Instructors

Nicole McGrath is the founder of Breathe Barre and Pilates. She started practicing Pilates in 2002 following a back injury. Nicole not only finally felt relief from her back pain, but she felt stronger and empowered. She wanted to deepen her practice and was inspired to share her love for Pilates with others. Nicole became certified through Balanced Body and then eventually began to teach at an established Pilates studio in Boston in her free time, while she was working full-time as an HR professional at a financial institution in Back Bay.

She made the decision to take a break from teaching when she had her two children, but continued to practice Pilates. In the summer of 2016, Nicole, her husband Michael and her two daughters, Cleo and Cora moved back to the Hudson Valley to live closer to family. After one year of settling into Rhinebeck Village living, she decided that she wanted to teach Pilates again! Nicole was excited to have the opportunity to start teaching at Excel gymnastics. She added a few more classes at a couple of local dance studios in Rhinebeck (Studio D and Dream Studio). In the meantime, Nicole received her Barre certification and also started doing HR consultant work on the side. She wanted to teach more but also really wanted to cultivate a community and place where people could go to not only get a great low impact work out, but a place that people feel they could escape for self care, inspiration, community, balance and so much more. A place that regardless of age or fitness level, members feel comfortable, challenged, supported and motivated. A place that provides all of this yet does not require too much time, because the reality is that we all struggle to find more time in the day. A place where the members can choose from a variety of classes that meet their needs.

Nicole encourages her clients to move their bodies in different ways and she herself enjoys not only Pilates and Barre, but strength training, running and Yoga. Breathe’s vision incorporates all of what Nicole enjoys from a movement perspective as well as what she loves about the studio culture and what she felt was the missing piece from Rhinebeck’s health and wellness community.

Lea Bender, E-RYT-500, combines over two decades of yoga practice with intensive study of anatomy and therapeutic techniques to offer students a fully integrated experience. Lea received her 200-hour RYT certification from Jaya Yoga Center and her 300-hour Advanced certification from Abhaya Yoga, both in Brooklyn, NY. Lea transitioned to teaching yoga as her full-time job four years ago and has been busy ever since. Lea believes that yoga offers a path to physical and mental wellbeing for every age, body and ability and can be taught to anyone, anywhere. Outside of yoga studios, Lea has taught in many diverse settings,from Rikers Island to retreat centers in Costa Rica. Since relocating to Rhinebeck, Lea has taught at the esteemed Omega Institute as well as for Sadhana Service Project (Hudson, NY) and for many local private clients and institutions including her son’s school, Chancellor Livingston, where she teaches the teachers! Lea works with all ages, abilities and client goals. Students describe coming out of Lea’s classes feeling strong, centered and inspired. As a longtime student of Pilates, Lea is thrilled to join the Breathe team. Pilates and yoga are wonderful sister practices that complement and enhance each other.

Jenna Dorrian is extremely excited to be continuing her love for movement and dance with Breathe. Starting at the age of five, she trained rigorously in Irish and Ballet. She accredits this training for her discipline in all aspects of life as well as her love for movement and performing. Jenna found Breathe when she moved back to the Hudson Valley after graduating college. It was the perfect environment to get her body moving in the way she loved as well as healing and retraining her body all over again. She learned how to breathe. Naturally she fell in love with barre and was able to focus on all the muscles she had been working her whole life, while challenging herself in working places she had never touched before. She loves the strength and fluidity that barre offers. When Jenna is not in the studio, she is growing her acting career or can be found reading, listening to music, hanging out with her dogs and friends or going to see new movies. After training intensely with Nicole McGrath, Jenna is ready to work out, have fun and feel great with the clients of Breathe.

Rachel Harwood loves movement and enjoys all forms of exercise. She regularly practices pilates, barre, yoga and kickboxing, loves going for walks, bike rides, and generally staying active.

She has always included pilates as part of her fitness routine, having practiced at various studios in London and New York over the last 10 years before finding Breathe (when she relocated to Rhinebeck in 2018). Pilates became her main focus after the birth of her daughter in 2019. She was able to see the real difference it made to her recovery, healing her body, and helping her to regain her strength. She believes that Pilates provides a solid foundation for all other physical activities. Pilates not only strengthens your core, but also improves your alignment and enhances the mind body connection. Rachel was so inspired that she completed her certification as a classical pilates instructor.

She is so excited to share her knowledge and love of pilates with the friends and community that she has found at Breathe.

Allison Baughman Kinnicutt has loved dance and movement her entire life. After dancing ballet from ages three to sixteen, she became heavily involved in tennis throughout college. Still craving that unique bodily movement and awareness, she found herself practicing yoga with her older sister often in Brooklyn when she was home from college, and taking dance classes at BDC and Steps any chance she could. Yoga and the gym became a part of her everyday routine, and helped keep her balanced and sane while working in the music industry. Eventually, after giving birth to her now two-year old son, and spending six months abroad, she became enthralled and hyper-aware of how much more herself she was with a daily ritual of yoga, barre, or pilates– no matter what life throws at you. She is thrilled to be able to share her love of barre, movement, and music with others at Breathe Barre & Pilates studio.

Rita Loguidice‘s journey in the fitness field began in 1983 when she received certifications in both personal training and group fitness. Rita was a group fitness manager and one of the choreographers for several group fitness classes. After spending many years teaching high impact and strength classes, Rita discovered Pilates. She started taking pilates classes in 1997 and never looked back. She found that it not only improved her physical health, but her alignment improved and she felt great. Rita was certified in pilates in May 2004 and then started her apparatus certification in 2012. Since then Rita has been teaching private clients, group mat classes and equipment classes. She continues to further her education by regularly participating in workshops and taking classes. Rita is also certified in Barre and PIYO and has a dance background in ballet, tap and jazz.

Christi Makely has always loved dance and recalls her earliest performance was in her childhood living room in Michigan dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller on vinyl. She trained in jazz, ballet, and fell in love with hip hop when she moved from the Midwest to California. Dance has been a constant source of community, friendship, therapy, inspiration, and joy, and she believes that simply taking a dance class once a week can change your life.

Christi has studied in Los Angeles at Millennium Dance Complex; Edge Performing Arts Center; Debbie Reynolds Studio; Movement Lifestyle; and TMilly. Some of her favorite dance credits include hip hop crews Groovaholix and PCE Modern; performing on Ellen; Glee “One Night Only” show; opening for Boyz II Men; winning the Gym Crew Challenge. She currently resides in Rhinebeck, NY in the Hudson Valley.

Kaitlyn Murray has been a lover of movement and sport from a very young age. Growing up she played various sports such as soccer, basketball, and field hockey, she ran track and cross country, and went on to play soccer at the collegiate level. Kaitlyn started practicing yoga while working in NYC as a form of stress release and to combat sitting at a desk all day. She loved the healing benefits of using her breath properly, and loved the stretch and strengthening aspects of it. Her love for barre started when she moved back upstate and found Breathe Studio. Kaitlyn had dreams of being a ballerina when she was younger, but was never able to dance while playing sports. Barre is the perfect combination of ballet and sport that has made her dreams into a reality. After an intensive apprenticeship program with Nicole McGrath, Kaitlyn is ready and excited to share her love of movement, music, and health with the clients of Breathe Studio.

Alexandra Nichols is passionate about nutrition, exercise and overall leading a healthy and active lifestyle. Her love for challenging herself physically stems from running competitively throughout high school and college, while also having a background in health and nutrition as a Registered Dietitian.

Her passion for movement followed her post college, incorporating running, hiking and weightlifting into her everyday life. She was excited to find Breathe and began regularly participating in sculpt, barre, kickboxing and pilates classes, furthering her interest in group fitness. While she believes in the importance of doing a myriad of different exercises, she considers strength training to be a crucial component of long-term health. With that, she also understands it is a practice that can often be viewed as intimidating. The Breathe community inspired her to study for her personal training certificate through the National Academy of Sports Medicine in order to become a sculpt instructor.

Alex believes strength training should be both fun and challenging and wants sculpt class to be a place for everyone to exercise in a safe and inclusive environment. She is very excited to share her love of strength training with the Breathe community!

Laura Cordisco Tsai started practicing yoga as a form of self-care. As a social worker and human rights worker, Laura manages programs that help survivors of human trafficking in their recovery. Laura has found that a regular yoga practice not only helps her care for her physical body, but also cultivates a sense of calm, grounding, and focus. She decided to become a yoga instructor so that she could share the transformative and healing benefits of yoga with others. Laura completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Yogamaya in New York City. She has received training in trauma-sensitive yoga from the Trauma Center and in polyvagal theory and yoga. She holds a PhD in Social Work and MSW from Columbia University, a BA in Education from Brown University, and certification in Trauma Recovery from Harvard Medical School. She is the Board Chair for Healing and Resilience after Trauma (HaRT Yoga), a nonprofit that provides therapeutic yoga to women and girls who have experienced human trafficking. As a yoga instructor, Laura brings an authentic and compassionate spirit. She facilitates a safe environment for students to practice and experience greater health and wellness. She guides students through yoga practices to support them in taking care of themselves – mind, body, and spirit.

Dani Wieder found yoga 15 years ago as a way to get out of her head and into her body. She was previously intimidated by yoga due to her limited range of mobility, but now she has found her mobility to be a strength that allows her to understand bodies and help people move in ways that feel right for each individual. Dani has trained with a range of Brooklyn based vinyasa teachers for her 200-hour certification which she received in 2020. Dani’s classes are a traditional vinyasa style practice weaving movement with breath continuously to help students feel a sense of confidence, strength and connection through the practice.