Booty, Banda, and Battling Bias—The Struggles and Triumphs of Niña Fresa Pilates

Booty-focused workouts, homemade ceviche, and a killer corrido playlist—despite all odds, Niña Fresa Pilates is giving the people what they want. 

Wearing a headset and a pink jumpsuit with a flared leg, Yany Santos was looking every part Selena circa 1995 while she strode up and down the beach before a crowd of about 50 women —also mostly in pink—on their yoga mats. She told the crowd to donkey kick “with ganas,” and a burst of strained laughter erupted from the crowd. 

In 2023, the 30-year-old Pilates instructor needed to complete her hours of teaching mock classes to receive her Pilates certification. The studio Santos was training at assigned her an 8 p.m. midweek slot on the studio’s roster, which she was struggling to fill with 16 people.

“I was worried I was not going to be able to get people to my class. A few people showed up, including my grandma and Tia, who had never done pilates. They didn’t even know what pilates was,” Santos said. 

The playlist for Santos’ first training class was largely corridos and banda, a far cry from the EDM and girly-pop-focused playlists typically on rotation at pilates studios.

“At the studios, they might play one song by Bad Bunny. You know, something extra mainstream, but never even one corrido song. So I started playing Banda Machos and the music that we like to dance and workout to. I like to listen to corridos when I work out, and I know there are other girls like me. Thankfully, we’re in LA, where a big percentage of us are Latinas, so why not? Why can’t I do this for my people and target my people for once?”

After they finished the class, Santos snapped a photo of her grandma posing with one of the reformers. “My grandma was amazed. She’s from Mexico and lives in Pacoima—she’d never even been to West Hollywood. For her to see what I’m doing, it was amazing.”

The photo of Santos’ grandma beaming with pride at the pilates studio blew up on TikTok, garnering more than 17 thousand views and prompting a slew of DM’s to Yany asking when she would host her next class. 

“My videos kept blowing up on social media because of my music. It was a big deal, apparently! There were so many girls that thought it was my studio, and they wanted to come [and] support me, so I signed them up for my mock classes. My last couple of training classes were completely booked.”

Despite the boost in first-time clients and requests for classes led by Santos, the pilates studio owner where Santos was receiving her training disapproved of the type of attention the studio was now drawing. At that time, studio policies that had been in place for years began to change. 

The policy that allowed any instructor who completed their training to be able to book the private studio as soon as they received their certification was changed. 

Under the new rule, people had to “try out” before the studio owner and a panel of other instructors to book a private studio—essentially pushing Santos out. 

“I tried to fight for them to bring a different group of women to the studio. I thought it would’ve been a good opportunity for the studio to show that they were different and inclusive, but it didn’t work out that way. [The studio owner] gave me a really hard time, changing the rules to where it was making it hard for me to teach there and making it impossible for me to book the private studio.”

Santos was subsequently sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering her to remove every one of her videos taken inside the studio from social media. 

“It was insane because all the other instructors had been posting videos there for years. The only difference between them and [me] is that my videos blew up and that I was playing Mexican music. I don’t think they liked that a different genre of music was being played and that different types of people were coming in, so I decided to go my separate way.”

While most studios have adopted similar aesthetics and playlists, Santos is presenting a unique take on a pilates class—one that has reached an untapped market, attracting the attention of thousands of Latinas across social media platforms. This tactic can prove lucrative in the global Pilates and Yoga Studios Market, which was valued at more than $51622 million in 2022 and is expected to reach $91748 million by 2028. 

Lacking the capital for her own studio and the reformers to fill it, Santos used the last of her savings and a $500 loan from her mom to sign up for a mat pilates certification program. This would allow her to take her classes out of the studio setting and into public spaces where she could have complete creative control. 

“As Latinas, we are very luchonas. No one is going to stop me from doing what I want to do. Being your authentic self can sometimes create barriers, but I really don’t think they know how much we ride for each other and how supportive we are of one another. That’s why it’s important for me to continue what I’m doing, play our music, and represent our culture.”

Since going viral on TikTok, Santos has hosted numerous DIY pilates classes, including her most recent hot mat pilates class on the beach.

Santos has also hosted gatherings she calls “field trips,” including a girl’s dinner and a hike. A Niña Fresa Pilates pool party is currently in the pipeline. 

Santos’ Niña Fresa Pilates is now a full-fledged brand that’s very much Buchona meets Barbie. It’s backed by a loyal following and has a growing list of sold-out DIY classes and gatherings, but when Santos has applied for instructor positions, she’s only been turned down.  

“Typically, the studios provide you with the clients. They already have their own style and playlist, and you kind of have to just fit their mold. But I have my people, I just want to use their studio. And I’m not budging; I’m going to continue to play corridos and banda, and I’m going to continue to interact with the girls before and after the class and do fun things.”

Santos has used her events as an opportunity to flex her creative muscle by building and painting her own colorful backdrops for pictures.

She also likes to bring treats as a gift for the attendees, partnering with brands like Olipop to provide drinks, as well as bringing her own homemade ceviche and jamaica to her latest class. 

People have reached out to Santos on social media, offering to invest in Niña Fresa Pilates, but she has turned all of them down. She hopes to save up enough money for her own studio through her DIY classes, which she charges around $30 for.

“Even if I get the studio and one reformer at a time. I just want to do it myself, but even then, I want to continue hosting these events. All the girls that are here met each other in class. They’re friends outside of class now, too. I’m proud that I can do this with my head held high and while representing my culture and being a positive influence in people’s lives,” Santos said. 

Niña Fresa Pilates has drawn the attention of investors, adversaries, and imitators trying to capitalize on Santos’ style. 

In one instance, the format of the invite, down to the color scheme, background, and font, was almost identical to what Santos had on her beach pilates invite.  

Now an intimidating fitness method popularized by rich white celebrities with impossibly thin bodies, many may not know of Pilates’ diverse and inclusionary origin. Kathy Grant, a Black choreographer and first-generation Pilates instructor, can be credited with helping pioneer the Pilates Method in the United States.

“There’s never another one of us in class. A lot of the girls have told me that they have never done Pilates because they never felt comfortable in the classes, but now they feel comfortable because I’m there and I look like them. If one of us feels this way, a lot of us probably feel this way,” Santos said. “Even when I go to my training, I’ve been the only Latina there and I look completely different than they do. I’m petite, and I have more legs and butt than them.” 

During her training, Santos has asked about alternatives to poses that could accommodate curvier women.

However, her trainers have come up short every time. “It’s like nobody has asked those questions before,” Santos said. “We’re not all built the same and I’m happy that I can now help curvier women get into the positions in ways that are more comfortable for them.” 

Santos has also developed her class formats to cater to her Latina clientele. “In regular pilates classes, they mostly go for upper body or core, but for us, we’re a lot curvier, and we have more legs, thighs, and butt. So I love incorporating a longer leg series for us.”

“Sometimes it’s looked down upon for us to be more curvier. They glamorize the Ozempic body, but, for us, we are so proud of that and want to embrace our curves.”

As Santos’ hot mat pilates winds down to its last few sets of leg exercises, Banda Zeta’s Niña Fresa blares in the background. Santos yells, “I know it hurts, but your booty’s going to thank you!” to whoops and hollers from the crowd.