Monica Bondi

Certified Pilates Trainer | Movement Specialist | Founder of Bird on a Perch Pilates

Monica Bondi is a Certified Pilates Trainer and Movement Specialist dedicated to helping pre-professional and professional dancers enhance their technique, prevent injuries, and optimize their performance through efficient movement strategies. She founded Bird on a Perch Pilates in 2009, offering a supportive environment for dancers and athletes of all levels to improve strength, mobility, and overall movement quality.

As part of the Health and Wellness team at Houston Ballet Academy and Houston Ballet, Monica works with students in the upper school and professional division, as well as company members ranging from the corps de ballet to principals. Her expertise in Pilates-based movement is integral to the ballet company's injury prevention and performance enhancement programs.

A former dancer herself, Monica began her training in ballet in Northern California and attended summer intensives at the San Francisco Ballet School on scholarship. She earned a BFA in Dance from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and went on to perform with modern dance companies such as SteeleDance and GRAYSCALE in New York City, and Nugent Dance in California. Her choreography has been showcased across the West Coast and in New York City, as well as at the American College Dance Festival Gala.

Monica’s dance career was transformed after a career-ending knee injury led her to Pilates. Experiencing firsthand how Pilates facilitated her recovery and improved her dancing, Monica became passionate about using this powerful method to help other dancers. She earned her certification from the Kane School of Core Integration in 2007, under the direction of Kelly Kane, whose approach emphasizes anatomy, biomechanics, injury rehabilitation, and movement efficiency. Monica’s warm, patient teaching style, paired with her keen "x-ray vision," allows her to design personalized Pilates sequences that are both accessible and challenging.

Monica’s approach draws on her personal experience as a hypermobile dancer, along with her extensive education and training in Pilates and Dance Medicine. She has studied with leaders in the field such as Madeline Black, Kelly Kane, Kuan Hui-Chew, Matt McCulloch, and Debra Goodman MSPT, Jennifer Milner, Alicia Head, Andrea Zuhjko DPT and Lisa Howell. Her specialties include conditioning for dancers, injury prevention, retraining turnout, proprioception, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, scoliosis, and pre/postnatal Pilates.  Monica is an active member of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (IADMS)* and continues to expand her knowledge with advanced courses including her most recent training in the Konnect Method with Viktor Uygan.

Request an Appointment