Meet the team.
Qualified instructors, small classes, one shared approach. Founded and led by Victoria Barton.
Qualified instructors, small classes, one shared approach. Founded and led by Victoria Barton.
Every class at the studio is taught by a qualified instructor who shares the same approach: small groups, careful coaching, and no shortcuts.
Founder of Reformer Pilates Algarve, the first dedicated group Reformer studio in the region. Victoria holds a Polestar Pilates Diploma, a qualification grounded in rehabilitation science, and has been teaching for fourteen years. Her full story is below.
A nature and animal lover from Ireland, Finna has taken fitness seriously since her early twenties, trying nearly every form of exercise along the way. Then she found Pilates and that was that: the controlled, focused, breath-led work was exactly what she had been looking for. In 2018 she turned that passion into a career, qualifying with a diploma in classical mat Pilates teaching and following it with Reformer training in Dublin. She is still learning more about the body every day. Her goal is simple: to help you feel better in your body while you learn and perfect the practice. Expect a fun, focused class.
Adi discovered Pilates and immediately loved the discipline of it. After years of lessons and learning the method properly, she trained as an instructor herself, completing the Comprehensive Instructor training at the Wingate Institute in Tel Aviv in 2019. Her appreciation for the mind-body connection comes down to one belief: the body cannot go where the mind has not been. Adi teaches groups and private sessions and is committed to helping clients reach their goals and discover what Pilates can do. Away from the studio she holds a masters degree in business and finance from the Wharton School and advises public companies on investor relations.
Seon is a South Korean-Irish Pilates and barre instructor, trained with Pilates Teacher Training Ireland (PTTI), Balanced Body, and Bootybarre. She teaches mat, Reformer, Tower, and barre, and especially enjoys one-to-one sessions, with mat Pilates her favourite format of all. She takes ongoing learning seriously, regularly attending classes and workshops with different instructors and educators across cities and countries, and is currently expanding her movement practice through ballet and fencing.
Filipe Balbino da Costa Lohmann is a movement professional with a degree in Physical Education and a Master's in Rehabilitation Sciences, specialising in Clinical Exercise Physiology. As a Pilates instructor he works through precision, control, and individual adaptation, integrating contemporary and classical Pilates with clinical exercise and kinesiotherapy. If you are working around pain, an old injury, or a long recovery, Filipe is exactly who you want in the room.
The studio exists because Victoria could not find one. Here is the short version of a long story.
Victoria arrived in Portugal from Sydney, where she had taught Pilates for years. She arrived pregnant, went looking for an equipment class, and could not find a single one. So after her baby was born, she started her own: one Reformer, one chair, and mat classes in the park. Every year she bought one more machine, as one more group of people discovered what the Reformer can do. That slow, stubborn build became the first dedicated group Reformer Pilates studio in the Algarve, now in the heart of Almancil.
Ask Victoria why she still loves teaching and she will tell you about the golfer in his sixties whose wife booked him in. He sat down, told her Pilates was stretching for ladies, and asked how long this would take. Six weeks later he was explaining hip rotation to his four ball. Fourteen years of teaching are full of stories like that: people who arrived sceptical, stiff, or sore, and stayed because something started working.
Small groups, morning light, your own machine, an instructor who is actually watching. Victoria built the studio she went looking for and could not find: a place where coaching counts because someone sees you. She holds a Polestar Pilates Diploma, a qualification grounded in rehabilitation science, and she still loves it, every class.
See the classes →Trained and practising since before group Reformer was common in Portugal. She's seen fashions come and go and kept her focus on what actually works.
She opened the first dedicated group Reformer Pilates studio in the Algarve. Still the only one of its kind in the area.
Victoria holds a Polestar Pilates Diploma, one of the most respected and rigorous Pilates qualifications in the world, grounded in rehabilitation science and movement principles.
One Reformer, one chair, and mat classes in the park. The whole studio grew from there, one machine a year.
Victoria's teaching style is direct. She explains why something matters, not just how to do it. She watches carefully and corrects early, before bad patterns set in.
She's not interested in making classes look harder than they are, or easier. She's interested in making them work. Which means different things for different people, and she adjusts accordingly.
Victoria leads the teaching at the studio, supported by a small team of qualified instructors who share the same approach: small classes, careful coaching, and no shortcuts.
She also runs private 1:1 sessions for clients who want something more tailored, beginners who want to learn properly before joining a group, or clients working towards specific goals.
Location
Almancil, Algarve
Studio type
First group Reformer studio in the area
Teaching since
2013
Contact
"It is a bold statement but Victoria's classes have changed my life for the better."
Sarah
"I love the variety, the atmosphere and the energy at the studio."
Tess
"Since taking reformer Pilates classes on a regular basis, my fitness, flexibility and general body strength have improved greatly."
Manganita
Book online, or get in touch with any questions first. Victoria responds personally.