Niia Bishop
Instructor
Niia Bishop began studying movement at age 5 as a dancer. She won a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey School of Dance, where she studied ballet, modern, African and jazz until a knee injury benched her at age 16. She began dancing less frequently again, and took classes at Mt. Holyoke and Smith Colleges while earning her bachelors as Amherst College. Though able to participate in sports like rugby and equestrian, her knee injury from high school continued to plague her. Niia danced professionally in companies in Massachusetts and New York before deciding to attend the University of Michigan to pursue a PhD in Comparative Literature. She began practicing pilates in her home with Windsor Pilates DVDs. She found the results so profound that she began a certification in mat and machine Pilates in 2007. In 2009, with the both of her son Reza, she created a mommy and me Pilates class called Mamilates, which she calls "a cross between Gymboree and Windsor Pilates." She taught this class in NYC, Long Island, and Buffalo. She is very excited to join the Club Pilates team. She hopes to bring her decade of Pilates experience to help clients achieve their physical goals.