Blossom Leilani Crawford

Blossom Leilani Crawford is the owner and director of Bridge Pilates in Brooklyn, New York. She is known for her playful and powerful teaching methods, which she developed during the seventeen years she worked with Pilates Elder Kathleen Stanford Grant. Since then, Blossom has made it her mission to expose each one of her students to the joy and satisfaction that comes from intelligent exercise.Blossom had the good fortune to be introduced to Pilates by Kathy Grant in 1993, during her first year as a dance student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A venerated teacher, Kathy was one of only two people to personally receive her Pilates teaching certification from Joseph Pilates himself. Blossom was impressed by the effect that Kathy’s exacting and intuitive approach to Pilates had on maintaining and healing her body, and continued to study with her throughout her rigorous dance program.After three years of working with Kathy, Blossom became her Teaching Assistant at NYU, an honored position that she held for over a decade (1996-2007). With Kathy’s encouragement, Blossom went on to pursue private study with Pilates Elder Romana Kryzanowska. She received her Pilates teaching certification 1999, after six hundred hours of practice and observation.Blossom’s current work is a blend of her own considerable experience, Romana’s more traditional set of training methods, and Kathy’s flexible and demanding style. She is known for her ability to seamlessly integrate Pilates lineages as the situation demands, and for her insight into Kathy’s work. The diverse stylistic approaches Blossom can access on the spot has made her a sought after Pilates instructor at conferences throughout the United States and abroad.In January of 2006, Blossom opened Bridge Pilates to ensure a space where all styles of Pilates are present and honored, as Kathy had always taught her. In addition to teaching private sessions, workshops, and conferences, Blossom is a faculty member at Mark Morris Dance Center in downtown Brooklyn, where her vigorous group mat classes are open to the community. Most importantly, Blossom is the fiercely proud mother of two children—which means balancing the career she loves with her desire to get dinner on the table in time! Visit Blossom at Bridge Pilates and follow her on Instagram @blossompilatesus.