Jean-Claude West is a master instructor, internationally renowned kinesiologist, clinician, and inventor. He began his career in NYC concentrating on restoring functional movement patterns among professional and elite dancers and athletes. His current work focuses on adaptive responses of the spine, fine-tuning movement patterns for maximum efficiency and balance.For more than 40 years, Jean-Claude has been teaching Functional Anatomy courses to physical therapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and movement specialists in Pilates and Gyrotonics, both nationally and internationally.
He combines a broad-based knowledge of biomechanics, a Masters in Motor Learning from Columbia University, and years of working directly with many first-generation Pilates luminaries — Kathy Grant, Mary Bowen, Bruce King and Eve Gentry — to inspire and train today’s thought-leaders and authors including Madeline Black, Elizabeth Larkam, Rael Isacowitz, Brent Anderson, Susanne Martin, and so many more. It is no wonder he is referred to as, “the teacher’s teacher.”
Inspired by the need for a portable amalgamation of Pilates apparatus, Jean-Claude invented the JC5600 when he began his association with the White Oak Project. He is also the co-inventor of the Functional Footprints, a tool to retrain hip and knee function, and the Biomechanical Asymmetry Corrector (BAC), which aids in treating scoliosis. He is co-author, with Katy Keller, of “Functional movement impairment in dancers” in the Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation.
Jean-Claude resides in Mill Valley, California yet maintains an international clientele via Zoom. He invites inquiries from interested practitioners worldwide.