Fitness: Work out like a ballet dancer at Toronto’s Barre Beautiful

Last night, I attended a media class at Barre Beautiful with Best Health’s associate web editor, Katharine. The studio (located at Yonge and Eglinton) is gorgeous with high ceilings and lots of natural light. There’s a lounge, drink bar, full service men’s and women’s change rooms, and even a room for child minding. (The studio also sells apparel from Karma and Michi’two Canadian yoga wear companies we recently featured in the March/April issue.)

Upon arrival we were immediately greeted by Voula Floros, Barre Beautiful’s founder and director, and Marvin Vergara, a dance expert and the program director at Barre Beautiful.

I’ve tried a few barre-based workouts now and I’ve enjoyed them all so I was looking forward to seeing what Barre Beautiful had to offer. The class didn’t disappoint. While some barre classes incorporate more traditional fitness moves, this one had strong ballet and dance elements. Marvin used the terms plié and relevé when instructing us to bend or raise, and the entire workout made use of the bar.

The physical result of a Barre Beautiful workout is "a strong, sleek, long and lean physique’a dancer’s body," according to its website. Voula and Marvin also told us that barre workouts are great for transforming your body because you’re targeting muscles that aren’t typically used.

The entire workout was 55 minutes long, and my glutes felt nearly every minute of it! The class we took was Barre Beautiful’s Classic workout. Other classes include Barre Burn (for maximum burn!), Power Barre (a shorter class at just 30 minutes in length), Sculpt Barre (which uses resistance bands and hand weights), Adult Ballet (which is a drop-in ballet class), and Tiny Dancer (which is a ballet, dance and Pilates fusion class for children of all ages). Visit barrebeautiful.com for full class descriptions, class times and prices.

Katharine and I post-workout with Matilda and Leia from The Loop.

Related:
‘ How to get a ballet dancer’s body
‘ Want a dancer’s body? Try a barre-based workout
‘ 5 hot Canadian yoga wear brands