding her students in all disciplines of movement through a strong and steady flow that focuses on fluid transitions, powerful stamina, proper alignment, and injury prevention/rehabilitation.
Tammy Crump
NCPT
Tammy is a Balance Body & Club Pilates comprehensive certified Pilates teacher from Raleigh, NC and holds a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher Certification, as well. She began her Pilates journey in the mid 90’s and began teaching in the studio in 2017. Tammy is passionate about learning and holds several more Pilates related certificates that allows her to better serve her clients.
Tammy has decades of experience coaching multiple sports and tennis was the most recent. An athlete herself she quickly found the Pilates method beneficial for rehabbing (most recent her own knee surgery), sports conditioning/recovery and body awareness.
"I believe Pilates is for everyone regardless of fitness level or age and should be fun and functional. I love movement of all kinds and feel we must stay moving to feel well. It is rewarding when a client is truly invested in the process and sees positive improvement in his or her health and wellbeing through Pilates.”
Originally from Chicago, IL and a Raleigh, NC transplant, Tammy moved to Florida to help care for her elderly father in-law. When not teaching Pilates or at home you will find Tammy on the tennis courts or enjoying her family, Jackie, twins David & Elizabeth and husband Dave.
“Change happens through movement, and movement heals.” ~Joseph Pilates
Bethanne Edwards
Certified Barre & Pound Instructor
Bethanne Edwards is a certified barre and Pound instructor. She began ballet classes at the age of 3 and continued through high school. After ballet, she never found another physical activity that she enjoyed as much until attending her first barre class in 2015. She became a barre instructor just a few months later and loves how barre provides a low impact yet continually challenging workout that is accessible to everyone.
In 2016, she found a second fitness platform called Pound that compliments barre classes perfectly and became a certified instructor to offer the class to her barre clients. She loves introducing others to this unique full-body workout that combines drumming, cardio, conditioning, and strength training with yoga and pilates-inspired moves. Her favorite part of Pound is how it opens people up to new movements and creates new mind-body connections.
With every barre and Pound class, Bethanne strives to create a welcoming and approachable environment for clients of all ages and abilities. She also loves crafting the ultimate playlists for both classes, using infectious music to motivate and inspire her clients to have fun while working out.
Madelynn completed her Classical Pilates Certification under Lisa Wolf, who studied under Romana Kryzanowska and trained the Colorado Ballet professional dancers. She started teaching Pilates in 2017 and has taught in studios in various places such as Colorado, Birmingham, New York City, and New Orleans. Madelynn teaches ballet as well and is currently pursuing a degree in Kinesiology, focusing on exercise science. She is passionate about empowering people through movement and is excited to share this passion at Pure Pilates!
Jill Spencer
Certified Contemporary Pilates, Mat Pilates, and TRX
After marrying a Coastguard from Gulf Breeze, FL and spending the last 27 years serving as a military spouse and mother – raising three (now successful adult) children, she and her husband have settled in the beautiful Pensacola Bay area.
Jill built upon her foundation rooted in 18 years of contemporary dance and increased her knowledge and skills of health and well-being. She engaged in several different practices including Barre Method, various Hi Intensity Training (HIIT) programs, Yoga, TRX, and strength training, that not only enriched her knowledge in wellness, but also provided her with a diverse perspective having lived in eight different states.
Since early childhood, Jill has been passionate about wellness, physicality, and movement of the human body, but the most impactful event that drew her to seek greater knowledge of a truly holistic approach to wellness, is when her son was diagnosed with Severe Autism Spectrum Disorder at age two. During this challenging time, Jill did a deep dive into unconventional recovery strategies: applying functional medicine, ancient fermentation practices, hyperbaric therapy,behavioral/occupational therapy, and gut restoration. Ultimately, attaining the knowledge and skills to recover their son.
Jill’s continued passion for helping others and lifelong learning, leveraged with her knowledge of nutrition and body mechanics, enables her to help her clients achieve their individual goals.
Jane Wilkins
BASI Pilates Certified
Jane Wilkins is a 2010 BASI Pilates comprehensive certified instructor in both mat and equipment who has been enjoying working at Pure Pilates since its' first location opened in GB. In 2003, Jane started taking Pilates classes after running for many years and competing in marathons and triathlons. Pilates added a new dimension to her training and really changed her body from the inside out. Jane quickly saw the benefits of a Pilates practice and decided to pursue a certification in it.
An avid enthusiast of the practice, Jane has received additional trainings in Balanced Body Barre and Balanced Body MOTR. Jane attended Pilates on Tour in July 2018 and enjoyed workshops specializing in Core Stability Advancements and Applications to Pilates Reformer, A Movement Science Approach to Preventing and Restoring Shoulder Dysfunction, and The First Session. Currently, Jane is enjoying practicing GYROTONIC® to add another dimension to her own personal practice. Jane loves the mind body connection that Pilates offers and is so happy to introduce Pilates to clients.
Katy Olsen, BFA, MFA
GYROTONIC® Certified
Pilates Apprentice
Katy Olsen began her fitness journey as a dance student at Ballet Pensacola under the direction of Patsy Hill, Debbie Parrish, and Nannette Grimm. At the White Mountain Summer Dance workshop in Massachusetts, she was able to take Pilates and yoga for the first time and quickly fell in love. After graduating with honors from the Ohio State University dance department, Katy returned home to teach at Ballet Pensacola for two years before going back to school to earn an MFA in Arts Administration from the University of Alabama.
After spending ten years as an arts marketing professional in Montgomery and Birmingham, Katy moved back to Pensacola to be closer to family and reconnect to a healthy lifestyle. She is currently a Pilates Apprentice at Pure Pilates, studying under Susan Clark, and a dance instructor at the PACE Dance Studio. In 2018, Katy became a GYROTONIC® Apprentice under Specialized Master Trainer Anjali Austin and became a certified GYROTONIC® instructor in 2019.
Roxanne Vineyard
NCPT
Yoga and TRX Certified
Roxanne began her fitness career in Biloxi, Mississippi in 2003 coaching for a US Olympics Sanctioned boxing club where she earned licensing for office timekeeping and points scoring for US Boxing matches. In 2005, she discovered Yoga for Youth Sivananda Yoga School and began her studies to teach hatha yoga. She traveled to the Bahamas to study asana (movement), pranayama (breath), auto suggestion (self-guided mediation), and children's yoga. She began teaching yoga in 2009, and in 2018, she began her Pilates teacher training. In 2018, Roxanne also became TRX certified and in 2019 she became a National Certified Pilates Teacher through the Pilates Method Alliance after completing her comprehensive training through Balanced Body under Pure Pilates. In addition to Pilates, she teaches TRX and general fitness for regaining body control. Roxanne enjoys jiujitsu and roller skating. Her primary goal in teaching is to find movements that free an individual to engage in their chosen sport, work, or hobby with pleasure.
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Emma Everts
Certififed Pilates Instructor
Emma grew up in Los Alamitos, California and started dancing at a young age. During her training as a ballerina, she experienced a serious ankle injury that led her to physical therapy and Pilates. At age 17, she then moved to Milwaukee to train in Milwaukee Ballet’s pre professional program, while finishing her high school online. The year after, she was grateful to join Milwaukee Ballet 2 as a professional dancer. While in Milwaukee, she received her Pilates certification through Club Pilates and started teaching at Flying Squirrel Pilates. She has since moved to Pensacola to be a corps de ballet artist with Ballet Pensacola. Emma also attends Los Angeles Pacific University working to obtain her bachelors degree in health science, with the goal of becoming a nurse in the future. She has big dreams of opening a senior home one day, with emphasis on healthy movement and a sense of community and connection.
Emma likes to focus her class around conscious movement, because she believes there is true power in it. She is inspired constantly by different Pilates teachers and trainers in her life and she loves to combine all that she has learned and continues to learn to her classes. She encourages her class to be fully present throughout class, releasing their to-do lists and stress for the day, and granting themselves the gift of that healing hour that will send them off feeling rejuvenated. Emma believes in exercising to better oneself; to be stronger, to be more confident, and to be more balanced, throughout the whole body. Her main principle in life is gratitude; waking up everyday and saying thank you for this day and for this body, alive and well. Emma brings an energetic and grateful spirit to her class and wishes that her clients leave feeling better in every sense than when they arrived! Emma is super excited to be joining Pure Pilates and spread her love for movement.
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Lisa Hoffer
Balanced Body Certified Instructor
Lisa was introduced to the Pilates method in 2016, taking her first class at Pure Pilates. She values the mind body connection that Pilates offers. One of her favorite quotes of Joseph Pilates is “Pilates is the complete coordination of the mind, body and spirit.”
She has a background in Respiratory Therapy and shares this knowledge with her clients about the importance of breath during their Pilates practice.
Lisa is a Pensacola native but moved away from the area as a Navy wife for 20 years. She and her husband have relocated back to where it all began.
When she’s not teaching clients she enjoys perfecting her golf swing and playing a round of golf with her son. Other hobbies include power walking, weight training, cooking and spending time with family.
Lisa is a Balanced Body Certified Pilates instructor.
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Trish Durkin
Balanced Body Certified Instructor
Trish Durkin has a background in education and taught middle school for eleven years. She holds a B.S. in Middle Grades Education and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Georgia Southern University.
Trish has always felt a calling to teach and believes in the importance of being a lifelong learner. She has always enjoyed group fitness and became certified in Barre in 2014. She also holds the group fitness certification through The Athletics and Fitness Association of America. In 2021 she added Pumped Up Strength certification. Trish loves the mind body connection that Pilates offers and is certified through Balanced Body. She is excited to share her passion for both teaching and fitness at Pure Pilates.
Karla Wheeler
Balanced Body Certified
Karla’s passion for Pilates started in 2014 in Austin, Texas. Soon after taking her first mat class, she was hooked. She enjoyed it so much that she began teaching Pilates Mat and Barre full time in 2015. In 2019, she and her husband decided on a whim to make the move to Navarre, Florida to enjoy life at the beach. She started Coast Life Fitness in Navarre, FL where she teaches Pilates, Barre, & Strength classes. Karla is certified through ACE (American Council on Exercise) as a Group Fitness Certified Instructor. She is also certified in Barre Above, Pumped UP Strength, and is currently pursuing a certification through Balanced Body at Pure Pilates. Karla believes that movement is extremely important for our physical and mental health and truly loves teaching others. She is excited to bring her passion for teaching and movement to Pure Pilates!
Vicky Smith
Aerialist
Originally from Louisville Kentucky, Vicky’s career as a Project Manager took her and her family to the Gulf Coast of Florida in 2019.
She has been an aerialist since 2011 and has years of experience with instructing and performing silks, trapeze, lyra, rope, straps and acro-balancing.
Vicky started the Aerial Arts program at Gulf Breeze Gymnastics in 2020 and currently teaches silks and mixed apparatus classes there.
In addition to teaching and performing, Vicky is working to build an active aerial community in greater Pensacola.
Chelsea Owens
Balanced Body Certified Apprentice
Bio coming
Hannah Whelton
Balanced Body Certified
Meet Hannah, a dedicated and passionate instructor with a diverse background in ballet and Pilates. Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Hannah's journey in dance began at a young age, where she immersed herself in ballet training at the prestigious Conservatory of Ballet Aviv. She went on to be a part of Ballet Magnificat's Trainee company in Jackson, MS, where she had the privilege of training and performing in various local venues in the Jackson Metro area and touring with Ballet Magnificat's professional touring company internationally. At age 21, Hannah returned to her hometown of New Orleans, where she continued to share her love for ballet as a teacher at The Schramel Conservatory of Dance. Simultaneously, joining the New Orleans Ballet Theatre, showcasing her talent as a professional dancer. Hannah's performances with NOBT included corps and demi-soloist roles in iconic ballets like The Nutcracker and Giselle, and she also collaborated with the New Orleans Opera Association. Driven by her passion for teaching, Hannah expanded her expertise to include Pilates. In 2017, she obtained her certification in Pilates through Balanced Body at NOLA Pilates, where she did her teacher training with Laura Romney. Her teaching journey and her husband's career led them to Norfolk, where she taught at Ballet Virginia, working closely with the professional company and becoming certified in Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT). Since becoming a parent herself, Hannah finds immense joy working with the youngest dancers in her engaging "parent and me" dance classes, starting from 18 months old. Now residing in the East Hill neighborhood of Pensacola, Florida, while her husband pursues Navy flight school, Hannah is thrilled to be part of the Pure Pilates team. She is actively working towards completing her comprehensive certification in Pilates, further enhancing her skills and knowledge in this transformative practice. With her extensive background in ballet, her expertise in Pilates for the past six years, and her unwavering dedication to teaching, Hannah is committed to inspiring and empowering her students to understand correct alignment and injury prevention. Whether she's guiding professional dancers on stage or talking you through a challenging reformer class in the studio, Hannah's passion for movement shines through in every class she teaches.
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