Ms. Kryzanowska was born in Detroit, Michigan and moved to New York City in the mid-1930s. As a teenager, she started classes at the School of American Ballet, which later became the official school of the New York City Ballet co-founded by the legendary choreographer, George Balanchine. In 1941, Romana sustained an injury to her ankle, and Balanchine introduced her to Joseph and Clara Pilates who had opened the first Pilates Center in New York in 1926. A German immigrant, Pilates had developed a method of body conditioning that had attracted quite a following among dancers.

After only five sessions, Ms. Kryzanowska's injury remarkably improved and she became quite a regular at Pilate's studio. She continued training under the Pilates and worked as an instructor at their studio. After Joseph's death and Clara's retirement, Romana was handpicked by Clara to become the director of The Pilates Studio in the early 1970s.

Today she is internationally renowned, and she travels extensively throughout the world conducting seminars and certifying Pilates instructors. Her approach to Pilates exercise remains pure to the classical teachings of her mentor and she passes along the legacy through Romana's Pilates, the Pilates teaching business she runs with her daughter Sari Mejia Santo and her granddaughter Daria Pace.

On February 27 and 28, Ms. Kryzanowska will personally conduct a Continuing Education Session at the Metropolitan Classical Ballet studio for approximately thirty certified Romana's Pilates instructors who will come to hone and develop their teaching skills. Enrollment is limited to individuals who have been previously certified and cleared by Romana Kryzanowska and Sari Santo. Four more seminars are scheduled for the remainder of the year. The Center will open to the public in the spring.

Ms. Kryzanowska is a firm believer that Pilates, when taught correctly, is for everyone, especially those who are getting on in years. "When they have their first lesson, it's more for the teacher to see what their body's like, what it's willing to do and what exercises you would not do," says Kryzanowska, whose students include people with hip replacements, bad knees and a large variety of bad-back maladies. The technique is about developing "the powerhouse"--the muscles in the abdomen, buttocks and lower back that are the collective point of origin for all Pilate's exercises. "I give people homework," she says, "like exercises to do in bed before you even put your feet on the floor in the morning. We don't pop 'em into a class and command them to do a hundred sit-ups!"

When asked about her remarkable fitness at the age of 81, she said, "I just do Pilates." "I don't do anything else."

Numerous articles have been written about Ms. Kryzanowska; most recently, one appeared in Time magazine. She has just released a four-volume DVD entitled Romana's Pilates. More information on the Pilates Method is available by accessing her website at www.romanaspilates.com.

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Media Note: Further information, interviews and photos may be obtained by contacting Judy Puder at (817) 465-4644.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Romana Kryzanowska, the pre-eminent disciple of Joseph and Clara Pilates, will open a Romana's Pilates Center in Arlington. The Center will be located at 500 West Abram in the Metropolitan Classical Ballet studios, which are conveniently located in the heart of Arlington near the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington.

Romana Kryzanowska, 81-year-old heir to the Pilates Method has taught Pilates for the past six decades. She recently relocated from New York to Fort Worth to be near her son, Paul Mejia, and his family. Mr. Mejia is co-artistic director of Metropolitan Classical Ballet.

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