About Bill Thompson

Bill Thompson has an unusual gift for nurturing and motivating students according to their unique and individual needs, while making it challenging, inspiring and fun.

Such skills come from decades of experience in the worlds of dance and athletic training. He studied with Joseph Pilates and later co-founded a system called the Nickolaus Technique.

That evolved into what is now called Thompson Exercise for Life.

Bill started his career at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, where he began dance training at the age of 16. That was a late age for a beginner, according to his teachers at the time. But it simply motivated him to work harder and faster.

He also designed costumes and sets for the local ballet and opera companies, and then choreographed dance pieces for both.

Two years later (in the early 1960's), he moved to New York City to continue training and immersed himself in a golden age of famous dance teachers.

He studied with Alexandra Danilova, Stanley Williams, Margaret Craske, Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Martha Graham, and many other iconic figures.

Because of his late start, he was encouraged to work with Joseph Pilates, the legendary trainer of dancers, and his leading teacher, Carola Trier.

While deeply absorbing the original foundational concepts of Pilates, he met Richard Nickolaus. That led to a 25-year collaboration of performance, research and business-partnership.

Pilates-training transformed Bill's dance technique, and he soon joined Nickolaus and Francisco Moncion, a star at New York City Ballet, to form the American Choreographers Company.

Starting in 1963, it was one of the first small companies to perform Balanchine ballets, and Bill toured the U.S and Canada as its principal dancer for several years.

In the mid-sixties, Bill also danced with several other ballet companies in Canada and Europe, such as Les Grande Ballets Canadien (Montreal) and Scapino Ballet (Amsterdam), choreographed and performed for German National TV, and continued his association with dance-opera in Hamburg and Frankfurt.

Then he and Nickolaus collaborated on a research project with Dr. Jack H. Prost at Duke University, to study movement, kinesiology and dance technique.

That work, combined with the principles of Joseph Pilates, and experience as a dancer, became the foundation of his knowledge as a physical trainer.

In 1972, they opened the first Nickolaus Exercise Center in Manhattan, which took off and quickly grew to ten locations in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.

Their success presaged by a decade the fitness craze of the 1980's, when Jane Fonda, spandex, and VCR's made their mark.

He developed a teacher certification program that became the basis for the 1978 book: “What it Takes to Feel Good”, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and is still available on Amazon with 5-star reviews.

“Bill is comitted to helping people become their best, strongest selves.”

-- Michele Z.

Read more from Michele . . .

Additionally, Bill worked for the Children's Television Network and developed exercise and body-awareness segments for Sesame Street.

He wrote “The Body Book”, one of the first children's exercise books (with a manual for parents and teachers), and a bestselling exercise record for kids.

His work with elite athletes began when he joined the U.S. Olympic Sports Medicine Committee (OSMC) in the late 1970's, at the invitation of the founding chairman, Dr. Irving Dardik.

He devised new training programs at Colorado Springs and Squaw Valley for Olympic skaters and gymnasts, and incorporated ballet principles into their competitive programs.

He also helped train Olympic fencers, synchronized swimmers and equestrian teams toward greater strength, flexibility and injury-prevention.

While there, he also collaborated with Dr. Gideon Ariel, a pioneer in biomechanical performance optimization using computer analysis. He worked on optimizing athletic performance with dance technique, along with exercise theory and application.

In 1980, Bill opened the first exercise center under his own name in Stamford CT, and began offering his unique skills to the public.

Since then, innumerable students have written extraordinary testimonials about physical improvements resulting from his tutelage.

While maintaining a full schedule of classes, he's also been a corporate consultant, guest speaker, board member of several arts organizations, and a tireless promoter of health and well-being.

Most recently, he has offered choreography and coaching to a nationally-ranked USA Synchro team (synchronized swimming), an Olympic sport that combines music, dance and swimming.

In 2006, Bill relocated his studio to (tennis great) Ivan Lendl’s Grand Slam Tennis Club in Bedford, NY.

Now that is where athletes, dancers, and anyone can find an amazing program of stretch, strength and stamina with Thompson Exercise for Life.

"Bill has amazing professional experience."