Strength and Grace through Movement

Danielle’s training in Pilates sets it apart from other approaches, through her incorporation of Integrated Movement Therapies (IMT)®.  

The brainchild and labour of love of Danielle, Integrated Movement Therapies (IMT)® is an in-depth study of conscious and functional movement. It is designed to help you learn how to move well, replacing the concept of “exercise” with integrated whole-body movement. 

IMT is a personal synthesis Danielle created over 30 years as a dance artist, academic, teacher-trainer and former studio owner of Second Wind® Pilates Plus® for two decades. 

Combining complementary approaches to movement re-patterning, postural re-education, pain management, and psycho-spiritual integration, IMT addresses the fundamentals of functional anatomy, movement biomechanics, and movement principles and theory. She shapes her knowledge to the individual needs and learning styles of each student, so they can fully experience the movement with grace and intelligence, making it their own. The work transforms how you move, and how you think, feel and communicate from an embodied place of awareness and sensitivity.  

With roots in contemporary and age-old traditions, Integrated Movement Therapies (IMT)® is strongly influenced by the work of Rudolf Laban (Laban Movement Analysis) and Irmgard Bartenieff (Bartenieff Fundamentals).

Danielle is influenced by tai chi, yoga, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, myofascial bodywork, the Mitzvah Technique, and diverse training in biomechanics, anatomy, functional movement and somatics, including the work of Mabel Todd, Lulu Sweigard, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, Irene Dowd, Robert Ellis Dunn, Marie-Josée Bloom, Eric Franklin, and Thomas Myers; as well as various forms of spiritual practice and yoga, including Kundalini Yoga, meditation, Buddhism and Sufism. 

Regular movement practice allows us to care for the natural design and intelligence of our bodies as we age. It supports us to live with more physical ease, and less emotional and mental stress, which often keeps our mind stuck and bodies sore and disconnected. 

Coming from the world of dance and sport, Danielle never thought about what she loves to do as exercise. It has always been about learning how to move well and the pleasure of being in motion. Her goal is to ensure you get smart about your body. By giving you the individualized information you need to succeed, she helps you connect cognitive understanding with real embodied experience, laying down new neuropathways for real and lasting change.  

Each time you practice organized, functional movement that supports posture, vitality, and productivity, you fine-tune your ability to self-nurture and self-heal, living your life well, for the good of all. 

So what if you could propel your movement ability to new levels of possibility and enjoyment to feel more physically alive, confident, strong, free and young? 

Why not bring your imagined future into the present!

IMT Testimonial

"Meditative movement is a way of slowing way down to find what your body needs to realign and balance.

For me, as much as Danielle’s work is physical, the aspect of Integrated Movement Therapies (IMT) that is most potent, in my opinion, is that it is also so much more.  In my experience, it has been about slowing down, paying attention, and having a sense of exploration that moves me away from needing to “get it right.” It’s given me permission to be messy, as learning is messy; and not to being afraid to take things apart, then to have the courage to take risks as we put things back together again, resulting in a completely different movement experience. 

IMT taught me to trust in the natural intelligence of my body, in its ability to assimilate what I teach it and to trust that it knows what to do, if I can only get out of its way. So, the physical work becomes a platform from which to dive into the deeper emotional and even spiritual realms, because in being aware of my body, breath and movement and in tapping into my intentions while moving and while maintaining attention to that movement, I become aware of my awareness itself and that blows my mind!  From that place, we can then move beyond the body to include anything and everything while staying centered, grounded and embodied. 

The other beautiful thing about this work is that it’s for everyone. And I find that the people who “get it” and love it, know there is something really special about it, even though they may not be able to put their finger on exactly what it is.  Because it’s soul work, in a way, and the ways of the soul can’t be articulated into words, though they can be recognized intuitively.  As we do the work, we know we are healing on some level and remembering more fully who we are."

~  Cristina Chapparo, teacher of the Second Wind Method