I started taking barre classes in 2018 when I left my position as an English teacher to pursue a writing career. Initially I took classes to meet and connect with people, but the joy I found in the lengthened, graceful movements of barre transformed my life.

Most of us spend a lot of our time in a contracted state, whether we’re sitting, hunched over a screen, or concentrically contracting our muscles in traditional strength training programs. Barre fosters the opposite: it encourages us to take up space, to rise, to lengthen, to move with intention and control. I want my students to literally feel uplifted in class as they lengthen and lift their core. I want them to carry the confidence they find in that posture beyond the studio walls. I want them to discover the potential for internal and external transformation that barre creates.

Ultimately, I became a barre instructor to share joy with others.