Seventy-two-year-old Rebecca Burnett Swieczkowski is a true North Texas Pilates pioneer. After receiving her comprehensive certification in New York City, she opened Get ReFormed, the first fully equipped Pilates studio in Frisco, in 2005, where she worked with athletes, including players for the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. In 2014, after losing her son to cancer, she closed her commercial space and focused on teaching from an in-home studio, where she remained sheltered from the boutique fitness boom that would soon take hold of Dallas. In 2025, for a bit of market research, she dove headfirst back into the scene, taking 30 classes in 30 days at 18 different Pilates studios.
Keep it Classic
The Pilates Space
The clean-lined Preston Center space on Berkshire Lane opened last summer and offers Fundamentals, a class dedicated to building a strong Pilates foundation. Maximum reformers filled: five. 6025 Berkshire Ln. 214-964-0963.
Classic Pilates
Located just off Turtle Creek Boulevard, this sunny studio offers a variety of classes (from mat Pilates to “Aerial Fusion”) and caters to all skill levels. Private sessions are strongly recommended for beginners. Maximum reformers filled: six. 3303 Lee Pkwy., Ste. 105. 214-520-0386.
Core Pilates Dallas
The studio offers private and semi-private classes by appointment only, so each session is as individualized as possible. Maximum reformers filled: six. 5934 Royal Ln., Ste. 260. 214-449-4800.
What she encountered was a total shock to the system. She saw a dozen reformers packed into rooms like sardines. (Good for business, bad for safety.) Lights were disorientingly dim, music was drown-out-the-instructor loud, and the moves were a far cry from her classical training. “I kept waiting for the footwork or the hundred, and it just never happened,” Swieczkowski says.
Worst of all, she found most classes to be inaccessible, the exact opposite intention of Joseph Pilates, who originally developed the workout for rehabilitation. “All levels are welcome, and they say they’ll make it harder or easier based on your skill, but it’s pretty hard to do that with 15 people coming in off the street,” Swieczkowski says. “I feel for the trainers. Studios just keep adding more and more.”
Mostly, though, she’s concerned for the consumer. Like the beauty injections industry, Pilates instruction is an unregulated space. “I’m really happy that people are embracing Pilates, and it’s a common word now, but it’s very sad to me that people in these classes think they’re doing Pilates, and they’re not,” Swieczkowski says.
So how do you separate fact from faux? Swieczkowski offered a crucial tip when looking for the real deal: “If a studio doesn’t list its trainers’ certifications, that’s a red flag.”
This story originally appeared in the November issue of D Magazine with the headline “Reformer Reform.” Write to [email protected].