Het lichaam is onze passie
De docenten van Smartbody beschikken over een goede basis in klassieke Pilates, met kennis in anatomie, biomechanica, Alexander techniek, Franklin methode, en meer. We blijven ons voortdurend bijscholen en volgen regelmatig workshops en conferenties over de laatste ontwikkelingen op bewegingsgebied. Deze aanpak heeft ons bekend gemaakt als één van de beste studio’s van Europa.


Elegant en intiem in het hart van Amsterdam
In 2006 verhuisden we naar Molenpad 15, een groot oud gebouw in het centrum van Amsterdam met uitzicht op de beroemde Prinsengracht. Houten vloeren, hoge plafonds, enorme ramen en klassieke Amsterdamse architectuur maken Smartbody tot een ruime, unieke en warme plek. We delen het gebouw met een groot aantal andere experts op lichaam- en gezondheidsgebied, waaronder Profysio , één van Amsterdams beste fysiotherapiepraktijken. Met hen werken wij samen om, indien nodig, te voorzien in de verschillende behoeften van onze cliënten.
De docenten van Smartbody: professionals met passie
Smartbody is trots op het niveau van haar docenten. Al onze docenten hebben een grondige professionele opleiding genoten en zijn voortdurend bezig hun kennis van Pilates en Alexander Techniek te verdiepen. Volgens on zijn zij de beste docenten van Amsterdam. Maar wat we nog het meest in onze docenten waarderen, is hun passie voor het vak, en hun vermogen om deze passie over te brengen op hun leerlingen. Lees hier wat de docenten te zeggen hebben over zichzelf en over hun manier van lesgeven.
Jelena Petrovic


Jelena Petrovic was one of the first people to teach Pilates in the Netherlands, back in 2000. She studied Pilates with Dylan Skybrook in Minneapolis and Ellie Herman in San Francisco and began teaching at various studios and gyms in 1999. From 2000 to 2006, she taught Pilates to groups and individuals in Amsterdam, while also working as a choreographer and dancer, both in the Netherlands as well as internationally. In 2006, she threw in the towel and stopped dancing, in order to start Smartbody, Amsterdam’s first fully equipped, full service Pilates studio. Jelena is the mother of two boys, Owen and Milan, who can both do perfect crescent rolls.
I teach with passion, humor and total commitment. During my years as a dancer, I was most inspired by those teachers who made me work hard and challenged me but had compassion for me and saw me as a person. This is what I’ve aspired to ever since. I like to give people the sense that they’ve achieved something beautiful and important through movement. I love that I have such a varied clientele – people rehabing from serious injuries, musicians, pregnant women, postnatal women, former athletes. Everyone learns differently, so my teaching remains fresh and accessible! (Jelena)
I know I should train – that it’s an essential part of a healthy lifestyle – but I am as lazy as can be. For me, Jelena is a star trainer; intuitive, inspirational and encouraging. She embodies Pilates for me. Every session is different – and as much fun as she can make it. I have been training with her for about 6 years, and yes, it’s hard work, but also a pleasure – and I KNOW it works.
Anna Levin


Anna Levin is one of the two “Master” teachers at Smartbody due to her many years of diverse training and teaching experience and overal quality of her work.
Anna started doing Pilates while dancing professionally in Chicago, Illinois. She certified at Body Balance, Chicago in 1999. Pilates brought a new element of core strength to her dancing and kept injuries at bay throughout her rigorous rehearsal and performing schedule. She certified in Gyrotonic in 1998. She moved to Amsterdam in 2004 where she helped build up Smartbody Studio in their early days. In 2008, she completed her Yoga training at Svaha Yoga. Anna has also studied with Cara Reeser, Elizabeth Larkam, Rachel Taylor Segal, Amy Taylor Alpers, Deborah Kolwey, Carolyne Anthony, Kirk Smith and Sharon Gallagher. More recently she is exploring Movement Based Mobility with different teachers and is doing The Kathy Grant Heritage Training with Cara Reeser. She is currently the assistant director of the Smartbody Studio Pilates Teacher Training program, teaching there regularly, as well as a guest teacher at Ekhart Yoga online yoga studio.
I love sharing my knowledge and experience through my teaching. Helping people find their limits and push their capabilities to a new level is very exciting. It’s also wonderful to work with people recovering from injury and see them rise up and come out of pain and stiffness to mobility and movement again. The joy I get out of teaching comes when I see my clients’ progression through regular and consistent practice. I love teaching and helping my clients succeed with their own bodies at their own pace. It’s very exciting to teach someone an exercise that appears to be impossible for them and watch their face light up when they succeed. (Anna)
Smartbody private sessions with Anna are the perfect remedy for body and soul and have truly become highlights of my week. Anna’s spot-on, challenging, yet patient, instruction targets my weaknesses and has resulted in strengthened core and posture, more attuned body awareness, and blessed stress release. And her intelligent, lovely demeanor in the peaceful Smartbody studios just keeps me coming back for more.
Patrick Johnson



Our Alexander technique teacher, Patrick Johnson, is certified by the most rigorous of the training bodies, the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT) as well as the Nederlands Vereniging voor Leraren van de Alexander Teckniek (NeVLAT). He also has a broad experience in sports and movement, currently a teacher of running and dance and formerly a high level tournament squash player. In addition to teaching private Alexander technique lessons, Patrick teaches both running and anatomy workshops at Smartbody. Patrick has a PhD. in Physics spent many years as a research scientist.
Many people think that they are supposed to go through life feeling stiff and clumsy. In fact, just the opposite is true. We are designed to move with poise and grace. This fact guides my teaching style. My goal is to give my students the tools they need to discover this natural coordination. (Patrick)
I very much recommend Alexander lessons with Patrick to anyone who wants to explore how their body can be more free and easy to live with.
Marieke van der Tol



Marieke began practicing Pilates after she suffered a mild lower back pain. After the first couple of lessons she felt a release. Her enthusiasm grew with every lesson.
Marieke holdes a degree in Human Geography at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. When the opportunity arose to enhance another side of herself, she seized it. In 2013 she accomplished the Comprehensive Teacher Training Program at Smartbody Pilates Studio in Amsterdam. She followed several workshops by Pilates professionals like Sharon Gallagher and Tom McCook.
The combination of mental focus, flexibility and strength is what makes Pilates so special to her.
Getting to know your body in an active way – not only your strengths but also your weaknesses – is a great journey. Pilates takes you on this journey where body and mind are learningn to work as a team. It makes your body leaner, longer and healthier. It’s rewarding and satisfying! (Marieke)
A body free of nervous tension and fatigue is an ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well balanced mind, fully capable of meeting all the complex challenges of modern living.
Adelya Zakirova



I tried Pilates for the first time in 2018 and immediately fell in love with the practice.
Pilates is a unique method I use to take care of and challenge my body and my mind. Thanks to my Pilates practice I have learnt how to take care of my spine, shoulders, muscles and joints in everyday life. After practicing Pilates I decided to deepen my knowledge and completed Mat and Comprehensive Equipment Teacher training at Smartbody (500h) in 2019.
As a teacher, I pay attention to breath, technical anatomical cues and focused attentive movements. Pilates teaches moving your body in space with knowledge. You get to know your body and what works for you. (Adelya)
Salomé Oliveira



Salomé, a life long dancer, studied dance at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona. Throughout the years, Pilates was introduced to her as a means of alleviating low back pain, but it never became a regular part of her routine. After incurring several injuries in 2019, she attended her first classical Pilates class and experienced a transformative impact on both her body and mind – less physical pain and a clearer mind. In 2021 she graduated from the Comprehensive Teacher Training with Peak Pilates. Salomé finds fulfillment in her clients’ progress and in observing their bodies move more freely with time and consistent practice.
I love the structure of classical Pilates, in a sense similar to ballet, and how everyone finds a different perspective to approach the movement. A body free of pain, the mood boost after class, finding space and freedom while being strong and controlled, the opposing forces, some of the things I love. (Salome)
Kristin Hollinsworth


Kristen Hollinsworth spent 24 years dancing professionally in NYC. During those years she toured the US and Europe performing in the work of Susan Marshall & Co, setting the repertoire of the company, and guest teaching at numerous Universities including The Juilliard School, NYU, and Princeton University. Kristen also had the pleasure of dancing with The Metropolitan Opera from 1998-2008 in many productions. She first came to Amsterdam, NL in the fall of 1996 and fell in love with the city during a tour of the Phillip Glass opera Les Enfants Terribles which performed all over Europe and the USA. In 2017, Kristen relocated to Amsterdam with her family and in 2019 she completed the Smartbody Comprehensive Teacher Training Course under the superb guidance of Jelena Petrovic, Anna Levin, and Astarti Athanasiadou.
For me, movement in its various forms is most enjoyable as a communal experience either through group, duet, or private lessons. I like to use the Pilates classical repertoire and principles as a structure for my classes while also weaving other movement ideas into the mix for variety, always looking for opportunities to play and discover. It is a real gift to see significant changes happen in just a few hours a week of private Pilates lessons with Smartbody clients where I can put more focus on individual needs and movement goals. (Kristin)
Zakia el Abodi


Movement has been a natural and important part of Zakia’s entire life and has continued through her current dual career as an artist (visual and performance) and a Pilates teacher. Zakia earned her BA in fine arts from the Rietveld academy and trained to be a teacher at Smartbody in 2013. In addition to her artistic and Pilates training she has also trained intensively in Horton technique, Feldenkrais, Inyengar Yoga, and physical theater.
Pilates supports the diverse physical challenges demands of her artistic work – both the long periods of standing and sitting when creating art objects as well as demanding movements when creating performance art. This has given her a deep appreciation for the wide ranging benefits of Pilates.
I love Pilates for its strong body-mind connection and it’s unique ability to strengthen, stretch and re-balance the body from inside out. I love to teach. It is a fun and beautiful method and I love to see the wonderful benefits of Pilates on the people I teach. I focus on classical Pilates but include contemporary approaches and ideas from my own eclectic movement background. (Zakia)
Eric Constantin


Erik Constantin studied ballet at a young age at the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam and continued dancing afterwards with various dance companies throughout Europe. He started training Pilates for recovery of a injury and was immediately hooked and slightly obsessed. After dancing professionally for 18 years, Erik decided to end his dancing career and move back to Amsterdam. He immediately started searching for a Pilates Teacher Training and found Smartbody. In September 2019 he started the Pilates Mat Teacher Training and immediately continued into the Comprehensive Teacher Training which he graduated in October 2020.
Pilates is for me a perfect harmony connecting body and mind together and training the body as a whole. Rarely have I experienced a technique so complete on all levels. I love passing on that experience to other people. Whether you are a beginner or a more advanced student, it is amazing to see the changing physicality and inner growth which improves your quality of life in every single way. (Erik)
Diana Jaspers-Šenauskaitė



Diana began her dance journey with ballet in her hometown, eventually pursuing ballet and modern dance at the esteemed National School of Arts of M.K. Ciurlionis in Vilnius. After graduating, she continued her dance career in Amsterdam, earning a bachelor’s degree in Modern Theater Dance from the renowned Academie Voor Theater en Dans. After graduation, she danced with various companies in Amsterdam and The Hague.
In 2022, she began exploring Pilates and immediately resonated with its healing and strengthening benefits. Guided by Smartbody’s exceptional instructors, she decided to pursue Pilates Teacher Training in 2023, aiming to deepen her practice and share the transformative power of Pilates with others.
I’m passionate about Pilates because it’s a journey of self-discovery. It’s a bridge from ‘mind to matter,’ where each movement unveils new insights, leading to transformation. Watching the students thrive and gain confidence in their bodies through Pilates is not only a source of inspiration but also the motivation that drives my passion for this work that I love to do. (Diana)