THE DANCER: Katrina
Ahhh, the barre. I know it well. Over the
years I’ve spent many hours standing next
to it, relying on it for ongoing support as
I pliéed, tendued and développéd my way
through ballet class. Because of this, I was confi dent I would
brisé through my fi rst Barre Attack session (just a little ballet
joke for you there). Oh, how wrong I was. I mean, sure,
I already had the feet positions and lingo down, but, as I was
quickly about to fi nd out, Barre Attack is more intense than
any ballet class I’d ever been to (and ballet is HARD).
Once we took our positions at the barre, we were all given
a ball to hold between our thighs and ankles as we completed
a range of pliés, relevés, pulses and leg raises – and, after just
fi ve minutes, I could feel my legs starting to ache. I was almost
relieved when we traded in the balls for resistance bands. I
repeat: ‘almost’. Soon it seemed like every muscle in my body
was burning. At one point, I could feel my hamstrings
trembling with fatigue. They’ve been weak ever since I had
knee surgery years ago, and as I did the exercises, I thought
about how benefi cial this workout would be for injury rehab.
As we went through the class, our instructor – Renee
Scott, herself – gracefully demonstrated each exercise
before moving around the room to correct our technique
(trés important in a barre class). By the end of the nonstop
one-hour session, my face was bright red and I was dripping
with so much sweat I looked like I’d just gone for a swim with
my clothes on – but I didn’t care. I may have looked gross,
but I felt awesome. I can’t wait to head back to the barre and
do another class – once I can walk again, that is...years I’ve spent many hours standing next
to it, relying on it for ongoing support as
I pliéedTest your skills at
a Barre Attack
class by heading to
barreattack.com
Jacqui and Katrina hang out
at the barre with founder
Renee Scott (centre)58 womensfitness.com.au womensfitnessaustralia @womensfitnessmag @womensfitnessau
Like other Barre classes, Barre Attack takes its cues
from traditional ballet barre exercises and mashes them
with Pilates and fi tness-based movements for a workout
that aims to improve your posture, alignment and
strength. Unlike other Barre classes, however, Barre
Attack is super intense. Like sweat-till-you-can’t-sweat-
no-more intense. This is because Barre Attack, which
was founded in 2012 by former professional ballet
dancer and Pilates instructor Renee Scott, is a
low-impact, high-intensity workout that combines
standing Pilates work, short cardio bursts and dance
moves. This means you can expect to be slogging it
out from the moment you walk into the studio to the
moment you crawl out. You’ll do LOTS of balletic pliés
and relevés, resistance-band and ball work, along with
a sprinkling of mountain-climber and burpee variations
and other familiar exercises. Sound hard? Well, that’s
because it is – but it’ll also leave you looking and feeling
every bit the pro dancer. Well, almost. But, the best
part? No leotard or leg warmers required.
BARRE ATTACK
Do you need dance skills to smash a Barre Attack
class? WF’s Katrina Sichlau and Jacqui King fi nd out
THE NON
DANCER: Jacqui
I’m a sporty girl and always have been.
I’ve been playing weekend netball since
I was seven, and you can always count
on me to be the one to bring the frisbee
or ball to a picnic. I like high-impact cardio-based exercise
that isn’t repetitive, but I have about as much grace as
a newborn gira e and I can’t dance to save myself.
Based on that summary, you’d assume I’m the worst
person to be walking into a barre class. And, you’re probably
right. I’ve tried regular barre classes a few times, but as
I never really worked up a sweat during them, I felt I wasn’t
really getting as good a workout as I could be.
Enter: Barre Attack. I knew it’d be hard, but I didn’t
expect it to be this hard. First of all, it went for an entire hour
with literally no breaks. Remember how I said I didn’t really
sweat in my last barre class? I did in Barre Attack, so much
so that our instructor came over and handed me a towel
mid sequence because I was covered in it. Awkwarddd.
I have tight hips, zero fl exibility and can’t balance on
my toes, so I struggled a little through the plié and relevé
movements. Adding a rotation of resistance bands and
ballet balls made it (and the pulses) so much harder (mostly
because I kept losing the ball and had to run into the middle
of the class to retrieve it). Then came the mountain climbers,
twist planks and squat jumps. Every part of my body was
screaming out through the whole 60 minutes but, I confess,
I was actually loving it. I got to imagine myself as an elegant
ballerina for a hot minute and get my (sweaty) cardio fi x.
I think I’ve found my perfect workout match.