About Susan

Susan Tobiason teaching Pilates Footwork on the Reformer and laughing

A native Californian, professional dancer and choreographer, Susan made her move to Berlin in 2018, and has recently been teaching in Barcelona. Prior to her move to Europe, she taught Pilates and Dance in beloved San Francisco, California for 10 years. Susan discovered Pilates while sustaining a dance injury, and it has been the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”.

Susan’s rigorous ballet training carried into well over a decade was under the direction of Jacqueline Hepner, Principal of the New York City Ballet, and the School of Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego, California. She continued on scholarship with Stage 7 Dance Theatre and the Pennsylvania Ballet. In addition to intensive ballet, she has studied and performed Contemporary and Hip Hop/Street dance styles.

Maintaining a 4.9 Instructor rating in San Francisco, Susan was classically trained in Pilates (New York/East Coast/Romana Kryzanowska) by masters Sharon Gallagher-Riviera and Carol LeMaitre of Pilates Education Lab, on all apparatus utilizing Gratz and Balanced Body equipment. Her Pilates Mat and Springboard training was with Classical master Jill Harris of Informed Body, San Francisco.

Susan brings the precision, deliberate pace and deep understanding of alignment of her ballet training to the Pilates experience; you can always expect an intentional flow and diversity in her classes, coupled with intuitive direction and results. Her experience has given her the ability to “see” integrative body mechanics in her students — to help define & remedy injury. Susan has also worked with many clients during and after pregnancy, and in Berlin, she was nicknamed “the slayer”.