Talk:Joseph Pilates

message: The German and the English Version of the article about Joseph Hubert Pilates seem to mention different birth places.
:They don't do so anymore! --130.149.174.22 15:40, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Birthplace

message: I removed a link to Tamara di Tella's Pilates website, as I figured that the links to his pupils' websites were sufficient. --Slashme (talk) 08:49, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, you have a good point with which I am agree with. Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 08:54, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tamara di Tella 

message: This Wikipedia article on Joseph Pilates claims for a long time, that his father was of "Greek Ethnicity". with this attached reference. Actually the reference shows just the opposite, it states that the talk about "having been Greek and having changed the name" are not backed up by living relatives. The same reference even shows birth certificate, which gives Pilates' father's actual name as Heinrich Friedrich Pilates, occupation Schlosser (mechanic), a citizen of Prussia, also born in M. Gladbach, both parents Catholic. Checking birth records of previous Pilates family in M.Gladbach one finds Gertrudis Pilates born 1668, Conradus Pilates born 1676 and many dozens of other Pilates persons throughout the centuries in the same area and elsewhere in Germany (71.197.119.17 (talk) 22:13, 9 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Disproven Nationality/Ethnicity Rumor claimed as Factual by Wikipedia 

message: I gather from a comment below that at one point the article was claiming that he was of Greek descent.
Since this information no longer seems to be a part of the article, the Greek form of his name is totally irrelevant and looks ridiculous.
I hope someone removes it, or I will.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.142.116.106 (talk) 21:23, 22 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why the Greek pronunciation guide? 

message: In 1923 Pilates was invited to train the New German Army but because he was not happy with the political direction of Germany he decided to leave. The urgings of his American based relatives - his uncle (an influential catholic priest), his brother Frederick, and his sister Helen, would have played a part in his decision to move. Nachum (talk) 14:01, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  so the book - the article need a fixing. 

message: Nimmt man die Popularität der Pilates Methode als Grundlage, so war man verwundert, dass über den Begründer der Methode so wenig sicher Information verfügbar war. In der Pilates Literatur sowie auf den verschiedenen Internetseiten von Pilates Studios ließen sich fast immer die gleichen Textbausteine finden und manches davon wirkte fragwürdig und einfach abgeschrieben. Nachum (talk) 12:54, 16 January 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  so wrrote someone in amazon.de 

message: Substituted at 20:33, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

message: from my research there is no evidence that his father has something with Greece. if anyone has fact about it let me know. please. Nachum (talk) 08:05, 3 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:   His [[Greeks|Greek]] father 

message: As claims of Greek origin get added again and again, it may be a good idea to quote a discussion from the talkpage of the corresponding German article. In summary, his parents were Prussian nationals, his father had the very German given names "Heinrich Friedrich", and other people with variations of the surname Pilat/Pilatus/Pilates are known to have been widespread in the same area since at least the middle of the 18th century.
Is it possible that JP at some point claimed to be Greek, maybe to cultivate a mental connection to athletes of antiquity or to disassociate himself from his German background during either of the World Wars? Whatever the case may be, there seems to be no evidence for Greek origins. --Hegvald (talk) 07:15, 20 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Claims of Greek origin 

message: I'm not an editor.  I have no desire to be one.  Just putting this out there for any editor who might want to decide whether it's worth including, and find sources for it.
The German, then American, modern dance choreographer Hanya Holm [sorry, don't know whether or how to link to her article] asked Pilates to create a warmup for her dance company.  That warmup subsequently became the warmup for the companies of her associates Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis [again: links?].  The warmup is similar, but not identical, to the Pilates floor work (mat work).
(This is personal knowledge from having been a dancer in the Nikolais company and having taken Holm's classes there.  But it's also documented in, for example, the book Dancing with Principle: Hanya Holm in Colorado, by Claudia Gitelman.  I think this information about the Pilates/Holm connection is definitely worth including, because the article mentions George Balanchine and Martha Graham, but all they did was send students to him; Holm had an actual "collaboration", since he created a warmup for her.)
The tidbit:  When Pilates was developing his technique during World War I for the "rehabilitation of seriously injured veterans", he used whatever materials he could find for his machines, including the springs from old hospital beds.
(This is from a friend who is a Pilates teacher, and even she says that it is "through the grapevine".  But, who knows, it might be true and it might be documented.)
Dudley Brooks (talk) 23:48, 3 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another dance connection, plus a tidbit (trivia? apocrypha?)