Meet Dan Walton

Dan’s energy is infectious! He knows how to bring out the best in students in his classes. He blends his own vision and life experiences into each lesson. Dan originated from the east coast where he was first introduced to wellness from his mother, who is a yoga instructor and reiki healer. Dan moved to the west coast to follow a career in the restaurant industry. After 11 years in restaurants Dan affirmed his place in the wellness field. Following his passion for pilates, he left the restaurant industry and opened Studio Blue in February 2007 with Angela, a long time friend.

With five years of pilates experience, Dan is a certified pilates mat and equipment instructor through PhysicalMind Institute and strives for continual learning and appreciation of the art under mentors such as Lavinia Magliocco. Dan recently completed the Stott pilates anatomy, mat and reformer training and is pursuing a greater understanding of the yoga practice and various forms of dance.

In addition to teaching at Studio Blue, he also teaches at the Metropolitan Learning Center, where he has developed a pilates elective class for seventh and eight graders. During volleyball season he conditions the Concordia volley ball team. He has also donated his time to the Men’s Wellness Center, St Agatha School and the Vancouver Juvenile Correctional Facility for kids. Dan is currently an ambassador for Lululemon Athletica.

Meet Joanne Connerty

Joanne discovered her love for pilates in 2006, and was immediately amazed at how quickly and easily doing pilates trimmed her waistline, increased her muscle definition and tone, and improved her overall strength and balance.  After awhile it even became fun (in an addictive sort of way)! 

Joanne grew up in Chicago and spent 20+ years in direct marketing and advertising in senior management positions on the East Coast for Fortune 500 companies such as Time-Warner, Columbia House, The Home Shopping Network, Ogilvy & Mather, and U.S. News & World Report.  She met Dan and Studio Blue in 2007 and, as a Studio client, fell in love with the variety and challenge that the classes at Studio Blue had to offer.  Over time she became friends with Dan and the other amazing instructors at the Studio, and after retiring from her marketing career in 2008, Dan asked her to become his partner to help run and grow the business.

Joanne loves getting to know every client by name, and making sure that each client’s expectations and needs are always exceeded.  She manages the financial and marketing aspects of the business, which frees Dan up to spend more time doing what he loves to do best – working with clients to help them achieve their wellness and fitness goals.

When she’s not at the Studio you’ll find her enjoying life in Irvington with her 2 daughters, cooking gourmet meals, wine tasting, bowling, hiking out in the Gorge, or making travel plans to visit family and friends around the U.S. or the 2 girls she sponsors through the Miracle Foundation in India.

Meet Wendi Albro

Wendi found Pilates in 1998 through her training in modern dance in Seattle, WA. She was amazed at it’s effectiveness in treating chronic back pain, something she had been dealing with on and off since her early days as a competitive gymnast. Not only that, it improved her dancing, giving her a greater sense of balance, strength, and proper alignment. Later, she would also use Pilates to rehabilitate a knee injury.

In 2004, Wendi moved to San Francisco where she began the Pilates Teacher Training course at Ellie Herman Studios. After becoming certified, she then completed the Janda Method of Neuromuscular Reprogramming with Lizz Roman. A method that combines the principles of Pilates with posture analysis, gait assessment, and muscle testing. In San Francisco, Wendi had the pleasure of working closely with several highly respected trainers, all of whom have studied with some of the best in the business.

Patient and dedicated, Wendi’s inclusive approach to Pilates is infused with a love and understanding of movement and how it is a critical component to health and well-being. She continually welcomes new ideas to expand her knowledge in how to address each individual’s particularities and needs. Wendi is excited to be a new resident of Portland, and a new member of the Studio Blue community.

Meet Tami Sousa

Tami Sousa received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona. She completed her Pilates apparatus and mat certification in Washington DC through PhysicalMind Institute in 2006, fulfilling her desire to effect positive change in people’s lives. While living in D.C., Tami accomplished over 1000 hours of extensive training while teaching directly under her certifying instructor, Michael Wright.

An active athlete Tami was originally drawn to Pilates while she was training for one of the L.A. marathons. Her life has centered around sports and athletics. Her passion for Pilates, running and physical activity led her to a career caring for the human body and understands that reaching fitness goals strengthens your life, not just your body. She is experienced in working with people of all levels of background. Her teaching style encompasses on creating unique training sessions that focuses on core strength while ease of movement and body awareness.

Meet Rebecca Perry

Rebecca Perry has been studying yoga since 1997. She became a certified yoga teacher in 1999 through a registered 200 hour certificate with The Yoga Alliance at the Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville, CA. In 1998 Rebecca began studying under master yogi Baba Hari Dass in the classical traditions of Ashtanga Yoga. Her experience lies in the heart of all eight-limb aspects, taught from the Patanjali’s Sutras. She has personally practiced extensively in the areas including; restraints, observances, postures, breath control, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation and super-consciousness, yoga theory, metaphysics, mudra, shat karma, preliminary Ayurveda theory, anatomy, Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Tantra Yoga, ritual, and symbolism. Currently, Rebecca is teaching this ancient and classical tradition of yoga in the lineage of her teacher. She is extremely passionate and excited to share this vast science of yoga with her students. She travels frequently to India and California in order to continue her yoga studies. Rebecca dedicates her practice and teaching to her master teacher and loving guide, Baba Hari Dass.

Meet Angelina Vasile

Angelina is certified in Pilates mat and equipment by the Ellie Herman Studios in San Francisco and has been teaching since 2001. Her education includes study of the Janda method of neuromuscular re-patterning, the Franklin method, resistive stretching, and Forrest Yoga. She is greatly influenced by her time working under the mentorship of Tom McCook at Center of Balance in Mountain View, California and the Pilates method as taught by the PhysicalMind Institute. Her movement studies began as a young athlete and runner, and continued as she received a degree in Dance and Performance Choreography. Angelina’s teaching style incorporates her passion for anatomy and kinesiology, athletics, Chinese medicine, martial arts, dance and yoga. It’s her goal to teach clients how to breathe deeply and move consciously to find balance, strength and grace. She is dedicated to her own practice and continued education to better serve her clients and as a way to experience presence and joy in her own life. She is passionate about growing peoples understanding of themselves and their bodies! Skilled at working with a broad range of clients, she especially loves working with injuries, athletes, the elderly and those struggling with body image related disorders. When not teaching, Angelina is usually found dancing, yoga-ing, playing in the great outdoors, watching major league baseball, or baking.

Meet Ishbel Miller

Ishbel began practicing yoga with her mom at age five and discovered pilates in college. Ishbel has been teaching pilates and yoga for six years and has loved every minute of it! Both pilates and yoga have transformed Ishbel not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. There is always something new to learn each time she steps onto the mat or works with her students. Ishbel feels immensely blessed to travel along-side her students as they venture deeper into their own practices and discover the endless capabilities of the body and the mind and their relationship together. Ishbel's students have ranged in ages from three-years-old to ninety-years-old. Every one of her students has stood as an inspiration and as a testament to the ever-blossoming potential of the human body.