Today we interview a different kind of creative. We consider her an inspiration for teaching us the artistry in movement in all its forms. Laia is from Barcelona but moved to Fuertaventura during the pandemic and not only does she teach pilates, she mixes her own method teaching people to move, enjoy and express themselves with their bodies.

I help people improve their body dialogue and feel more comfortable in their skin.

 How did this all begin?

Since I was little I have always moved, I started with Synchronized Swimming forced by my mother, and eventually it became my passion. I continued with Capoeira Angola as a result of a long trip through Brazil. And later I combined it with circus practice and contemporary dance. For three years now I have been helping train future Pilates teachers, within a school with which I share same values.

Your greatest inspirations or influences Laia?

• Moshe Feldenkrais (it is a must to go to his writings)

• Pina Bausch

• podcast “Pilates Elephants”

• Dance companies or movement schools such as Fighting Monkey and Ido Portal

• I feel Inspired by any human being who moves, with or without limitations, or that can see the strategies that our body / brain generates to help us move.

Tell us about your creative process?

Sometimes I read something and I visualize it, it can be a descriptive image of a texture, or a landscape… colors, or perhaps a video of a fragment of a choreography, a conversation…. They become images inside my head and I feel the need to give them shape (the result is not always what I expected, but of course I always discover something new)!

Do you feel the pandemic affected you creatively?

The pandemic has changed me yes, it has taken away my fears, and also now when I create, I feel more free.  We are an increasingly fragile and polarized society. Perhaps I have a pessimistic vision and surely for this reason I moved away from the city.

Icons in your opinion?

I am not a mythomaniac, but a thought icon is Noam Chomsky. 

What does wellbeing mean to you?

It means feeling at peace with yourself. It’s not so much something related to a physical condition or illness, but to the degree of peace and self-satisfaction. I practice Pilates, conscious movement, walks on the beach barefoot, climbing volcanoes ... laughs with friends and I hug the people I love.

Anything else Laia?

Moving cures.

Laia Violeta Instagram