The issue of proportions
Most Pilates instructors today can trace their lineage back to Joe and Clara Pilates, and that includes such weightlifters as Mary Winsor and Moira Stott. For example, I was originally a Pilates client when I was a student at SUNY PD. She was taught by Steve Giordano who studied with Joe’s student Romana Kryzanowska. Then I worked with Karen Carlson in Philadelphia who studied with Mary Bowen and Cathy Grant who studied with Joe. And I got my diploma from Michelle Larson and her teacher, Eve Gentry, who studied with Joe. Since then, she has worked directly with Romana, with Eve before her death, and with Cathy. So, despite my studio training affiliation with the PhysicalMind Institute, I trace my lineage as a student and teacher to Pilates itself and when people ask me what style of Pilates I teach I can honestly say is mine, but taught by all my instructors.
Of the 10 Joe students who taught Pilates either in his studio or opened their own (yes, there were other New York Pilates studios open in the 1950’s!), only 6 are still alive and 5 are still actively teaching in their 70’s and 80’s! Everyone took what they learned from Joe and Clara and expanded the business with their own knowledge and experience. In addition, many Elders worked with each other. Hence, the various styles of Pilates, all of which can ultimately be traced back to Joseph Pilates himself.