Lisa Orig MFA, PMA-CPT, HHP, HC, FDN-P
Lisa Orig is the owner of Upside-Down Dance, Pilates, and Nourishment. She has been teaching movement to children and adults for over 30 years.
Lisa began dancing at the age of three. In the local YMCA of Lincoln, Nebraska, she did her first Plie’s and Tendus. At the age of nine, she began working with the Lincoln Midwest Ballet Company under the direction of Shari Shell-True. There she performed ten seasons.
Her first teaching experience was as a dance teaching assistant in the fifth grade, which continued into her senior year of high school when she started teaching her own dance classes. She has been teaching movement ever since.
After moving to Chicago, she performed as a dancer for Shirley Mordine, Rennie Harris, Kathy Young, Jan Erkert, Steve Paxton, Molly Shanahan, David Gordon, David Dorfman, Cindy Unger, The Anatomical Theater, Brian Jeffery, Juan Estrada, Sasha Tretter, Adriana Durant, The Chicago Moving Company, and Simone Forti. In November of the year 2000, she had the honor of performing as a Community Cast Member with Mikhail Baryshnikov and The White Oak Dance Project in their performance of Past/Forward.
Mrs. Orig completed her Comprehensive Pilates Certification in the heart of Chicago’s Gold Coast right after she finished her undergraduate degree. Her continuing eduction in the body arts took her to New York to study with Irene Dowd. Ideas descending from Mabel E. Todd and Lulu E. Sweigard have been passed along through Irene Dowd, creating a revolutionary perspective of the human body. Lisa has been traveling annually to New York to study with Irene since 2001. She knows and teaches the majority of Irene’s PNF based sequences such as Horizons, Spirals, and Volutes.
In 2006, Lisa became the co-producer, director, and host of Upside-Down Pilates TV. This healthy television show airs daily on OC16 and can be viewed on the Upside-Down Pilates YouTube channel.
After becoming a teacher trainer for a large Pilates corporation, she decided to branch off on her own. In 2007, she began the Upside-Down Pilates Teacher Training Program with the goal of creating creative and problem- solving teachers who have a strong base in Functional Anatomy and Biomechanics.
Lisa received an MFA in Dance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2010. During her master’s studies, she focused on Biomechanics and applying the science to dance and Pilates.
Upon graduation, she created the PNF Pilates curriculum as well as the Neuromuscular Re-education Teacher Training Certification.
She is currently on faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa teaching Pilates, dance conditioning, and movement fundamentals.
While struggling with her own health concerns she came to the conclusion that conventional medicine was of no help to her. She was determined to find the root cause of her health complaints to prevent the closure of her studio. She became an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner, and a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner. She is delighted to keep her practice of neuromuscular retraining and Pilates going while adding in the rest of the health story- diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction and supplementation.
No matter what your health complaint is or how bad you feel, she understands your pain and suffering like no other. She is ready to help you find health through movement and lifestyle changes.
Credentials:
BA Dance with an emphasis in Performance/Choreography from The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.
MFA Dance at the University of Hawaii at Manoa: studied Biomechanics- applied the science to dance and pilates repertoire
Pilates Method Alliance Certified Pilates Teacher
Integrative Nutrition Health Coach
Certified Holistic Health Practitioner
Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner
Dynamic Dancer: Kinesthetic Anatomy and Biomechanics of the Spine and Trunk with Irene Dowd of NY
Dynamic Dancer: Kinesthetic Anatomy and Biomechanics of the Limbs with Irene Dowd of NY
14+ years of annual visits with Irene Dowd of NY
