The late Ron Fletcher
By Rebecca Cook
The late Ron Fletcher, Master Pilates Teacher and visionary extraordinaire, once urged, “Movement should be approached like life — with enthusiasm, joy, and gratitude — for movement is life, and life is movement, and we get out of it what we put into it.” According to Kyria Sabin, Program Director of Fletcher Pilates, dear friend, and apprentice of the Pilates Master, Ron put in an abundance of creativity, vision, and vitality into his work. I sat down with Kyria to discuss the importance of Ron Fletcher’s life, the uniqueness of his style in the Pilates world, and how his legacy continues to be carried on for all those in the Pilates community to experience.
Ron Fletcher was a creative being, a bright man eagerly seeking information about the invigorating world around him. He was curious to the moment of his passing, and he never stopped reading. Ron was a genius from humble beginnings. He was born in Missouri and was led to Chicago and then New York through a short career in advertising. His dream was to dance because he was an artist at his core. Through persistence and perseverance he was accepted into Martha Graham’s company. Martha Graham was a pioneer of modern dance, using a spirit of ingenuity and primal emotion throughout her dances. She was certainly one of the most influential choreographers of modern dance. Ron Fletcher was in her company until a knee injury threatened to end his dance career in 1948. He was advised by a fellow dancer, Allegra Kent, to visit Joseph Pilates, the founder of a newer method of exercise, rehabilitation, and movement called Body Contrology.
Interestingly enough, Graham and Pilates knew of each other, yet differed in their style and approaches. Martha’s Studio was described as pristine with an elegant Noguchi sculpture, while Joseph’s was filled with oriental rugs, chains, and springs. Their methods and their art were distinctive, although they both cared for the health of their students. Ron saw beyond the two diverging environments. He understood that both visionaries were ahead of their time. It takes a visionary to identify a visionary. Ron valued each one’s creative perspective and studied with both. He recognized that the ‘stomach massage’ was the Martha Graham contraction using the metaphor of the sun as the core. He married the two movement methods: Graham’s visceral sense of movement and Pilates’ deepened exercise, Body Contrology. Both styles were holistic and worked from the inside out. Martha Graham explored a more circular or round basis in movement. Diligently learning from Joseph Pilates not only healed Ron’s knee ailment, but also allowed Ron to take Body Contrology into the world of dance.
Ron used to say, “Think of movement floating on the breath.” Joe did not speak much about the nuance of breath. Ron recalled he would yell, “Breezzzze! You must out de air to in de air!” Joe, Ron had passed down, was an impatient teacher. However, Ron expanded his own perspective of breath by learning from a pulmonologist from UCLA and through his personal research to understand the physiology of breath. Breath, according to Ron, was the number one most important principle of movement. He developed the Fletcher Percussive Breath® technique, an audible breath in Pilates, pulling air in through the nose and pressing it out through the mouth to create a vacuum. He emphasized active exhalation, ringing out every last drop to allow fresh oxygen to come in and thus improve the respiratory/ circulatory system and nourish every cell in the body. Sound became a by-product of this active breathing technique as he would harmoniously synchronize the breath to the movement so that everyone in a group could be in unison.
Ron continued his career in dance and choreography. He choreographed for the Ice Capades for years being their first non-ice skating choreographer. Regrettably, Ron was fired from the Ice Capades after arriving drunk to a rehearsal. In 1967, after Joseph Pilates passed away, Ron recognized that he was an alcoholic and sought recovery. He chose to go to New York delving into AA meetings and met with Clara Pilates, Joseph’s widow. Ron adored Clara. Joe was the genius and Clara was the teacher to decipher Joe’s considerable work. Ron was a blessing to Clara after Joseph’s death. Clara was a truer blessing to Ron, mentoring him through a challenging time in his life. He met with her, and they corresponded through letters consistently after Ron decided to move back to Los Angeles.
Clara gave Ron her blessing to carry on the work of her late husband, and he opened the first Pilates studio on the west coast called “The Ron Fletcher Studio for Body Contrology” located in Beverly Hills. He taught famous clientele such as Candice Bergen, Ali MacGraw, Barbara Streisand, Betsy Bloomingdale, Cher, Stephen Spielburg, and Nancy Reagan. Ron would often ask Clara’s permission to continue to develop the work of Body Contrology. In a letter written to Ron, Clara agreed to allow him to do this as long as he would stay true to the ABC’s, the principles of her late husband’s work. Samples of her letters can be found on the Fletcher Pilates website. Kyria Sabin noted that the ABC’s had nothing to do with exercise. Clara was referring to moving from the center, remaining breath inspired, and developing a strong, flexible, and articulate spine. Ron Fletcher brought a function driven form to the work, reminding his students to move with ease, flow, and a natural rhythm. He created and trademarked three techniques: Fletcher Floorwork®, Fletcher Barrework®, and Fletcher Towelwork®, all related to, yet unique to the Pilates world. He always began and ended mat classes in standing, promoting the function of our daily movement coming back to being upright.
Ron was articulate and well read. He believed in the power of words making him an intimately articulate movement teacher. He taught that we have an inner architecture of the body and that all movement should begin by placement of the bones. This concept was emphasized from Bruce King’s book, Rule of the Bones. Some of his favorite cues were: “Bolt the pelvis from side to side and front to back,” “Weight your tailbone,” “…from the pee-pee up!” (borrowed from Graham), “Allow the breath to guide the movement,” “Actively place your pelvis to move your spine,” and “Actively place your pelvis.”
All in all, Ron Fletcher fused Graham’s and Pilates’ ideology and movement patterns together. He brought to light the importance of Clara Pilates as a true teacher and disseminator of Joseph’s work. Ron believed that every body is beautiful. He emphasized a more movement-based organic quality in his work. Ron was also a master of transitions, known as ‘goes-in-tas’. Back in his earlier dance years, Martha Graham asked Ron to warm-up her class. Upon finishing, the only feedback she gave him was that he was missing the ‘goes-in-ta’s.’ He had no idea what that word meant, so he inquired of his fellow dancers. When he discovered that they did not have a clue as to what the word meant either, he requested that Graham explain what she had meant by “missing the goes-in-ta’s.” Straightforwardly, Graham answered saying, “You know, this goes into this, goes into this, goes into this…”
Ultimately, by the late 1970’s Ron Fletcher had done more for the continuation of Body Contrology than most of us will ever know. There were three ways that he was able to keep Pilates alive. First, by opening his Body Contrology studio on the west coast, there was a resurgence of interest or renaissance of Body Contrology. He single-handedly kept Pilates alive when the New York studio was near bankruptcy. He had a high profile name, devoted Hollywood star clientele, and immense publicity from popular publications, such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and more. Secondly, and not so well known, Ron kept the New York Studio going and kept Clara Pilates in the forefront of Pilates history. Every time he flew out to New York, he took Clara out to dinner. She would excitedly wear one of the two dresses she owned and meet with Ron to discuss the work and how he would continue developing the vision of Body Contrology. She delighted in these meetings, and they were a deeply special time for Ron. He reflected that there was a dear love between them. He also sent a significant monthly royalty payment to Clara in order to sustain her New York studio. Clara’s New York studio might literally have withered away without his financial support. Lastly, Ron gave key testimony in the Pilates Trademark case, a court case in which Sean Gallagher and Romana Kryzanowska were attempting to trademark the name Pilates. They had the same judge that ruled on a Martha Graham case. Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, who had ruled in favor of The Martha Graham Dance Center and their ownership of 54 of Graham’s original dances, ruled against the trademarking of Pilates. Ken Endleman, owner of Balanced Body®, once stated that Ron Fletcher’s testimony was so compelling that there was no way that the prosecution could prove that Pilates was owned by Romana or Sean Gallagher.
With all of Ron Fletcher’s accomplishments, he slowed down a bit in his later years spending much time at a ranch in Texas with his partner, John Battles. He was not aware that back in California at his Beverly Hills studio, a young professional named Kyria Sabin was beginning her Pilates journey. She worked for an art museum and began to invest in a search for a form of exercise that would be sustainable throughout her life. Little did she know at that time how much Pilates, and more significantly, Ron Fletcher would impact her. After several years of taking Pilates, Sabin attended a workshop given by Ron. He unexpectedly called her into his office. She remembers it as a seminal moment in her life. She had plans of going to law school, but he asked her when she was going to begin teaching Pilates. He saw that she understood the movement in a special way. She went home from the weekend a bit confused, and had to follow up with Ron on how she would go about getting educated to teach. At that time, Body Contrology was not seen as a profession, but he assured her that she would succeed in this field and had what it took. In addition to working with her privately, he carefully instructed her to learn from key teachers who would give her the lessons in the method. This was a time in which Kyria was able to soak up incredible learning with masters throughout the country. Kyria became an instructor of Body Contrology teacher who was attentive to the work, closely mentored by Ron. She never looked back on the life she thought she would have. Pilates filled her cup entirely.
Years later, she and a few other senior teachers approached Ron with the idea of creating a systematic education in Fletcher Pilates in order to keep his lineage alive. Ron Fletcher, at first was resistant, but the teachers’ persistence wore him down. He asked them to come up with the framework. Kyria and the others locked down for three or four days to develop what became known as the Ron Fletcher Program of Study. After presenting the finished product to Ron, they waited with baited breath. He liked it! Eventually, Ron put his trust in Kyria Sabin alone to lead Fletcher Pilates. What an honor and a thrill to be a part of Pilates history, and more importantly, Ron Fletcher’s legacy. Kyria continues to this day to bring the Ron Fletcher style to the Pilates world and uplift his legacy.
Ron Fletcher was a creative being. He believed in design and lines in space. Ron knew that if movement was beautiful, it had to be bio-mechanically correct. Most importantly, Ron Fletcher believed that everyone had the potential to move from a place of beauty. He shared, “Pilates is about learning more about your body, getting in better touch with all its parts and setting up a communication system with it, trusting and loving it as your best friend and then using it correctly all the time.” Without Ron Fletcher, Pilates might have never continued to spread throughout the world. He brought exceptional perspective, a blend of two phenomenal methods to what we now know as Pilates.
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