When I was a young girl, I took ballet lessons with my best friend — she was always the more coordinated one, and I’d find myself a few steps behind as the teacher shouted encouragement. At university, I picked ballet back up and found that my fitness levels were not the same as they were when I was a child. It was around that time in my early twenties, that I saw friends and colleagues picking up barre classes, and I became intrigued.
Barre is an effective low-impact workout — it’s inspired by ballet but fuses classic ballet moves like pliés with elements of strength training, mobility, and Pilates to create a dynamic and fun full-body workout. When I tried my first barre class, boy did I feel the burn — I fell in love with how the classes felt like I was getting all the good parts of ballet, without too much emphasis on the timing of each second.
