A one-woman movement? Sanderson is professor, School Committee member, mother and more

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on April 18, 2008

The first time she took a double-step class with Catherine Sanderson, aerobics veteran Sue Whitbourne was "completely baffled."

"Mentally challenging" is how the women at Gold's Gym describe a workout with Sanderson, which combines a dizzying array of exercises and dance steps in an ever-changing routine that is way more complex than a typical step-aerobics class.

"This isn't hard" is something Sanderson frequently says, while demonstrating a new step. "Don't think about it," is another.

"It was just completely different, but I got hooked on it," Whitbourne said of aerobics class with Sanderson.

That was years ago at the now-closed Kidsports in Hadley. Sanderson developed a following of mostly women who would take her class anytime, day or night, Whitbourne said. After three months, she asked Sanderson if she had a job.

In fact, she does, and then some. Besides teaching aerobics at Gold's Gym four times a week, she's chairwoman of the psychology department at Amherst College, author of two books, co-founder of the Amherst Committee on Excellence and the newest member of the School Committee.

She's also president of the Fort River Elementary School Parent Council, among other committee posts. She and husband Bart Hollander, a lawyer in the attorney general's office in Springfield, have three young children.

She started teaching aerobics while she was in graduate school at Princeton University to pay the rent, thinking she would quit when she became a professor. But that didn't come to pass.

"I've always met great people," she said.

If you want to meet a real-life superwoman, Sanderson fits the bill, said Cynthia Hill, one of Sanderson's aerobics students. "If you would like to see a picture of her pregnant on a step, I have one," Hill said.

After Kidsports closed, Sanderson's female fans from Kidsports advocated for her at Gold's, asking that they hire her. She taught through three pregnancies, one time having to call in to say she couldn't make it to class because she was in labor.

"In fairness, I could just call the steps," Sanderson said. "I was just waddling around."

It was the surprise baby shower they gave for Sanderson several years ago, when she had her youngest child, Caroline, that really brought the women in the class together, Tacy Malandrinos said.

"We've all become friends." Some of them held signs promoting Sanderson for School Committee during her recent successful bid.

The women in her class, who are mostly middle-aged - the 20-somethings don't often come back - say they never look at the clock while Sanderson is putting them through the steps. They're too mentally engaged.

Whitbourne, as it turns out, is also a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts, who ended up recommending an editor for Sanderson's first book.

"I teach people about this," said Whitbourne, whose specialty is adult development. "I tell people that they should exercise."

"For many of us who have nondancing spouses," Hill said. "This is as good as it gets."

Mary Carey can be reached at mary.carey@att.net.