The Pilates Team
Hailing from sunny San Diego, Verena (“V.”) Moll has successfully passed on her proudest accomplishment, Bird Rock Yoga Studio, and is now excited to pursue her new endeavors with 9th & 9th Pilates right here in Salt Lake City. After many years working as an animal trainer, Verena’s intuitive sense of the beings around her was her inspiration to pursue a Vinyasa teaching certification through Corepower Yoga in 2006. Having fallen head-over-heels for her new passion, she immediately began teaching full-time throughout San Diego, and has since received her E-RYT 200 accreditation. Originally European, Verena has lived and travelled extensively throughout the world. Repeatedly adapting to new cultures and surroundings has taught her the importance of flexibility in the mind above all else. Drawing on the mind-body connection she began practicing and instructing Power Vinyasa Flow, matching breath to movement and focusing on “being” rather than “doing”. Amazing teachers such as Steve Ross, Budokon’s Cameron Shayne, Erich Schiffman, Michael Fukumura, Rachel Krentzman, Bhava Ram, Simon Park, the gang at White Lotus Foundation, and each and every student she has ever had the privilege of teaching have all helped to shape her path. V’s style of teaching can be described as light-hearted and personal. Caring deeply about her students’ growth and well-being, her classes will allow you to flourish in your own personal yoga journey at a pace that works for you. Her goal is to create a welcoming and supportive community at 9th & 9th Pilates (and beyond), where everyBODY is celebrated on and off the mat. V. is STOTT and TRX suspension training trained and the owner and creator of the barrEVOLUTION ® brand.
Amanda Bennion, a native of Sandy, Utah, has years of experience in movement, having been trained in Russian Ballet since the age of four. Amanda teaches Pilates and dance to both young and old throughout the Valley, and can occasionally be seen doing breathtaking moves in various local aerial dance performances.
Amanda is completing her degree in Political Science at the University of Utah and dreams of joining the circus and becoming a Ninja warrior. Seriously.
Anthony Baron Kirk, was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and has extensive experience as a personal trainer. Anthony has been teaching in the STOTT PILATES tradition for over seven years and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and the Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology (CHEK) Institute.
Anthony integrates his incredible breadth of mind-body knowledge with his Pilates teaching and every class is memorable.
Christian Sorensen, a former BYU ballroom dancer, hails from Gillette, Wyoming. Christian is known for his intense, high-energy Pilates workouts and is often referred to as the "Mad Dane." He thinks all workouts should be fun, and by "fun" he means "challenging."
When not putting students' obliques and glutes to the test, Christian puts his English MA to work in technical writing and editing.
Jen Bergman is a Salt Lake native and graduated from the University of Utah in 1994 from the college of Health and Fitness. Her passions include anything outside and warm. She has two boys who love to run, hike, bike and move anything with wheels on it. She loves every form of exercise as long as it is fun and challenging, and tries to create her classes the same way.
Heather Blackburn a Salt Lake City native received her Bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Science from the University of Utah. She has over 8 years of experience in the fitness industry and has had the opportunity to
work with people of all fitness levels from cardiac rehab patients at the University Hospital to professional athletes. She believes that no matter what your current fitness level is, you can enjoy exercise and can achieve a new level of fitness and health. After almost 20 years of dance training, Heather discovered pilates in 2006 and received her STOTT Pilates training in 2007. She has been teaching pilates for the last four years and truly loves it. Heather is also certified in Kinesis, TRX and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer. While not busy with work, she enjoys chasing after her energetic two yearold daughter, gardening and spending time outside.
Laura Madsen, also known as the “Energizer Bunny,” comes to us from Price, Utah. Laura has a BA in Communications from the University of Utah.
When she’s not burning our cores, she’s teaching PE to little munchkins at Whittier Elementary.
Tanja London is a certified STOTT Pilates Instructor since August 2009 and has been intrigued by the method since early 2007. She is fascinated by the intrinsic applied Kinesiology in STOTT Pilates and loves to gain and share knowledge. Tanja holds BA degrees in Social Work (Berufsakademie Stuttgart, Germany) and Contemporary Dance (London Contemporary Dance School, University of Kent, UK) and currently works towards her MA in Modern Dance at the University of Utah. Before she moved to Salt Lake City she ran a one woman STOTT Pilates program for two years at Synergy Health and Fitness, which is affiliated with Exeter Hospital inNew Hampshire. Props from a Client:
“ Tanja knows that these exercises have a certain learning curve and she is with you from beginning to end … refreshing your memory every time you come to class, spotting problem areas and addressing them always with positive reinforcement. She has been encouraging, instructive and very, very patient. I thank her not only for her professionalism but more than that … for her love of teaching these classes, which just makes them that much more enjoyable.” Lori Pratt, Synergy client
