Exercise with ballet: Move gracefully like a swan

Have you heard of the combination of ballet art and exercise?

Exercise today is the choice of most mental workers to maintain health and balance for the body. Exercises are constantly being changed, combined with many other physical areas to reach new and more effective. Each subject is designed to suit the physical needs of the practitioner. Popular exercises include yoga, aerobics, zumba… But have you heard of the combination of ballet with gymnastics?

ACADEMY ART IN THE GYM

Known as the term “barre,” the ballet-inspired gymnastics isn’t groundbreaking. However, this sport is still not quite popular and accessible to many people. The period when you can hear this combination is probably when the movie “Black Swan”  (“Black Swan”, starring Natalie Portman). In addition to seriously practicing ballet, Natalie also works out her stamina, flexibility and graceful movements a lot in the gym with her trainer – former professional ballerina, Mary Helen Bowers. She was also the personal trainer of the  Victoria’s Secret Angels  during that time, helping them achieve the “light” and flexible figure of a ballerina.

The reason behind the name barre is because this gymnastics often uses horizontal bars mounted on the wall that ballerinas often use to practice. The barre room is arranged like a dance studio with mirrors and support bars attached to the wall. These bars are used by the practitioner as a balance aid, helping to focus on building strength in the core muscles of the body: abdomen, hips, lower back. You will practice on soothing classical piano music, which helps you relax and focus on the movement of each small muscle.

Pilates is a sport that is popular with many international stars for the purpose of losing weight and keeping fit. In Vietnam, the community of people practicing Pilates is growing…

Barre belongs to the anaerobic class group, which means the exercises will be shorter and heavier. But this exercise will not take energy from oxygen, but by transforming the available energy in the body. That means these exercises help you build muscle and strength very well. Barre is also often combined with yoga,  pilates, … to achieve the effect you want.

BENEFITS OF BALLET IN EXERCISES

Like a ballerina, your body will become toned, supple, slimmer and longer. Your standing, sitting, walking posture also becomes more beautiful and healthy. Moreover, ballet movements that require balance, dexterity, agility also mold your movements to be both more flexible and stable.

WHO CAN EXERCISE BARRE?

Anyone can practice this sport. Although associated with ballet, barre does not require any ballet experience. Besides, because of the focus on core strength training, barre exercises are also light and slow impact. The trainer can tailor the exercise to be suitable for those who are injured, or pregnant.

To easily visualize a barre exercise, you can refer to a short exercise on YouTube by Mary Helen Bowers.

Implementation group

Post: Thuc Linh

Source: ELLE Women Magazine

Photo: Reference