Our favorite
ballet-inspired workouts
By Abigail Pyke
Collection after collection, we find inspiration for not only our designs, but our construction, in ballet. A passion of ours, we love the power and grace (as well as the elegant style) that comes with the art. More and more, women are looking to find this power, akin to that of a prima ballerina, in their lives, without the rigorous training and years of perseverance. The answer? Ballet barre. One of our favorite ways to get moving, just one class leaves you feeling elongated and powerful (if not a little sore from using the muscles you didn’t even know you had), and repeated practice leaves you lean, strong, and feeling like a true dancer with every step you take. More energetic and hyped than the ballets we’re familiar with, but staying true to the principles, we’re sharing our favorite barre and dance studios across the world to get you started on your transformation.
Image via @nrg.barrebody on Instagram.
London: NRG Barrebody
We love Nathalie of NRG — she previously did an interview with us in our Conversation With series back in May, telling us what it means to have discipline, and what ballet barre really is. A former ballerina, she founded her North London studio (now expanded to two in the area) on the principles she learned over her career as a ballerina. Offering a small yet targeted handful of classes, including classes with babies, kids, and even bring-your-guy, Nathalie injects high energy, with a touch of hard-love discipline and principles you’d expect when you’re an actual ballerina.
Read our interview with Nathalie here, or head to her website to discover your next class in her beautiful studios.
Nathalie, of NRG, finds a quick moment for ballet everywhere. Image by Nadine Brandt.
Paris: Barreshape
We’ve admired Barreshape and its many locations in Paris from afar for a while, but our love developed back in March of this year when we participated in a class in celebration of Mathilde Lacombe’s skincare brand, Aime. These fun, energetic group classes are what you’d expect from a modern barre class — not too serious, focused on getting in shape and looking a touch elegant while doing it. While not exactly what you’d get if you studied as a true ballerina, it definitely brings the elongation and strength you’d find as a part of a corps de ballet.
Photos from our class at Barreshape with Mathilde Lacombe, in March 2019.
New York: modelFIT
Not just for models, just as barre is not only for ballerinas, we look to modelFIT for all things beautiful and fit in NYC. With a location in LA, as well as an online streaming service, there’s no excuse not to get started and get in shape. We love their dance cardio classes — though not actually ballet barre, we love these enthusiastic fun classes that focus less on posture and more on getting our heart rates up. It’s important to find a good balance between cardio and strength, and we love that modelFIT offers a great range of classes (ballet-centric or not) to help find that balance.
Image via modelFIT's Instagram.
Los Angeles: LEKFIT
LEKFIT is a new-found obsession of ours, both available at their flagship in LA and online. Founded by Lauren Kleban, a former celebrity trainer, we love this again as an alternative to strictly barre classes. We love their Define class — it’s an intense, full-body mat class, that shares some of the principles of both ballet and barre that we look for, in a different way. Focusing on slow, controlled movements, this class aims to elongate and tone, as well as correct your posture — something any ballerina can confirm is most important.
