June 28 to June 30, 2026
Three days of in-depth Classical Pilates education, hosted at Altum Academy.
Karen Frischmann is one of the most respected voices in Classical Pilates education today. For more than 30 years she has dedicated her career to the method, studying with first-generation teachers including Jay Grimes and Romana Kryzanowska, and has spent decades helping teachers understand not just what to teach, but why the work is ordered the way it is.
This June, Karen Frischmann teaches in Singapore for the first time, hosted by Altum Academy. Over three days she will lead four workshops covering the mat, the Reformer, breath, and the foundational role of the seat in the classical system. Each workshop stands alone. Together they offer a rare and comprehensive encounter with one of the most rigorous and gifted Pilates educators working today.
Workshop 1
Return to Life Mat
Sun, June 28, 2026 | 9am - 4pm
Joseph Pilates' original matwork is not a simplified version of the apparatus work. It is the source from which the full system extends, and most teachers, even experienced ones, have never studied it directly.
This workshop examines the original Return to Life Through Contrology text alongside modern classical interpretations. We'll look closely at technique, breath, and order: what Pilates actually prescribed, how it differs from what is commonly taught, and how the original mat exercises map onto exercises across every apparatus. Teachers who understand this relationship teach with a clarity that is difficult to arrive at any other way.
Workshop 2
Reformer Review
Mon, June 29, 2026 | 9am - 4pm
Most teachers know the Reformer exercises. Fewer understand why the sequence is ordered the way it is, and fewer still can explain what each transition is doing, why it exists, and how the full sequence functions as a unified whole rather than a collection of individual movements.
This workshop reviews the Classical Reformer repertoire in full. We'll work through the order, refine the exercises, and examine the transitions that connect one movement to the next. The focus is not on adding new exercises to your teaching vocabulary but on understanding the logic of what you already teach and how that understanding changes the quality of every session you give.
Workshop 3
Breath
Tue, June 30, 2026 | 9am - 12pm
Breath is one of the foundational principles of Classical Pilates. It is also one of the most frequently reduced to a cue -- something teachers direct rather than teach. Drawing on James Nestor's research in Breath alongside Classical Pilates application, this workshop examines what traditional breathing technique actually asks of the body: the mechanics, the purpose, and the relationship between breath and movement quality in the classical method. Teachers who understand breath as a structural principle rather than a rhythmic instruction give their students access to a dimension of the work that most never find.
Workshop 4
Find Your Seat
Tue, June 30, 2026 | 1:30pm - 4:30pm
In Classical Pilates, the seat is not a muscle group to be activated. It is the foundation of the work. Every exercise in the system -- from the most elementary to the most advanced -- depends on the ability to find and use the seat correctly. Most students never fully arrive there. Many teachers, if they are honest, will say the same.
This workshop examines the role of the glutes and sitting bones in the classical system: what it means to genuinely find the seat, why it is so commonly missed, and how teaching this with greater precision changes the quality of a student's movement from the ground up.
Investment
Full Bundle—all four workshops over three days
Early Bird for the first 10 registrations: SGD 1,450 (valid until May 16)
Usual Price: SGD 1,650
Apparatus Bundle — Return to Life Mat + Reformer Review
SGD 1,100
Individual sessions
Return to Life Mat: SGD 600
Reformer Review: SGD 600
Breath + Find Your Seat: SGD 700 for both / SGD 400 for one session