This Mat & Chat was hosted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2020 on Instagram Live. The chat followed a 25 minute mat workout.
Victoria: For those of you who are just tuning in, below me is Sunni Almond, which I think is the coolest, most unique name ever.
Sunni: According to Google, I’m the only one in the world.
Victoria: I believe it! Also because Sunni is spelled with an “i”, so it’s a little bit more unique. But Sunni isn’t your maiden name, is it?
Sunni: No, that is my married name. I married a nut!
Victoria: Oh my God, you married a nut! That is so funny. Sunni is an instructor out of Las Vegas, Nevada, although she lived in Temecula beforehand, correct? And now she’s in Las Vegas and she has a studio there called Studio S Pilates. As she said in the very beginning, if you were watching, Sunni was referred to me through Risa Mathews, who was our guest a few weeks ago now. So welcome, Sunni!
As with everybody, I have a chat with my guests right before we go live, so I’m going to hop right into those questions! When Risa first connected us via email, she said: “Here’s Sunni, she’s fabulous, blah, blah” and when Sunni replied back to me, she said: “Hi Victoria, I’m the ultimate Pilates mutt.” That’s what she called herself in our first email exchange. So I want to talk about what that means to you. What does it mean to be a Pilates mutt?
Sunni: Well, I’ve pretty much lessoned and workshopped with every big school on the planet. So for that reason I call myself a mutt, because I don’t have a strong, solid background in any one or another. I’m just going to be honest and upfront about it- I think I’ve been very transparent about that. I’ve been pretty non-discriminatory in my Pilates past. I’ve taken so many workshops and lessons from whoever was the highest on the food chain that I could find. That’s pretty much it. If there was a guide, muscle, and strength involved, I was pretty much there, because that’s what spoke to me.
Victoria: So talk to us about some of those trainings, whether they were partial or full. Where did you start? Where has that windy road taken you? You can cherry-pick. You don’t need to lead us through the whole list.
Sunni: Well for the first bunch of years, it was all contemporary teachings. My certification was actually from a Polestar certified studio, she was Polestar certified. So, I certified there. But before that I had a mat certification from Synergy Systems and Kathleen Murakami. That was all contemporary stuff, but it led me down the yellow brick road. What I did was- just to be honest- I was single parenting my kids, I couldn’t afford the big trainings, and a fellow student at the studio I was at said: “You have to come, I met this woman who lives in Big Bear, and she has this other equipment and I think you’d really, really like it.” Well, that was Siri [Galliano], so I went and I was sold. I put everything else aside. My first teacher in that workshop was Jay Grimes, and he stood there with his fist in my stomach for the hour, and didn’t say anything. I’m watching these people flow through this workout with their straps, and this and I realized: “Oh my God, there’s no ropes or risers” and “What are these straps that you have to do yourself? What is this?”
Victoria: Right, so different from Polestar, right?
Sunni: Yeah! Not that that wasn’t good, but this was so different. And I thought, “Man, I gotta know what this is.” So I devoted the next million years to learning everything that I could, and that’s sort of in a nutshell what brought me here. But because I could not afford to travel to go to the trainings to work with that teacher, I started “Going More Joe” to hire the people I wanted to work with. I thought if I hired them and hosted a workshop that that would mean it would be cheaper for me to go. So, it was completely selfish, but I learned and I studied with, took from everybody on my “Admire List,” so it was pretty cool. Then one day I didn’t have to pay for my own seat in my own workshops that I was actually hosting. I was actually making money! So that was cool. I was doing them by Skype in those days, before Zoom happened, and filmed them with a video camera. So anybody that wanted to come could come. So if you were in Hungary, if you were here, if you were there, you could watch it at your own time zone preference. If you couldn’t make it into the studio, you could still be a part of the workshop by watching the video. I didn’t edit them, it was like butts-in-your-face, just like when you go to a workshop, right? Just that raw footage. So, I have no more answers for that, that’s pretty much it.
Victoria: Alright, so that was a lot, but it answers a lot of the questions I have, just in a different order. But that’s fine! You mentioned “Going More Joe.” What is “Going More Joe?” A lot of people watching are like: “Huh?” Talk to us about “Going More Joe” is or what the intention was, and what it is now.
Sunni: The intention was- well I remember, I was pacing in my room, going “I know there have to be more people like me, who want to learn this but can’t afford it,” you know, tired of hearing: “Didn’t you get that in your training?” No. If I got that in my training I wouldn’t be asking the question. So I thought, well let’s have a Facebook group for that, and classical teachers who want to share their wealth of information would, and people who wanted to learn and weren’t afraid to ask questions would. So I hooked people up with classical teachers in their neighborhoods because there’s a good teacher everywhere. There aren’t just a few good teachers. So I thought, let’s highlight them and get them some business. So I put teachers together and that’s essentially what “Going More Joe” it. It’s a Q&A.
Victoria: Is it still active?
Sunni: Yes, it’s surprisingly active! It went from the 5 teachers I thought I would have to about 4,000 now.
Victoria: Wow, that’s good! That’s really good. So to be clear, I’m paraphrasing and rephrasing: the intention behind “Going More Joe” was a common space for people that had certified in a more contemporary setting to figure out how they could access more classical work, since they had already undergone a full certification in contemporary Pilates, correct?
Sunni: Good job!
Victoria: If you’re hiring! No, I’m just kidding.
Sunni: Yeah, also how do you make your contemporary equipment work classically? So you don’t have to throw out the baby with the bath water, you know? It’s obviously preferable to work on things with the correct dimensions, but if you don’t have that available to you, your stuff will work! How do we figure that out?
Victoria: Right. You also mentioned Siri, but I know that your road to classical Pilates did not end with Siri. So where did you go after? I know there are a few other instructors out there. You did almost your entire certification through Siri in Big Bear, but then kind of shifted from that. So where did you continue after that?
Sunni: Well, I continued by hiring my big name Pilates celebrities who make me speechless to come and teach, and then I was blessed by Dana Santi, who gifted me her Project Return, where she tears apart the original 34. So I did that, on the mat, next to Peter Fiasca. Talk about intimidating! Then Clare Dunphy Hemani took me under the wing, and I did her advanced teaching seminars. So I have a diploma from her, and I call that my cert. I quit chasing paper. It doesn’t mean I quite learning- absolutely not- but I’ve been very gifted by the industry and I’m very grateful.
Victoria: So what are some things you’re doing right now during quarantine? I know you’re tuning in and signing up for multiple workouts every week, correct?
Sunni: Well, Juan Estrada is so cool.
Victoria: Yes! What have you been doing with Juan?
Sunni: I’m doing the original 34, you know, they have this group come in and so I’m doing the original 34 as many times as I can fit into my schedule. Sometimes on Tuesdays at that time I actually have something to do. So that, and Sabrina Ellen Svard is a crack-up and she does these drunken ones. It’s like, you drink and you work out, and by the time it’s over I’m trashed, but it was fun!
Victoria: That’s great! I should try that. Now that we’re teaching from home, I’m tempted, you know? Sometimes I’m teaching in the evening and I think: “You know, would anyone really know if I sipped a beer on the side?” But I think it’s a little different teaching someone than working out. I think you could get away with that when you’re working out, but not so much when you’re in the instructor role still. I haven’t really broken that yet- but if quarantine lasts for 7 months, maybe check back in with me and I’ll be sipping a beer while I teach. Otherwise I’ve been keeping myself pretty sober, unless I’m with clients. But that’s fun!
Juan told me about the original 34, and that sounds like an awesome group and a really fun thing to participate in. There are so many workouts, and you can really access anything right now! Everybody is doing something virtually and online.
Sunni: Yeah, I mean I’m working out more now than ever.
Victoria: Oh, I definitely am. It’s not even a question. I also wanted to ask you, since you did create “Going More Joe,” when you went to that workshop at Siri’s with Jay Grimes, you said you were there in a room seeing everything and the differences between the apparatus and what you were used to seeing, and you were hooked, and you were sold. So aside from seeing the differences, what sort of differences did you feel in the body when you transitioned from a contemporary approach to classical?
Sunni: I don’t even have a good solid answer for that because it was so totally encompassing. It was pretty much everything- the control was there. We used to move and do crazy fun things! I mean, I invented an exercise I loved- I called it the “tarantula”. You’d put two of those Allegro reformers together, and you’d get an arm and leg on the carriage on two, and then on the standing plate on the other side. So you’d go all the way out, and all the way in. I though that stuff was cool, but then I got to the classical stuff. There was a rhyme and a reason and an order and a method to the madness and the whole thing just had me like- a light bulb went off. I thought: “This is what it’s supposed to be!” It made sense to me. I’m not dissing anybody’s anything, but for me it felt better.
Victoria: Do you still think though- I’m just asking this from my perspective and my classical perspective- it’s a little bit pointed, but do you think it’s fair to create an exercise like the tarantula and call it Pilates?
Sunni: No, no, no it’s absolutely not fair. I totally own that. If you do stuff and it’s not what it was originally intended to be, then call it your own thing. Give it another name.
Victoria: So when you see all of these contemporary people on the Internet, who are doing their own versions of a “tarantula”, or a “farm pig” or something, I don’t know, do you feel like because of your place with “Going More Joe” that you should be reaching out to them and trying to see if they want to see the light? Or do you feel like what they are doing is a disservice to the industry? How do you feel when you see that?
Sunni: Well, it’s a double-edged sword; they are the people that I reach out to because I think they don’t know. I didn’t know. I had no idea there was a classical Pilates. I had never heard of Romana, I had never heard of Jay or any of the classical teachers that most classical people have heard of. I didn’t know that they existed. My goal is to educate. You can lead a horse to water- maybe they’ll drink.
Victoria: Definitely. And that’s the goal behind the Pilates Snob as well- obviously I do it with a little more of an “in-your-face” and direct manner. I’m here to say: “That’s the only way we should be doing Pilates and blah blah blah,” but at the same time, through these Mat & Chats, I’ve tried to make sure that I am inviting people to chat with me that have come from a different background. If you watched Noor’s on Wednesday, she came from a more contemporary background, and also Lili Viola. I think it’s really important that we talk about that. There are so many people who have no clue. Maybe they go to their gym, and the gym offers “Pilates classes” and you’re doing Pilates on a mat because that’s what they offer, and you think: “I like this a lot, I want to get deeper into this,” but you go onto the internet and you try searching for a Pilates certification, there are so many shades of Pilates certifications. I think it’s important for us to try and provide some clarity for that.
Sunni: I absolutely 100,000% agree with you. One of the differences between you and I, because I wasn’t classical from the get-go, is that I want to try to be the kinder, gentler approach. Classical people have a bad rep for being tough, but we didn’t now any better. You have to remember. It’s like a baby. You don’t know until you know.
Victoria: Right, and I think one thing I want to be clear on as far as my whole Mat & Chat series, is that I’m not trying to isolate people that have come from a contemporary background and switched to classical- that’s my target! Of course I also want to talk with people who came from the source, because that’s incredible too, but we’re all here to foster and build a supportive classical community. Yeah, sometimes I’m harsh in the way that I get there, but at the end of the day, I’m not trying to isolate anybody that’s come around and said: “Oh my God, classical is where I should be, and I can’t believe I didn’t do it this way from the get-go!” I think that there are different approaches to it, but at the end of the day we all have the same goal.
So for people who do “Going More Joe”, how does that work? Do they get matched up with an instructor that’s nearby and then they work with them?
Sunni: Actually, I don’t match anybody- I let them match themselves. It’s a personality thing; you have to try different studios, try different teachers, you have to see who resonates with you. I just throw out the suggestion. They say: “Who’s near me?” And they say, “So and so is, or so and so is” and they say: “Go there! Get on a Gratz, get on a Contrology reformer, get on an Archival- see what it is! ”
Victoria: Definitely. As you said, classical Pilates can be a little bit intimidating. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that there was sort of this: “I’m the gatekeeper and I hold the key to the gate” attitude. The deeper I get into this I’m realizing that’s sort of how people view the classical community. It is what it is, but I feel like at the same time, if you make the effort and show that you want to be a part of it- come on in. I think it’s great.
Sunni: You just said a brilliant thing, and Clare Dunphy did this. When we first started the advanced teaching seminars, the first thing she did was hand us a skeleton key: “Here is your key.” It was beautiful. It made us feel like we got it.
Victoria: For sure. And I think anyone who makes the effort and who studies the method, and who seeks the original sources from where Pilates comes from deserves that key. It’s obviously figurative. Even Noor [AlAmer] said: “It’s not about the paper.” I do think it’s more about what you know than what you hold in your hand. I think as long as you can prove your loyalty to those exercises and to the system, that’s the game we’re playing here. No offense, but I don’t know where my certificate is. Who cares! You think I framed it?
Sunni: Well for you, I actually went and dug it up. I dug it up because I knew it was going to come up. “What date was this? What date was that? Did you actually ever complete a program Sunni?” I know that question is out there.
Victoria: Yeah! Well this is your chance to answer it, so hey! There’s haters, there will always be haters. At the end of the day if you keep your head held high and do what you’re supposed to do, the right people will come to you.
Sunni: I just can’t even really worry about it anymore to be honest with you.
Victoria: No, it’s just a waste of time. If I paid attention to all of the haters that come to my account, I would literally not get out of bed every day. I hear about haters and I just say: “Goodbye!” I don’t even bother blocking them. You wanna watch me? Watch. That’s what it comes down to.
Sunni: Well I felt a whole lot better after I spent a year learning from Clare. My confidence in what I know was really- I don’t even have words right now because she is just a huge part of my growth and my knowledge base. We did everything. Every exercise on every piece, the archival stuff, all kinds of things. I don’t have those gaps that I thought needed to be filled, and it sort of put it all together for me. It’s a beautiful thing.
Victoria: What’s your favorite piece of apparatus?
Sunni: My guillotine.
Victoria: I knew you were going to say that. When Risa referred you to me, she told me how she worked with you at the studio you previously worked at in Las Vegas before you opened your own. She said she worked with you and at the end of the session you said: “Oh by the way, I have a guillotine at my home. Do you want to come work with me on the guillotine!” And she was like: “What!? You’re inviting me to your home?” So Risa went, and you went through this whole guillotine practice with her, and Risa said it was a moment where she felt she really needed to go back to what she considered more classically-rooted repertoire. So I knew you were going to say the guillotine, because she had such a wonderful experience with you on the guillotine.
Sunni: Well it’s such a good selling point! How do you get on this thing and not love it? It’s the gateway.
Victoria: Yes, and it gives you such good feedback, which you can’t get on any of the apparatus because we normally have a level bar aside from when you’re on the guillotine. It gives you such good feedback.
Sunni: Well I have kind of a funny story about that. When I was working with Siri, she came to my studio in California and she wanted to get on one. I don’t think she had been on one since her training with Romana. So she went underneath it and she’s pressing up for footwork, and the bar kept getting stuck! So she said: “I think there’s something wrong with this.” And I said: “No, there’s something wrong with you!”
Victoria: *laughs* That’s exactly true though! The guillotine doesn’t lie. It’s giving you real-time feedback and if you’re seeing that the bar is slanted- okay! That’s something we need to work on. Whether it’s in your legs or your hips- whatever it is, there is some imbalance there.
Sunni: It totally rats you out. You don’t need a teacher there, the stuff tells you where you need to work.
Sunni’s Speed Round
City or beach?
Sweet or savory?
Cat or dog?
Adventure or comfort?
Books or movies?
Nights in or nights out?
Summer or winter?
Tea or coffee?
Early bird or night owl?
Pizza or pasta? P (but without cheese and no meat!)
Europe or Asia?
Spring or fall?
Breakfast or dinner?
Spicy or mild?