05/15/2026
Repost from
•
The Pilates Magic Circle: An Archival Timeline
Joe Pilates designed the original Magic Circle out of metal bands with metal handles with rubber padding along each one.
He was able to alter the tension of the circle by building it with more bands for a heavier effect and less bands for a lighter effect.
In these photos from inside the back room of the original studio, we can see how Joe used a light version of the magic circle with Roberta Peters. (Slides 1 & 9-11).
Magic circles have changed over the decades since Joe’s original circle- from wooden handles, to plastic circles with plastic pads, and back again. How have all of these styles affected the work over time, and how does each variation of the circle translate the method differently into your body?
This Sunday we will explore all of this and more, with the largest historical variety of magic circles to ever appear in the same workshop all at once. We’ll study, teach, and practice the archival Magic Circle work together in the very place that Joe himself archived it so many years ago.
And… an original, archival metal magic circle will be back inside Joe Pilates NYC studio for the first time in decades✨
