The Barre Blog

Since opening my congratulatory email from The London Method’s founders – and my amazing Master Trainers – Kelly Wackerman and Pam Kennedy, having Esther Fairfax approve my test out class and receiving my certificate, with signatures from Kelly, Pam and Esther, I have been making the most out of all that I learned from the ORIGINAL’s best. After taking the 15 hours of training, participating in your 10 required virtual classes with other instructors and observing three Master Teacher classes, you will have the entire class easily committed to memory. I signed up for my first virtual class on the second day of the first training weekend and found it very beneficial (albeit, slightly tiring) and fun to take Pam’s Sunday morning class prior to that day’s virtual classroom session. Even though I was taking my required virtual classes, participating in my observation classes and practicing the Technique during training, I still watched videos offered on tlm TV to reinforce what I was learning both inside and outside of the virtual classroom.

Now that we are living in a semi-virtual world and more classes are going online, is it possible to build a barre community without a physical presence? To dig into this topic a little more, I turned to Kelly at Barre Roots who has been doing a great job of growing her business without a brick and mortar studio. Barre Roots has grown so much since March, and it’s because I was given the opportunity to think outside the box (or brick and mortar specifically.) I will say because the online reach and community can grow to be much larger than an in-person reach and community, it does require more effort, but like I said, the same principles apply.

Speaking of “door barres,” Door Barre Fitness is a handcrafted portable solution that claims to be the only barre on the market that attaches to your door and that can also be easily packed into a suitcase when you travel. Things to keep in mind Even though you can put the barre on either side of a door, Nikki’s preference is to attach it to the side of the door that you pull to close. That’s because it was designed by a group of dancers so it’s probably intended for a true ballet barre workout where you lightly grip the barre, as opposed to pulling off of it to sit in a chair position. This four-foot portable ballet barre from Boss Ballet Barres comes in 3 different colours.

Try these 3 self-adjustments in class or at home: Neck placement is important to ensure that the upper body is in proper alignment to avoid any strain or pain, especially during abdominal exercises like crunches. When to apply: This self-adjustment can be used during all abdominal exercises lying supine on the mat, which will help prevent the neck from dropping too much towards the chest and compressing the spine. Once the abdominals are scooped in try to at the same time create as much length in the lower spine as possible. Class begins to feel like follow the leader and more empowering with tools like these self-adjustments in your pocket.