Pairs of feet pad the hardwood floor making their way to the ballet barre. Some are in yoga shoes or toe socks, while others are bare.
“Let’s come into a pliĂ© position,” says fitness instructor Megan Clark to a class of women at Dance Code Studio in Edmonton.
Students come into the first position of ballet, forming a wide V shape with their heels. One arm grasps the bar and knees bend into a deep squat.
“Now pulse, pulse, pulse…and squeeze!” yells Clark over the hard, thumping bass of a dance-pop song: “I just want to feel this moment.” Faces cringe as participants stretch their calves and squeeze their glutes, feeling the moment after every pulse.
This is no average ballet class.
This is barre body fit, a workout that joins a host of dance exercise regimens that attract people with the complex leg work of their favourite dances with the cardio, core and strength benefits of a full body workout.
From Latin-inspired Zumba, which is marketed with the tagline “ditch the workout, join the party” and “hip hop to dance away ab flab,” more and more people are flocking to the dance workout trend.
Reanna Maitland, a veteran dance instructor at DanceCo Ltd. in St. Albert, says the surge of reality shows such as So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Got Talent has put dance at the forefront of the public’s mind.
“People want to be in shape and take care of themselves, but they want to do something fun too,” she says. “I think people are seeing dancing as more accessible.”
She noted Latin dances such as Salsa have steps that can be easily incorporated into a cardio-workout. Ballet, which she teaches, has become more attractive because of the attainable dancer physique.
“People are looking at ballet dancers and seeing their bodies and thinking ‘how can I do that for myself and get those long lean muscles?’ Ballet gives you the chance to explore that movement quality and get the kind of muscles you are looking for.”
With a fall offering of Maitland’s own ballet boot camp, as well as several barre classes – a high energy ballet-inspired workout – residents of the Edmonton region have no shortage of ways to shape and sculpt their bodies to be like those of trained dancers.
Barre none
Few women at Clark’s barre body fit class would consider themselves dancers, because barre isn’t a dance class. Clark says she prefers to use the term “dance inspired” as she uses ballet terminology to instruct the class, but the techniques are heavily modified.
“Every dance term we’re using, we’ve completely modified the move in order to turn it into a fitness move,” she says. “We isolate muscle groups rather than going for the flexibility or even the beauty of the pose.”
Around since the 1960s, the Bar Method is a technique developed by German dancer Lotte Berk after she suffered a back injury. Berk began combining ballet barre routines with elements of rehabilitation therapy to emphasize strength training without heavy impact on the joints.
The technique uses a series of small isometric exercises – contractions of one muscle group done in static position that minimizes impact on the joint. This type of strength training does not drastically change the length of the muscle and angle of the joint but instead involves holding weight steady, which is necessary in sports such as gymnastics and yoga.
In the barre workout, participants will do several repetitions of squat pliĂ©s or leg lifts, using their own body weight for resistance. They focus on holding the position and “pulsing” with small repeated movements instead of fully extending the muscles.
Clark says an important aspect of the barre workout is building muscular endurance.
“We’ve had a lot of runners who hit their personal bests this year in their marathons because they’re working those accessory muscles and working their muscular endurance,” she explained. “By holding those poses for so long, they found that they would hit a spot where their legs were normally tired, but now their legs keep going because they have more muscle to draw on.”
Fusion
As much as pure barre method classes are a growing trend in the fitness world, so is the presence of the ballet barre in different types of exercise regimens.
At the Mobile Fitness and Pilates Studio is St. Albert, fitness instructor Gina Geres is incorporating the ballet barre into several of her classes from Pilates to TRX suspension training.
“Pilates is about bringing the body back into its natural state of alignment, strength and conditioning your core,” she says.
Similar to ballet, the principles of Pilates include stabilization, concentration, control, flow, breath and precision.
“Much of the barre repertoire falls into alignment with our Pilates repertoire, they cross right over,” she added.
Geres prides herself as being a “blended” instructor, creating fusion workouts to involve the whole body and keep the exercise fun and fresh.
One of the reasons the barre method has surged in popularity is because of its uniqueness.
“There’s more barre stuff than we can do in a 60 minute class,” explained Clark. “You’ll always be comfortable with the flow and the type of movement, but it will never be the exact same combination.”
“Where we pulse, where we slow it down, where we hold, it will always be slightly different. There’s no muscle memory, it’s always a challenge.”
The Barre Body Studio puts its own twist on the method by integrating free weights, resistance bands and Pilates balls. Clark notes the use of props enhances the exercises and helps to target trouble areas for muscle toning such as the thighs, abdominals, glutes and back of the arms.
“By using the (Pilates ball), yes it adds a little bit of resistance, but we can get deeper into the ab muscles because you’re not going to risk hurting your back. By using the prop for support, we can really isolate the abs because you’re staying in that proper position and alignment,” she says.
Most barre workouts finish with a yoga-inspired cool down, stretching the muscles that were worked to fatigue.
In Maitland’s ballet bootcamp class – a regimen she developed after years of ballet training – the focus is on traditional ballet technique with the balance and postural elements of yoga.
“It’s all ballet. It’s just called boot camp to make it sound more serious,” she chuckles. “This is a total cardio class, it is non-stop work the whole time and we are dripping sweat by the time we leave.”
Without fancy equipment, Maitland says it’s all about awareness of the body.
“I give them verbal cues to focus on their turnout, or use of foot, where their arms should be in space and where their arms are coming from the centre of their back. There’s always good technique happening even though it’s movement through the whole entire class.”
Instructors of barre and the more traditional ballet workouts all stress that participants need not have dance experience.
“Dancing is one of those things inside of your soul that once you start moving you just feel good,” says Maitland. “You don’t think that you’re working out.”
“You don’t need co-ordination,” adds Clark. “It brings out the dancer in all of us.”
