Anna Barker (she/her) was introduced to Pilates during college as a strengthening and supportive tool for her dance career, and it quickly became an integral part of her training as a movement practitioner. She received her BFA in Dance and BA in Psychology from Temple University in 2009. She completed her classical Pilates certification through The Pilates Center, and was trained at Body Precision (Mat, 2009) in Philadelphia and InsideOut Body Therapies (Apparatus, 2013) in Durham. She has taught throughout Philadelphia, New York City, and the Chapel Hill/Durham area for the past 13 years. Anna opened The Movement Studio, a Pilates-based movement studio, in June of 2022 on Radical Healing’s wellness campus in Durham, NC. In addition to her studio work, she has an in-home practice supporting clients in recovery from major injury, surgery, and birth. Anna is fascinated by the healing and reconstructive elements of Pilates and has used the system to combat her own dance-related injuries. Her movement practice consists of an ever-expanding synergy of classical Pilates exercises and other movement ideologies including dance, yoga, functional range conditioning, PT-based movement rehab, slings myofascial training, TRX suspension weight training, movement for clients with neurological conditions, and perinatal and postpartum work. Anna’s choreographic research draws from the shared human experience to create an exchange about our social and interpersonal existence within an evolving sociopolitical context. She founded her dance-theater company, real.live.people, in 2014 with collaborator Leah Wilks. Since its inception, the company has presented three evening-length works and one feature-length dance film. Her work has been presented in various festivals and venues across the US. She was the recipient of the NC Arts Council Fellowship (2019) and the Ella Pratt Emerging Artist Grant (2018). Anna currently creates dance work both in Durham and in NYC.
annasbarker.com
IG: @annasaurusrexx
Classes: Drop-in Pilates-based Conditioning
Photo by Zoe Litaker