Dianne Miller

Dianne Miller opened Canada’s first Pilates studio in 1985 and trained the first Pilates teachers in Canada, including current VPC owner, Mairin Wilde.

Read more about Dianne and her legacy below.

Our Founder

Dianne Miller working with a client on the Trapeze Table

Dianne brought Pilates to Canada in 1984, when she first used the Pilates Method to rehabilitate an injured dancer.

Dianne Miller looking directly at the camera and smiling

Dianne Miller brought Pilates to Canada in 1984, when she first used the Pilates Method to rehabilitate an injured dancer. She opened Canada’s first Pilates studio in 1985 and trained the first Pilates teachers in Canada, including current VPC owner Mairin Wilde. In 2005, Dianne Miller sold her Pilates studio to Mairin, who has continued the strong tradition of excellence in Pilates training that they built together, which today has evolved into the Vancouver Pilates Centre.

Their collaboration began in 1986 when Mairin first began studying Pilates with Dianne, who trained and mentored her as a Pilates teacher. Together they expanded what became renowned as the Dianne Miller Pilates Centre, home of the Dianne Miller Pilates Teacher Education Program (DMPTEP). Dianne developed her teacher training program in order to train the next generation of Pilates teachers. Her unique perspective became the foundational training for many Canadian and international Pilates teachers who graduated from her program, up until Dianne's retirement in 2019.

Dianne Miller came to Pilates through the dance community. She began her dance career as a professional ballet dancer who then returned to her first love, teaching, and became a renowned ballet teacher. She trained generations of dancers from children to professionals, including ten years teaching ballet in the degree program in dance at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts.

As a second-generation Pilates teacher, Dianne Miller's Pilates background included extensive studies with Ron Fletcher, Mary Bowen, Eve Gentry, and Kathy Grant. These four "elders" of the Pilates Method all trained directly with Joseph and Clara Pilates, and remained major influences throughout her career. She also completed Level 3 of the Franklin Method training (2011) with Eric Franklin and Morten Dithmer.

Dianne Miller was a founding member of the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), the international not-for-profit organization for the Pilates Method. Dianne became the first Canadian board member of the PMA, and was an invited contributor to the development of the PMA Pilates Certification Exam, now known as the National Pilates Certification Exam.

In addition to her commitment to providing the highest quality Pilates training possible, Dianne successfully challenged applications to trademark the name "Pilates" in Canada. She undertook this on behalf of all of the teachers she had trained due to her strong belief that no one person, or business entity, should have the sole right to the name "Pilates". Her extraordinary efforts to preserve the right to teach the Pilates method and to use its creator's name continue to benefit every Pilates teacher in Canada today, providing an immeasurable contribution to the widespread popularity of the Pilates method of exercise.