Connecting the Pilates Community
Connecting the Pilates Community
Core Connection Pilates & Fitness Opens Second Location in Ellicottville
Photos / Core Connection
The word Pilates might drum up different connotations for different people. Some with familiarity of its meaning might find relief in the term, while others might be confused by its very existence. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines Pilates as {noun} “a system of stretching and pushing exercises using special equipment, which helps make your muscles stronger and makes you able to bend parts of your body more easily.”
For Liz Berghash, owner of Core Connection Pilates and Fitness which opened its second location and first in Ellicottville last month at 39A Mill Street, her aim is to make Pilates a more familiar term.
“I want everyone to be able to experience it,” said Berghash in an interview with ellicottvilleNOW. “It’s such a great exercise and physical therapy for everybody, and it helps us balance our muscles. Pilates is an exercise for mind and body.”
She continued, “I do everything from the physical therapy aspect of Pilates, to physical fitness, so it’s really for everybody, not just for people who are looking for physical fitness, but also for athletes, those that have injuries, and just maintenance of whatever they’re working on. It’s a good type of exercise to incorporate into other forms of training. Weightlifting, running… really any type of training.”
Whether or not you’re familiar with the term and the mind-body connection that Pilates offers, the need within the community for more Pilates instruction was clearly there. “I had a lot of people asking me, when are you going to open a place? Can you open a place? There seemed to be a demand for it, so I thought now is a good time.”
The new studio has been a welcomed addition; Berghash explained that the response that she has received since opening on December 13th has been huge. “Pilates has so many benefits; there are just too many to list, but I know that it has been really something that people in Ellicottville have been asking for for years, so I’m happy that I’m able to provide it,” she said.
Berghash also operates a Pilates studio by the same name in Williamsville and has been in business as a certified Pilates trainer for over 18 years. With a degree from Canisius University and her formal training from Stott Pilates, the Buffalo native has had her sights on Ellicottville for some time.
“I’ve been going to Ellicottville since before I was born. My husband and I have a place [in Ellicottville] that we’ve had for the past 30 years. He’s the director of the Phoenix Adaptive Ski Program at HoliMont.” The couple is in the process of relocating to Ellicottville full-time, but in the interim, Berghash splits her time between her Williamsville and her Ellicottville studios. “I started [the studio] during the season, and I’m just there on Fridays and Saturdays now because I’m in Williamsville Mondays through Thursdays, but eventually it will expand to more days in Ellicottville,” she said.
With regards to the classes offered at Core Connection, Berghash says she does them by appointment only. “I do private and duet sessions – duets are two people at a time. They’re reformer based, equipment-based classes, so my studio is more of a boutique Pilates studio; it’s not a big gym type – come in off the street, hop on a reformer – everything is by appointment.”
The 55-minute sessions are currently offered Fridays between 8:00am and 5:00pm and Saturdays between 8:00am and 2:00pm, although some slots are already filled with regulars. All sessions can be booked by calling Liz directly at 716-308-4418. “You can call and say, hey do you have a time open? Some of the slots are filled with people who come on a regular basis already and others are still available.”
As for what’s in store, Berghash says she plans on adding more days at the studio over the next six months. “Hopefully I’ll get three days in a week and then beyond that, that’ll be when we move [to Ellicottville]. I’ll be there full-time, six days a week.” Berghash says she is also going to look into offering mat classes in her outdoor space when the weather warms, allowing even more accessibility to Pilates instruction, and a great addition to her current private reformer sessions. “We might be able to have a few mat classes during the week or on the weekend,” she said.
Core Connection Pilates and Fitness is located at 39 Mill Street, Suite A. Sessions are held by appointment only. Class announcements and new offerings can be found on the studio’s website at www.coreconnectionwny.com and on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/coreconnectionny/.
To schedule a private or duet session, call Liz Berghash at 716-308-4418. For those traveling to the Buffalo area, visit her Williamsville studio at 5888 Main Street.