Fitness Affiliates
Alex Gonzaga
NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist
Owner, Proteus Fitness
Alex grew up in Rio Brazil and started dancing at the age of 9 after following his sister into the dance world. At the age of 15 Alex moved to the US to pursue his dream of becoming a ballet dancer.He has danced professionally with the Atlanta Ballet and is currently a proud member of Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre. He has had the opportunity to dance with world renowned dancers and choreographers, to which he is forever grateful.
After a serious ankle sprain Alex decided to follow his fitness passion and help other dancers in their journey to their peak performance and a healthy career. “Implementing cross training and injury prevention into my dancing has changed the way I dance immensely. I have never felt so strong and capable of pushing my limits. Dancers have incredible mental fortitude and that inspires me, that`s why I decided to create Proteus Fitness; to help dancers work with their body and not against it".
Susan Davern
Pilates Instructor
Susan's dance training began with Madame Solange Binda Maclean, Washington Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and scholarships to the Boston Ballet. While receiving her dance degree from SUNY College at Purchase, she studied with Ivan Nagy, Bettijane Sills, Gayle Young and Rosanna Seravalli for Ballet, and Larry Clark, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Mel Wong, Kevin Wynn, Sarah Stackhouse and Eleo Pomare for Modern. She has performed “Les Sylphides”, “Nutcracker”, “The Brood”, “Les Noces” as well as other works. She was also fortunate enough to have Pilates training with Romana Kryzanowska while dancing at Purchase, who was a student of Joseph Pilates.
Susan lived in Washington, D.C. and performed with Arlington Dance Theatre and the Kathy Harty Grey Company, a Graham company. During this period, she also studied with renowned modern pioneer Eric Hawkins, Adrian Bolton, Lynn Taylor Corbett, Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Lucy Bowen McCauley, while performing at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap with the Joffrey Ballet and other companies. Susan moved to Georgia and has been with North Atlanta Dance Academy, NADA, for 20 years. She has choreographed annual recitals for the school as well for their Theater Companies. Susan has set short numbers for dancers participating in the Governor’s Honors Program, entrances to College Dance programs and for small competitions. She has also been working at RISPA, another local studio that caters to talented dancers, singers and actors with a long list of accomplished alumni.
In 2013, Susan became certified with Peak Pilates and was hired at Johns Creek Pilates before getting certified. She worked at LifeTime Fitness as the Coordinator for years, winning numerous awards made the 100% club just about every month, almost always bringing goal revenue to the club as well as making top in region multiple times during the years there. She opened her HomePilates studio in 2017 catering to dancers and all clients wanting Pilates in their lives. Susan has certifications in Pilates and ADHD from Laura B. Pilates and Pilates Based Education for Neurological Conditions by the Neuro Studio and Lauri Nemetz. Workshop trainings include Clare Dillon-Palma, her Master Instructor through Peak, Sandy Shimoda, Shari Berkowitz, PMA and Peak Pilates Summits, and others. She was published in Pilates Glossy Magazine with an article becoming a teacher later in her life. Past clients include many dancers who are now professionals, tennis players, soccer players, local dancers, a TV host in Atlanta, and even a Falcons football player. Susan has worked with every day clientele as well as cancer patients, brain trauma individuals, amputees, cerebral palsy, and many more. She initiated a Coffee Talk program in 2018 that invites Georgia Pilates teachers to collectively meet and discuss successes, problems, post hirings and generally support one another as a family.
Currently, Susan continues Pilates training in a home environment, giving the utmost care to individuals using rehabilitation, education and other modalities to provide each person an improvement to daily life. She is most comfortable with those that need help as it is a puzzle and she is endlessly trying to solve this puzzle using Pilates and the equipment. Susan loves working with dancers as she can merge her experience and training with Pilates to keep dancers moving forward for a career in dance.
