I first heard the word “Pilates” spoken 10 years ago when I was working as an Associate Director on an Arthur Kopit play called Road to Nirvana starring Sigourney Weaver. Sigourney is a beautiful, enchanting woman, and during rehearsal breaks at Circle Rep, we would sometimes talk about the pleasures in our lives. One day Sigourney told me about Pilates. She said it had saved her back, lengthened her height an inch and made her spine younger. She told me that, during the filming of the Alien sequel, director James Cameron (he’d later direct the smash hit, Titanic) made each of the main characters carry a 70 pound gun for blasting the aliens because he wanted to “see their bodies strain” under the weight of “real guns” for authenticity: “You don’t have to act it if you’re feeling it in your back.”

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