Karen Clippinger has a master’s degree in exercise science (MSPE) and has integrated Pilates into her work since 1993. Karen is a Professor Emerita at California State University, Long Beach, Department of Dance where her course topics included anatomy, injury prevention, body placement and Pilates for dancers. At CSULB she helped develop and was the advisor for the innovative BA Dance, Option in Dance Science Degree. She was also BASI Pilates® faculty from 1996 to 2019, and taught Pilates teacher training and continuing education courses.
Prior to her academic appointment, Ms. Clippinger worked with hundreds of dancers as a clinical kinesiologist in medical facilities, including at Loma Linda University Medical Center where she helped develop a Medical Program for Performing Artists. She has also consulted for Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she helped develop and was director of their Pilates-based Dance Conditioning and Therapy Center in 1993.
Ms. Clippinger has given over 400 presentations internationally and at various sites in the United States including at conferences for IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine and Science), Olympic Scientific Congress, BASI, Balanced Body, Body Control (UK), and Pilates in Asia, as well as at numerous dance programs and schools including the Royal Danish Ballet, University of Calgary, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, American Ballet Winter Intensive, Cornish College of the Arts, and American Dance Festival at Duke University.
Ms. Clippinger served as one of the founding co-editor-in-chiefs of the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, authored the textbook Dance Anatomy and Kinesiology, and co-authored Pilates Anatomy with Rael Isacowitz. In 2021 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from IADMS for her contributions to dance medicine and science.
