About Teresa

Believing your Best Years are Ahead

Teresa believes that movement is life, and that with the right guidance, people can stay strong, independent, and active far longer than they think possible. That belief isn’t abstract. It was forged on the world’s great dance stages, tested through her own injuries, and refined over four decades of practice at the intersection of physical therapy, movement science, and Pilates. Everything she does is in service of one idea: that your best years of movement may still be ahead of you.

 

 

“Beyond my experience teaching, what’s most important is my ability to relate and connect with you. I’m a professional, but am better at just being real. I engage with respect, authenticity, and with the intention to offer a positive movement experience.” ~ Teresa Maldonado Marchok

 

 

 

 

A Career on the World’s Stages

 

Teresa spent fifteen years as a professional modern dancer, the last nine as a soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest and one of the most celebrated contemporary dance companies in the United States. She performed on stages that few artists ever reach: the Metropolitan Opera House and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Paris Opera House, the Kennedy Center, and the ancient Herod Atticus Theatre on the Acropolis in Athens. In 1986, she shared the stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev in Appalachian Spring. In 1993, Twyla Tharp – in a historic first – chose Teresa to perform in Demeter and Persephone, the first work ever choreographed on the Martha Graham Company by someone other than Martha Graham herself. That same year, Anna Kisselgoff, then Chief Dance Critic of the New York Times, called Teresa’s own choreography “the revelation of the evening.”

 

Teresa with Mikhael Baryshnikov after performing “Appalachian Spring”, New York City, 1986

 

 

 

“Dance at an elite level extracts a physical toll. Sustaining fractured bones, a meniscal tear, and herniated disks, along with severe cervical spine issues, gave me firsthand experience in what it means to be injured. It forced me to depend on skilled rehab and Pilates to keep doing what I loved, fighting to prolong a career my body was trying to shut down.”  -Teresa Maldonado Marchok

 

 

 

 

 

The Turning Point

The physical therapists who helped her stay on stage became her inspiration. While touring the world, she completed her science prerequisites and then earned a Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy from the University of Pittsburgh. She has been a licensed physical therapist in California since 1996, with an emphasis on orthopedics and movement science.

The Clinical Foundation

Teresa teaching a workshop to 150 Pilates instructors at international Pilates conference

Pilates was a cornerstone of her dance training from the very beginning. By merging this movement foundation with her physical therapy expertise, she discovered the discipline that would define her career. A Pilates practitioner for over 40 years, she holds credentials from three of the industry’s most respected organizations: the Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher (formerly PMA) program, Body Arts and Science International (BASI), and Polestar Pilates. Her leadership extends to Stanford University, where she founded and directed the Health Improvement Program’s Pilates division for 20 years. As an expert educator, she has trained instructors for the Pilates Method Alliance, BASI headquarters, and IDEA World, while presenting specialized topics on aging-strong and bone-safe movement at the Stanford Healthy Living Retreat Center.

 

 

Teaching Secrets to Bone-Safe Movement at Stanford University’s Healthy Living Retreat

Raising Community Awareness at El Camino Hospital, Mountain View CA

Over time, Teresa’s clinical focus sharpened around the clients she is most passionate about serving: aging adults and people navigating bone loss and osteoporosis. She has pursued that specialty with the same rigor she brought to everything else, earning certifications as a BoneFit™ Certified instructor (an evidence-based program developed by Osteoporosis Canada), a Meeks Method Certified Practitioner (advanced training under Sara Meeks in physical therapy management for osteoporosis), and a Pilates for Osteoporosis Specialist (with Pilates expert, Dr.Sherri Betz). Her DVD “Bonesmart Pilates® – Exercise to Prevent or Reverse Osteoporosis” won the 2013 DVD of the Year award from Pilates Style magazine and received over 200 five-star reviews on Amazon. Teresa practices what she teaches: she followed her own exercise regimen to reverse osteopenia and return her bone density to the normal range (as documented by her own DEXA scan results). For over a decade, she’s served as an educator for the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF), currently presenting free webinars to nationwide audiences of 500+ people to increase community awareness.

 

 

Teresa currently teaches both in person at her Mountain View studio and in weekly live online classes via Zoom. She also offers a robust On-Demand Movement Library, updated weekly, so those who can’t join live or who live in a different time zone can still benefit from her classes. Her clients include Nobel laureates, Stanford professors, physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, retirees, and people from all walks of life throughout the United States, Europe, and beyond – all of them moving better, longer, because of her. Whether your goal is vibrant, independent, pain-free living, or continuing to play pickleball, golf, and tennis, or to ski, cycle, hike, and ride horses at a high level later into life, Teresa brings the rare combination of clinical expertise, lived experience, and four decades of practice to help you get there.

 

 

 

BoneSmart Pilates In the News

Media Coverage

Active in the Community

Teresa co-founded Dance for All, an inclusive weekly Saturday movement class that incorporates Dance and Pilates for special needs students and neuro-typical participants at the El Camino YMCA in Mountain View, CA.    If interested, email  teresa@pilateswithteresa.com

As a parent of a child with Autism, she is proactive as a mentor parent with the organization Parents Helping Parents to provide support and an empathetic ear to parents of children newly diagnosed on the autism spectrum.