My Pilates Background
I began my Pilates training in 1983 with Dreas Reyneke — one of the great pioneers of British Pilates. Dreas was a former dancer with Ballet Rambert who had trained in the Pilates method and opened his Body Conditioning studio in Notting Hill Gate. He was a wonderful teacher and a fabulous man, and I trained with him for two years.
After this, I trained under Alan Herdman — the man who had brought Pilates to the United Kingdom, having opened Britain’s first Pilates studio in 1970 after training in New York under instructors who had worked directly with Joseph Pilates himself. I subsequently became Manager of Alan Herdman’s studio, a role I held for six years.
The Threat from America
The Pilates Foundation was not established as a routine professional body. It was founded in direct response to a serious legal threat.
A man in America — Sean Gallagher, owner of a Manhattan-based Pilates studio — had claimed trademark ownership of the word “Pilates” and had already taken successful legal action against small studios in the United States. He was intimidating hundreds of Pilates teachers into either paying annual licensing fees to him or ceasing to use the word “Pilates” to describe what they taught. He then announced his intention to come to London and extend this control over Pilates in England.
I felt very strongly that we could not allow this to happen. The word “Pilates” described a method of exercise developed by Joseph Pilates himself — it was not a commercial brand that any individual should be able to own or control. If Gallagher succeeded, every Pilates teacher and studio in Britain and Europe would be at his mercy.
Founding the Pilates Foundation
I approached Anne-Marie Zulkahari and Hana Jones and asked whether they would join me in fighting to protect our right to use the word “Pilates” as a description of what we do. Both agreed with enthusiasm.
Together, we then invited Alan Herdman to serve as Chairman of the new organisation and Dreas Reyneke to serve as Deputy Chairman. Both accepted, lending the full weight of their authority and stature to the cause.
We engaged a brilliant trademark lawyer and pursued a strategy that proved decisive: we were among the first to obtain a collective trademark at the European Trademark Registry, and we also secured a collective trademark registered in England. The collective trademark was the critical legal mechanism — by registering the word collectively on behalf of the profession, no single commercial entity could claim exclusive ownership of it. It belonged to the method and to the practitioners as a whole.
This prevented Sean Gallagher from being able to obtain a trademark in Britain or Europe, and it protected every Pilates teacher and studio on this side of the Atlantic.
What Happened in America
In the United States, the fight was eventually won in court, but only after a costly four-year legal battle. In October 2000, U.S. District Court Judge Miriam Cedarbaum ruled that “Pilates” was a generic term — like “yoga” or “karate” — and could not be trademarked by any individual. Gallagher was also found to have deliberately misled the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The case was brought by Ken Endelman of Balanced Body Inc., the only person with the resources to challenge him in court.
The British and European professions were protected far earlier and more efficiently by the collective trademark strategy that the Pilates Foundation had pursued from the outset.
Setting the Record Straight
Over the years, a number of people have claimed to have started the Pilates Foundation or described themselves as founding members. This account sets the record straight.
The Pilates Foundation was founded by Trevor Blount, with Anne-Marie Zulkahari and Hana Jones as co-founders. Alan Herdman served as Chairman and Dreas Reyneke as Deputy Chairman. The impetus, the initiative, and the legal strategy came from Trevor Blount, who identified the threat posed by Sean Gallagher and brought the founding group together specifically to protect the British and European Pilates profession.
Every Pilates teacher and studio in Britain and Europe who uses the word “Pilates” freely today owes something to that fight, whether they know it or not.
Account recorded June 2026.
