Meet Becky Lerner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Becky Lerner.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Once upon a time… No, I’m kidding. I am originally from the Chicagoland area and grew up very active whether I was playing sports or, eventually, getting into dance. I would say that I started formally taking dance classes around the age of 10. I know my mom tried to get me into Ballet at a younger age, but I had negative experience with the instructor who made some adjustments to my body that left me very aware that I didn’t have the “body type” for a Ballet class or that I’d have to feel uncomfortable in order to get there. So, needless to say, I decided not to continue with my Ballet training. I revisited it later on in high school and college and found a very different, therapeutic experience from it thanks to some amazing teachers. But as a child, I continued searching for my place. I found Jazz class where I got to pas de bourrée and battement my life away to Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carrey and I felt more myself. Then I found Hip Hop classes at a dance studio in Evanston, IL called Gus Giordano where my very first Hip-Hop instructor, Kirby Reed, taught choreography to Busta Rhymes “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”. I can still remember the beginning of the choreography. He called me out in class at the end, set up a video camera, and it was my first moment of really feeling like I found my place… I found where I fit in, and even more, I loved the movement and the music. It simply felt like ME.

Fast forward from there to dancing pre-teen with various mobile DJ companies, learning Chicago Footwork from the older dancers, learning the Cha Cha Slide to perform at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and school dances. Passion grew, musicality grew, and I found fast friends based in dance and Hip-Hop.

At a certain point in my formative years, I wanted to dance and toyed with modeling, but the untraditional approach of my smart but artistic mind left me battling internally and externally with my own expectations and society’s agenda for what constitutes a “real job.” (While society is catching up to the idea of being multi-faceted as an individual with various careers, I still have the conversation all too often today about the millennial stereotype of being flaky, distracted or, even more commonly… broke and entitled. For accountability purposes, sometimes the shoe fit. Most of the time, it didn’t.)

We’ll fast forward through my first round of college which included my very first Poms performances with kick lines and a whopping FAIL in academics. Again, sub- or surface-level consciousness telling me that my passion should’ve led the way and that I should’ve listened.

I came back to Chicago to try to dance full-time and I’ll give you the brief synopsis here:
– Lived the struggling artist lifestyle, but made amazing friends
– Rented my first apartment and started working at a gym as a membership sales professional
– Decided that the struggling part of the artist lifestyle was a little too struggling for me, thus I became a hairstylist
– Did that for seven years. Loved it but knew it wasn’t my calling… I was itching for more and wanted to dive, head first, back into dance. So…

I went to Columbia College in Chicago. This doesn’t deserve a bullet because it’s a whole moment in and of itself. I was in school full-time straddling intense Dance and Journalism programs. The school is one of the best in the country for both and I was absolutely, unequivocally, unimaginably exhausted… and I loved every second of it.

I’d have five hours of dance classes per day on any given day including conditioning, and I’d have my writing classes where I was just thrilled to sit down and hold a pen or type. I would come home at the end of the day, take a moment to lay on the floor and then army crawl myself to the shower to get ready for bed. Rinse and repeat. It was one of the most intense phases of my life, and I still cherish it to this day.

Since I graduated in 2013, I moved to LA. I played it safe and worked full-time in Corporate America as a Social Media Manager for a digital ad agency. (I had been doing Social Media Marketing for fun while I was a hairstylist and worked part-time doing Social Media more formally for a healthcare company while I went to Columbia. It’s not as out of the blue as it seems.) Once again, I hadn’t learned my lesson. My time with the ad agency was invaluable in that taught me so many things about Social that I take with me in my freelance Social Media career today, but it also taught me very clearly what I wanted out of my life. I had to find something that fused my passions but would provide a bit more stability than dance did at the time.

I had found Pilates while attending Columbia as a mode to body recovery that didn’t involve laying on the couch. (That’s actually the worst form of “recovery” for an athlete. While it’s needed every once in a while, if you’re sick, mentally depleted, etc. Muscles that are used often and with intensity need active recovery versus stagnant recovery. Not only will you feel better in the long run when you do have to perform again, it will prevent DOMS in the immediate future. Anyway…) I had continued my Pilates practice out in LA at a studio nearby my West Hollywood apartment. Most days, I’d go before work, go work for 8 hours at the office, and then head to North Hollywood for dance training, auditions, rehearsals and the like.

I booked a dance job in the Fall of 2014 and used that as the springboard to leave Corporate America and get back to me. In early 2015, began my Pilates certification training with Frank Zito, a classically trained Pilates mentor and instructor who formed Pilates Certification Los Angeles. Coincidentally, he was also from Chicago, we bonded over physical wellness and deep dish pizza. (You can take us outta Chicago, but you can’t take the Chicago outta us! Right, Teach?) As an apprentice, I was cleared to start teaching Mat Pilates at the YMCA in Burbank. I grew the twice weekly, nothing-but-a-mat class from a solid eight people, to capping at 45 in the room. I got to teach something I was passionate about — functional movement, strength, control, and wellness — while getting that performance element in as a leader in the room, learning to command attention and cue with accuracy, articulation and approachability.

Since then, I’ve obviously finished the training program, have been teaching group fitness classes at various Club Pilates franchises around the Los Angeles area, have taught barre workshops allowing me to fuse my dance degree and, again, functional movement, and now diving into Corporate Wellness. (We meet again, Corporate America! But this time I get to support you to focus inward and widen the lens from the microcosm that is a computer or phone screen, a conference room or, for me as well, the Social Media feeds.)

I am still actively dancing, training and auditioning… I’ve done some awesome work with still so much more on the horizon. I’m fully satisfied with the balance of my life, my career paths, and the fact that I get to work with amazing people daily to support their well-being so they can go on and change the world. Hopefully, I’m changing theirs.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The idea of a smooth road is hilarious. We can say that my road has had high highs and low lows much like most people, entrepreneur or not. I think my career path looks more like a toddler’s scribble than an actual trajectory, but somehow I have managed forward and up momentum.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My Pilates and Fitness practice. I’m working mainly independently at the moment, but I do have plans for the future that look a lot like my own studio. (Hint hint, wink wink.)

In the meantime, I feel like I’m known for bringing interesting, (dare I say) fun, and challenging workouts to my classes or sessions. It goes without saying that I’m very driven by music, so my playlists are always with me and setting the vibe for the day. Whether it’s a lowkey R&B morning or a HIIT workout to 90s and 2000s Hip Hop, throwing on some City Girls, Lizzo, Missy or Janet, Chris Brown or Drake, Biggie or Brandy, you always know you’re going to be grooving while you work out with me.

The other element that I think makes me different and successful is my approach to training. I do believe that while knowledge is important, how you communicate it will change the client’s entire experience. I can talk all day about how you need to engage your Transverse Abdominus to chime into your Pelvic Floor and then you get access to your hips differently so that your Hip Flexors can release tension and your Rotators can turn on and then suddenly your feel length through your Lumbar spine. Or I can tell you to think of wearing a corset and sinch it tighter or think about pulling your hip bones slightly up toward your rib cage and then use your buns. Chances are you’ll understand me better with the latter description and you’ll be able to implement it or start finding those sensations. I get more blunt with my clients if the situation calls for it, but I’ll leave it there and you can use your imagination.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My parents: It’s a good thing they love me. Frank Zito & Cotrone Pilates for bringing me into the Pilates world and always providing a space of foundation and home for me. My partner who is patient, kind and pushes me to be better. My Pilates Family: My students, private clients, co-workers, managers who inspire me, support me, put me in my place and also lift me up when needed. Oh, and of course, God… who has, without a doubt, rolled His or Her Ultimate Eyes at me a number of times. The proof is in the pudding. I see You.

Y’all are seriously the best.

Guess I needed that “Once Upon A Time” after all. Thanks for reading!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blfitnessanddance.wordpress.com
• Email: BLFitnessandDance@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/beckspress
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/blfitnessanddance
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/beckspress

Image Credit:
Alan Richard Creative

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