SENIOR EDUCATOR & POLESTAR PILATES BENELUX DIRECTOR

With a dance and sports background, as well as being a Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Katina has spent the last 15 years involved in the industry. Originally from Australia, she has worked in multiple public and private settings. She is now the co-founder of Waves Leuven and is a strong believer in active support and empowerment in supporting people through their health journey.

Katina specialises in chronic pain, women’s health & neurological conditions.

She educates for the Comprehensive Pilates Teacher Training in Leuven & Amsterdam, as well creating and delivering multiple continual education courses.

You can reach out to Waves Leuven if you would like to observe some of her classes or schedule a private.

COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATOR

Andrea graduated as a Certified Polestar instructor in 2013 after taking classes since 2000. She has a huge passion for Pilates and gets a lot of energy from supporting new and enthusiastic teachers to be. She has developed strongly, first developing her skills with clients, and then progressing as a mentor and now educator.

Andrea educated for the Comprehensive Pilates Teacher Training in Amsterdam, as well as hosting some workshops and exam preparation meetings.

You can find her in Bodyvita in Amsterdam, if you would like to schedule privates with her or join her group classes.

MAT EDUCATOR

Barbara is our newest educator to the team, however comes with ample experience in the Pilates and movement world in both Mat and Comprehensive Pilates. Coming from a professional singer background, Barbara also knows first hand the power movement and breathe can have across the body and mind.

‘Pilates was love at first try for my body. Having dealt with lower back pain since age 12 due to a scoliosis and with a continuous flow of injuries from dance classes at performing arts school, Pilates proved to be the solution. Though I can’t recall what drew me to Polestar Pilates in the first place, I do know what I appreciated: it trains you to have a keen eye for what a client needs. Rather than impose a movement system onto an individual, adjust the system to suit the individual’

Barbara is an educator for the Mat Teacher Training in Leuven and Amsterdam.

When she’s not on an educational weekend, you can find Barbara in her wonderful studio Ginger Pilates.

COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATOR

With a background in dance, Marina discovered Pilates at a young age while struggling with hypermobility. Pilates helped her recover from recurring injuries, allowing her to enjoy a long professional dance career—first in New York City and later in Amsterdam. It was in New York that she began her Pilates teacher training in 2013. After returning to the Netherlands in 2018, she continued her education with Polestar Pilates.

"My dance teacher used to call me 'cooked spaghetti' because I was so flexible. I lacked the strength and stability to support my body properly, so she encouraged me to start Pilates. After just a few months of consistent Pilates practice, my injuries disappeared. I was hooked! A few years later, while working as a freelance dancer in New York, I enrolled in a Pilates teacher training program as a way to supplement my income. It wasn't until I started teaching that I realized how much I truly loved teaching."

Alongside her role as a Polestar Pilates Educator, Marina runs her own studio, Marina Moves, in Breda. She also continues to teach professional dancers as a certified Countertechnique teacher. The principles of Countertechnique share many similarities with the Polestar Pilates philosophy, and you will often recognize these influences in her classes.

COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATOR IN TRAINING

Fenna was always athletic and had an interest in many different sports. When in 2012 she discovered Pilates and immediately fell in love.

‘I started practising Pilates after a recommendation by a physiotherapist whom I consulted due to continuous lower back pains. Pilates turned out to be the solution to my back issues, and I was eager to learn more and more about Pilates and the human body.’

In 2014 Fenna graduated from the Polestar Mat Instructor training and started teaching Mat classes in Amsterdam. A year later she graduated from the Polestar Comprehensive training.

Fenna has her own home studio in Amsterdam, Mens Sana Pilates!