Rachel Santos is a comprehensively certified contemporary and classical Pilates instructor, dance educator, choreographer, and founder of Cadance Jazz & Pilates in Montreal.
She offers private Pilates sessions, semi-private instruction, group Pilates classes, barre, and jazz dance classes. Her teaching is grounded in the classical Pilates method and informed by more than two decades of movement education and performance experience.
Rachel has been dancing since age five and performing in musical theatre since age thirteen. She has studied jazz, ballet, modern, tap, hip-hop, and folk dance. In 2003, she graduated from San José State University in California with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and a minor in Musical Theatre, earning the Haws Award for Excellence in Performance. Her extensive dance training continues to inform her approach to movement education and Pilates instruction today.
Rachel began her Pilates training in 2010 through Studio Praxis in Montreal. She successfully completed the training and examinations to become a STOTT PILATES® Certified Instructor for Matwork, Levels 1 & 2 before earning her full Comprehensive STOTT PILATES® Certification in 2013.
In 2022, Rachel enrolled in the comprehensive classical Pilates teacher training program offered by Real Pilates (New York City) and hosted by Espace Pilates in Montreal. Founded by second-generation teacher Alycea Ungaro, Real Pilates is one of the most respected classical Pilates training programs in the industry, requiring more than 600 hours of practical and academic study.
Rachel graduated from the program in March 2023 and is comprehensively certified in both contemporary and classical Pilates, making her one of a relatively small number of instructors in Montreal to hold comprehensive training in both approaches. Read her blog post about her journey from contemporary Pilates to classical Pilates.
At Cadance, Pilates is taught as a system of interconnected exercises rather than a collection of isolated movements. Whether in private sessions or group classes, students develop strength, control, coordination, body awareness, and understanding through the progressive approach of the classical Pilates method. Each exercise builds upon and supports the next, creating a movement practice that evolves over time.
While Rachel draws on both her contemporary and classical training when appropriate, her primary teaching framework is the classical Pilates method and its emphasis on precision, control, flow, and progressive development.
In addition to teaching Pilates, Rachel has choreographed for the dance stage, musical theatre productions, and competitive roller and ice skaters. Her Montreal teaching and choreography credits include Powell School of Dance, Broadway Academy Westmount, La Vie en Mouvement (ensemble La Fantaisie), and Ballet Allegro International.
She is also a barre fitness, Pilates, and dance instructor at Studios GB and is available for workshops, choreography projects, and wedding first dances.
View full training and certifications.
