Fit & Bendy

Kristina came to coaching after working to heal her own body from injuries sustained as a dancer and circus contortionist with hypermobility and other autoimmune conditions. She trained contortion with Serchmaa Byamba at San Francisco Circus Center, then began coaching at Cirque School LA in 2009. She has coached flexibility all over the world and works with clients to manage hypermobility, chronic pain, injury rehabilitation, and functional mobility challenges. Her clients include professional performers, athletes, and folks who just want to feel better in their bodies. She considers herself a facilitator of conversations within the body for better kinetic relationships.

Lily began her flexibility journey in 2009 while taking pole dancing classes. When she moved to San Francisco in 2011, she started taking contortion classes at several of the circus schools in the Bay Area, and when she moved to Los Angeles, she sought out Kristina Nekyia and Fit & Bendy, based on the recommendation of one of her instructors. Lily joined the Fit & Bendy team in 2015 as one of the first certified instructors and has helped many others in their flexibility training the same way that Fit & Bendy has helped her. “When I first started taking contortion classes in San Francisco, I got a lot of guidance that I didn’t find very helpful. There was a lot of cajoling me to relax, which felt pretty hard to do considering I was trying to bend in half backward, and I dreaded the day that I might literally be pushed so hard that I would start crying as I had seen some other students do. I definitely felt like I had missed the flexibility train because I hadn’t been doing this since I was a kid. That sentiment changed when I started taking classes from Kristina. Instead of the one-size-fits-all-must-bend-by-any-means-necessary approach, Kristina was equipped with the kinesthetic knowledge to emphasize active flexibility, which not only did my body happen to respond pretty well too, but is more useful in performance. I think what sets Fit & Bendy apart is the combination of understanding how the body works and then applying it individually to each student that comes through the door. For instance, for years a middle split felt like jamming my legs into my hip sockets but no inner thigh stretch. It took a while, but Kristina finally figured out the combination of strengthening exercises and stretches to help me reach my goal. It’s taken years (with a baby thrown in there), but I can now do middle splits without having to give myself a 10-minute pep talk and lots of moaning and groaning. In fact, now I’ve got a pretty solid over middle split!”

Dr. Su is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, as well as a Los Angeles-based performing artist and instructor. In addition to her DPT, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in World Arts & Cultures – Dance from UCLA, and a Master’s degree in Film & TV Production from USC. She began training dance in 1997, aerial in 2010, and pole in 2012. She has taught dance and circus fitness classes for 8 years at studios throughout Los Angeles, including Artistic Athletics, Luscious Maven, and Fit & Bendy. Dr. Su’s obsession with dance science, anatomy, and injury rehabilitation led her to the world of physical therapy. She now has her own physical therapy practice, Motion Art and Science, in which she specializes in movement systems analysis and the unique needs of dance, pole, and circus artists. She took her first class at Fit and Bendy in 2015 and immediately fell in love with Kristina’s intelligent approach to contortion training, incorporating it into her physical therapy practice.