Joyful Movement Life Skills: Mat Training - Certificate of Achievement

The Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training Certificate of Achievement is designed for students who seek dance and wellness integration opportunities that prepare them for careers as nationally recognized Pilates instructors and other commercial whole body and fitness ventures. Study includes Pilates technique, theory and methodology, dance integration, fundamental movement and 3D anatomy. The Mat Training Certificate is the first in a series of progressive competencies that equips students with exceptional knowledge, skills, and teacher preparation foundation for Pilates-based movement systems. Students who complete program requirements for the following three certificates will be well prepared to sit for the Pilates Method Alliance National Certification Exam. 

Each certificate must be completed independently and in sequence. 

1. Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training: The Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training Certificate of Achievement is a prerequisite to entering the Reformer Training program.

2. Joyful Movement Life Skills Reformer Training: The Joyful Movement Life Skills ReformerTraining Certificate of Achievement is a prerequisite to entering the Comprehensive ApparatusTraining program.

3. Joyful Movement Life Skills Comprehensive Training: The Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat AND ReformerTraining Certificates of Achievement are prerequisites to entering the Comprehensive ApparatusTraining program. 

Courses for the Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training program are only offered as a cohort cluster. Students must attend a one-hour online program orientation prior to enrollment. Students should contact the Department Chair of Dance for more information. 

Students must meet required hours for Personal Sessions, Observation Hours, and Student Teaching.  Joyful Movement Open Studio hours are available through the Department of Dance at Laney College. Open Studio sessions allow students to improve self technique, practice exercises on the Pilates equipment, and meet required student teaching hours. Students are expected to complete Personal Sessions, Observation Hours, and Practice Teaching by taking and observing classes, as well as teaching apprenticeships at various locations recommended by the program instructors. Must be enrolled in the full program to access Joyful Movement Open Studio sessions.

This level of Pilates Method Alliance National Certification Exam preparation offered through a community college is unique to Laney College and the first to be offered at a community college  within the East Bay sub-region (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties).

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•  Successful students will demonstrate proper Pilates Mat exercises.
• Successful students will synthesize proper Pilates Mat exercises to train intergenerational populations with diverse body types.
• Successful students will synthesize proper Pilates Mat exercises to train intergenerational populations with different fitness levels.
• Successful students will evaluate proper Pilates Mat exercises and their application modify health and wellness fitness goals for intergenerational populations with diverse body types and fitness levels.
• Successful students will evaluate proper Pilates Mat exercises and their application to design modify health and wellness fitness goals for intergenerational populations with diverse body types and fitness levels.
  

The Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training Program is the first of three certificates students may pursue to prepare themselves to sit for the Pilates Method Alliance National Certification Exam. Courses for the Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training program are only offered as a cohort cluster. Course completion for this certificate can be completed in two semesters plus one summer term. The Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training Certificate of Achievement is a prerequisite to entering the Reformer Training program. Completion of the Joyful Movement Life Skills Reformer Training Certificate of Achievement is a pre-requisite to enter the Joyful Movement Life Skills Comprehensive (Apparatus) Training program. The Mat Training program requires one summer intensive. Successful completion of one or more Joyful Movement Life Skills Certificates of Achievement leads to careers in fitness centers, health and wellness centers, or privately owned studios.

COURSE	TITLE	UNITS	YEAR/SEMESTER (Y1 OR S1)
DANCFOLK 097P	Anatomy of Movement	3.00	Y1, S2
DANCFOLK 100P	Mat Teacher Training I	3.00	Y1, S1
DANCFOLK 103P	Restorative Mind Body Healing I	1.00	Y1, S1
DANCFOLK 104P	Restorative Mind Body Healing II	1.00	Y1, S2
DANCFOLK 105P	Restorative Mind Body Healing III	1.00	Y1, SUM
DANCFOLK 108P	Whole Body Lifestyle I	1.00	Y1, S2
DANCFOLK 109P	Whole Body Lifestyle II	1.00	Y1, SUM
DANCFOLK 110P	Mat Teacher Training II	3.00	Y1, S2
DANCFOLK 112P	Pilates Joyful Movement I: Personal/Observation/Student Teaching	0.50	Y1, S1
DANCFOLK 113P	Pilates Joyful Movement II: Personal/Observation/Student Teaching	0.50	Y1, S2
DANCFOLK 114P	Pilates Joyful Movement III: Personal Observation Student Teaching	0.50	Y1, SUM
DANCFOLK 117P	Pilates Technique I	0.50	Y1, S1
DANCFOLK 118P	Pilates Technique II	0.50	Y1, S2
DANCFOLK 124P	Intergenerational Wealth and Wellness I	1.00	Y1, SUM
DANCFOLK 119P	Pilates Technique III	0.50	Y1, SUM
Total: 18

This Certificate Program will enable under-represented populations to gain entry-level employment in the Pilates industry and health and wellness sectors. Balanced Body, the international Pilates industry leader recognizes the need to diversify and is actively seeking African American Pilates instructors to fill this gap, (Balanced Body, DiversityInPilates.com, 2020). Pilates companies historically conduct skills-based hiring. The industry is now collaborating with community colleges to develop a pipeline of diverse talent. This program will serve to increase this pipeline for underrepresented people and to move them to be participants in a global economy with a career pathway. The advisory committee met several times over the past two years. The committee advised the Laney Folk Dance Department throughout its development of three certificates of achievements and teacher preparation courses for career, technical, and educational development in the field of Pilates, emphasizing how teacher preparation and career pathways are needed to address gaps in the Pilates industry. Courses should be developed to include wellness industry specific outcomes, dance integration into fitness and health fields, and entrepreneurship to prepare students as studio and business owners in the Pilates fitness industry. Courses and programs should be designed to attract students to health and wellness industries and that also bring these resource skills to under-resourced communities. The Laney College Department of Dance's educational expansion of their curriculum is needed to support the development of student's 21st century social and emotional intelligence skills-highly sought by employers. A folk dance is movement developed by people that reflect the life of the people of a certain country or region. Joseph Pilates, (b. 1883, d. 1967) recognized the need for a universal people's movement that centered the attention of the body and mind on health and wellness through specific technical application and equipment, just like ballet and the ballet barre, modern dance and dancing barefoot, and hip-hop and ethnic dance form's integral relationship to music. However, just as in the professional world of ballet, there exists an equity gap in the field of Pilates fitness/Pilates Dance-fitness. Ex: There is only one African American Balanced Body Pilates Master Instructor in Northern California; two African American Balanced Body Master Pilates instructors in the state of California; and less than one handful of Balanced Body Master Pilates instructors of color who hold careers in the SF Bay Area. This certificate moves the needle on equity in career technical education by opening doors to careers in a high paying industry that has been historically inaccessible and exclusionary to students of color.

There are no other Certificates of Achievements in Mat Pilates Training within this service area of Bay and East Bay Regions. College of San Mateo has a Pilates Instructor Certificate of Achievement and specialization areas. There are some similarities between the content of CSM's program and this proposed program because the Joseph Pilates technique is rooted in very specific movement systems. However, the College of San Mateo is a 40-minute drive (without traffic) across the Bay Bridge and is situated in an area where there is a 20K median income difference between families in San Mateo and families in Oakland, CA. Our advisory board member, Tonya Amos, owner of Aspire Pilates Center in Concord, CA met with the director of the Pilates program at the College of San Mateo, Sarah Negara, to discuss how our programs are both similar but very different. The key difference with our program is that the Joyful Movement Life Skills Mat Training Certificate of Achievement is a comprehensive program beyond Pilates training and incorporates wellness industry business development and leads to paid internships with Balanced Body, Inc certified practitioners at Aspire Pilates. Another major difference is that Laney's program offers three certificates whereby the completion of one certificate leads to significant employment opportunities but the attainment of the three certificates offered through the Department of Dance will prepare students to be leaders in a field that is traditionally exclusionary to African American, students of color and low income communities- the population of students at Laney who will be served by this new program. Laney's program aims to bring equity to careers in the Pilates Industry by attracting students from under resourced communities.