Dani King

Danielle's extensive background in martial arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsiu, Muay Thai kick-boxing, acrobatic movement, dance, and current pursuit of aerial arts lends a unique perspective to her teachings and style .

BASI educated and a Kathy Grant Heritage Training® Graduate, Dani offers a deep understanding of anatomy, physiology and movement theory. She enjoys creating highly innovative and contemporary classes with honesty and integrity to the work of Joseph Pilates. “I dedicate myself fully to the work, while lending my energy freely to both the teaching and students so they might experience the joy in every movement”.

Danielle opened Flying Squirrel Studios after her Mentors Anula Maiberg and Jeremy Laverdure decided to sell their long time, successful business Sixth Street Pilates®, at which Dani taught for the past 6 years developing a strong bond with the students and fellow instructors. She is excited and humbled to take this next step in her career. “After teaching Pilates for over 10 years, I’m still learning from my students every day. I am now also learning what it takes to run a Pilates studio in NYC.”

Benjamin E Oyzon

Benny is a lifelong martial artist and has been performing in NYC for over 20 years as a dancer and aerial acrobat. Benny is also an Aerial Rigging Specialist, combining skills from his performance career and knowledge from his Science degrees in Theater and Civil Engineering. This high-flying lifestyle has also left Benny with a long list of injuries, through which has deepened his understanding of biomechanics and kinesiology. In 2002 Benny began his Pilates journey, earning a certification through Kim Kuznitz's studio Bent Pilates. Formerly an avid surfer, Benny also helped Kuznitz develop her "Surfilates" system: an exercise program for all people that was initially designed for and inspired by the physical demands of surfing. Fascinated with the interplay of science and art, Benny is continually creating different ways to find the beauty in nature, and the magic in physics.

Anjali Kanter

Anjali was raised in Santa Fe, NM but now lives in New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer. After a serious injury, Anjali realized her love for the healing arts, physical therapy especially, and decided her first step would be with Pilates. She first started her training with Kevin Bowen in Santa Fe and continued her certification process in the city. Meanwhile, she booked her first big gig with the national tour of ‘The King and I’ and travelled all over the US and Canada for 6 months. After the tour, she returned to New Mexico, finished her certification all the while teaching at Ray Kurshals' studio, Pilates Santa Fe, and has now returned to city to continue her journey. She continues her pursuit of a dancing career amongst other projects, while also teaching Pilates and dance classes around the city. With her extensive knowledge of dance, the body and physical therapy, she combines all of these together to teach not just a full body work out but also a workout for the mind, increasing coordination and awareness. She hopes that her love of healing and helping people will help her clients with their own personal fitness goals while also addressing their individual conditions or weaknesses. Anjali is very excited to teach group classes and privates at Flying Squirrel and encourages people of all ages to come try her class.

Alma Azaryahu

Alma, who is originally from Israel, discovered Pilates after finishing her army service back in 2012. Coming from a non athletic background and years of sitting and hunching over desks, Pilates started out as a casual activity and slowly became a must for her. 

After moving to NYC with her husband and cats, Pilates turned into an almost daily workout, motivated further by the instructors with which she trained regularly. Having left grad school, she decided to follow the calling of becoming a comprehensively trained Pilates instructor and did so through Core Pilates NYC’s program. Alma also has training in pre and post natal Pilates.

Alma is passionate about helping people feel strong and empowered through Pilates by delivering challenging classes while offering everybody and every body the opportunity to train in a way that makes them feel good, respecting the fact that no two bodies are the same.

Dakota Rooney

Dakota has worked for over 30 years in the circus industry as a professional aerial acrobat, coach, and choreographer. She found Pilates in her youth to help rehab from injury and get back to movement. She was hooked and kept it n her life for injury prevention. So inspired by the smartness of the work, Dakota became a Kane School certified instructor to help others keep moving with ease through their lives. Her classes have an athletic, contemporary style, infused with her love of anatomy and sense of humor. She can also be found coaching aspiring aerialists at Circus Warehouse in Long Island City.

Tressa Degiorgi

Tressa began her Pilates journey in 2002 as a remedy for low pain caused by long hours standing on concrete floors working as a hairdresser from a young age. She found that strengthening our core and correcting our posture can give us so much more freedom to move however we like. Initially she practiced in a very classical style which she still loves to reference through her choices in choreography. After a few years of practice in NYC she found that all of the instructors she’d been loyally following were Kane school certified, so in 2018 she signed up to become one of them too. She favors really feel good workouts that include a lot of stretching. She likes to use movement to make people feel good, strong, open and empowered.

Benjamin Freedman

Benjamin received a BFA in Dance and BA in Psychology from New York University, and his full-apparatus Pilates certification from the Kane School of Core Integration. He brings a thorough knowledge of anatomy and the classical Pilates repertoire to his sessions; focusing on injury rehabilitation, core strengthening, myofascial release, biomechanics, and empowerment through movement. Benjamin is a contemporary dancer and choreographer in New York City, and has performed as a company member with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Sean Curran Company, Third Rail Projects, Company XIV, The Santa Fe Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, among others. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at NYU Tisch Dance where he teaches Pilates, Ballet, and Contemporary Technique.