CovaTech®Anna Maria Cova
The training as a ballet dancer.
Anna Maria Cova starts her education as a ballet dance student in the most prestigious Ballet School in Italy, the one of Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Dedication, talent and discipline bring to establish herself as a professional ballet dancer in the Compagnia dell'Arena di Verona and the Compagnia Carla Fracci, where she performs in the greatest repertoire classics, such as a legendary version of “Giselle” with Rudolph Nureyev at Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Nevertheless, very soon, she begins to outgrow the dance world: the fervid creativity, the intelligence and curiosity for the new which define her, lead Anna to widen her horizons.
In New York City, the dance community had already discovered Pilates, the discipline which, as its inventor said, could give you brand-new body and mind. Pilates technique is the answer to the new challenges of the increasing athletic demands and the refinement of the performance required from a dancer.
New York is the place where taking those challenges.
From Milan to New York.
In New York, Anna studies with Romana Kryzanowska, one of the direct and favorite students of Joseph H. Pilates.
Romana had inherited from Pilates' wife the legendary Studio on the Eight Avenue, Pilates' alma mater, the place where the myth was born and developed. Later on, she opened her own Studio where she continued to divulge Pilates technique in the original version of her Master.
The experience in New York is a revolutionary adventure for Anna, but she doesn't just settle for learning and proposing again the "postulate" of the "elders". She understands that Pilates technique has all the makings: the fitness efficacy is awesome, its adaptability makes it viable for everyone, the theoretical intuitions which is based on are confirmed by the most advanced scientific theories, its practical applications are fundamental for the functional recovery and for people’s psychological and physical wellbeing.
In New York, as a "student", Anna ends up discovering a new perspective on life and work. A practical and ideal lifestyle as it was for "Joe".
Anna Maria Cova, the pioneer of Italian Pilates.
Back to Italy, Anna delves into the theoretical assumptions of J. H. Pilates' work in light of her studies in Physical Therapy that, in the meantime, she initiated. She gets her Degree cum laude at the Università degli Studi di Milano majoring in "Physical Therapy", hers is the first Thesis on the rehabilitative applications of Pilates and the very first introduction of Pilates in Italy from a scientific standpoint.
Starting from 1989, she develops a methodology to teach Pilates combining her experience as a professional ballet dancer with her solid bases in anatomy and physiology acquired with the Physical Therapy's studies and enhanced by two certifications in the Mézières Method.
Thus, the CovaTech® Pilates® Method is born: its approach is founded on the correct teaching of the original technique without distorting the fundamental principles yet enhancing them in a contemporary scientific vision.
The first Pilates Training School in Italy.
The CovaTech® Teaching Method develops in a consistent body of work thanks to the intense teaching and research activity of Anna Maria Cova in "her" Pilates Studio, opened in Milan in 1989.
In 1996, Anna Maria Cova is ready for the next step: opening a Training School for Pilates Teachers.
The CovaTech® Pilates® School comes into being, the very first Pilates Training School in Italy.
The School's mission is to train new, qualified and constantly up-to-date Teachers to guarantee a solid and rigorous expertise to Clients, honoring the legacy and the professional ethics of the great Joseph H. Pilates.
The School quickly becomes the Italian leading point of reference, the cutting-edge hub for Pilates Education.
Since then, the CovaTech® Pilates® School has certified more than 700 Teachers in Italy and Europe, becoming one of the most important institution to guarantee the diffusion and the excellence in Pilates Education.
Being a CovaTech® Pilates® Teacher, today more than ever, means quality, preparation, competence and professionalism.
Anna Maria Cova, today.
Today, Anna Maria Cova is renowned among the world-class Pilates gurus, first and only Italian to create an original Teaching method, pioneer in identifying and codifying the therapeutic implications of Pilates.
Anna Maria Cova is member and National Certified Teacher of the Pilates Method Alliance (P.M.A.) the international not-for- profit professional association which sets the professional standards for Pilates teachers. She supports and promotes P.M.A. in Italy, sharing with it the importance of the finest Pilates education to safeguard the technique and the end-users, moreover, she is Founding Partner and Member of the Scientific Committee of A.P.P.I. the Italian Association of Pilates Teachers which was born in 2019 with the scope of promoting the institutional recognition of Pilates in Italy.
Anna is currently Managing Director of the CovaTech® Pilates® School located at the Studio CovaTech® Pilates® in Milan, 11 Corso Concordia.
Together with her business partner, Silvana Lucca – the School Education Supervisor – she carries out the educational activities to train new qualified Pilates Teachers, without neglecting her direct relationship with Clients whom she trains with Pilates lessons and Physical Therapy sessions.
Scientific and didactic publications.
Anna Maria Cova combines her passionate teaching and research commitment with an extensive editorial activity, having published, among the other titles, "Corso di Stretching" by De Vecchi Editore, "In Forma con il Pilates" by Corriere della Sera, "Pilates, la Ginnastica Dolce" and "Pilates all'aperto" by Riza Scienze, "Il Grande Manuale Completo di Pilates" published by Red!; and the recent "Il metodo Pilates, l'opera completa sulla tecnica corporea più popolare." also by Red!.
She curated the Italian edition of the original Joseph H. Pilates' work "Return to Life" published in Italy by Carocci Faber and she's the author of the foreword to the Italian edition of Joseph H. Pilates' "Your Health", always for Carocci Faber.
She is also curator and author of the preface to the Italian edition of the essay and international best seller "Centered" (2018) by Madeline Black, published by Edi Ermes.
Her invaluable experience with Clients and her communication skills bring her, naturally, to become one of the most respected popularizers of Pilates in Italy, with columns, articles and interviews published with the most important Italian newspapers and magazines.
She is also a lecturer in various conferences, among which "Postural Rehabilitation: comparing methods" (Associazione Movimento e Postura), "Corso di Pilates Terapeutico" (Edi Ermes) and she participates to the main international congresses on Pilates - such as the annual Pilates on Tour international conference – testifying the continuous evolution of her preparation and a teaching approach of the highest integrity built around the human persona and its psychophysical wellbeing.