Erin McNulty

My barre practice has always been deeply connected to my career as a dance artist. I’d always hopped around between short-lived fitness routines to supplement my dance classes; but coming across barre felt like maybe I’d finally found something I could commit to and that targeted my specific needs as a dancer. Once I started, I was taken in by the familiarity of the underlying technique, the super tangible results, the fun music, and the sheer challenge of it!  

Barre has continued to help me care for my body, and to stay injury-free through its dual focus on strength and mobility. The way barre is structured really puts me in the driver’s seat in terms of where I want to push or pull back from week to week. It’s like an embodied anatomy class too – I love how it encourages practitioners to really sense alignment details and different muscles firing!

Transitioning to teaching barre in 2019 felt like a unique way to share my kinesthetic knowledge as a dancer in a non-dance setting. The love of movement, the centering of somatic awareness, and the balance of power and softness in the body are all there in a barre class. The more you come to class, the more you’re guided to find creativity within the structure – playing with how breath can help in different ways, how recruiting different muscles changes familiar exercises, and how language and imagery can totally transform your experience, just like in dance!

At its core, barre teaches trust in the body, and how to safely push through the tough moments to get stronger. Whether you dance, run, hike, ski, chase your kids around, garden, or anything else – barre can help your body do it more thoughtfully, for longer, with less pain and more joy!