Floor Barre is a ballet class you take lying and sitting on a mat. Instead of standing at the barre, you perform the fundamental movements of classical ballet — pliés, tendus, battements, port de bras — horizontally, with the floor supporting the spine. Without the job of holding the body upright, you concentrate entirely on muscle engagement, coordination, turnout from the hips and the alignment of the spine.
The class at ARTIS is based on classical ballet gymnastics with roots in the methodology of Boris Knyazev, the Russian dancer and teacher who developed “barre au sol” for professional dancers in the 1950s. We teach it twice a week, in a group of at most eight, to complete beginners and to dancers who have been on stage for twenty years.
Who Floor Barre is for
- Absolute beginners, for whom it is half of Ballet Zero: you learn what ballet asks of the body before you have to balance on it.
- Anyone with a sensitive back, knees or hips, because there is no impact, no load and full control of the range of movement.
- Adults over 50 and anyone returning after a break, an injury or a pregnancy.
- Office workers who want posture, core strength and mobility without a “fitness” class.
- Trained dancers, as technique work, as recovery, or as a warm-up before class.
What happens in the hour
Warm-up on the back: breathing, the position of the pelvis, feet articulating through demi-pointe and pointe. Then the barre — on the floor: pliés and tendus with the legs in turnout, ronds de jambe, battements, développés, work for the arms and upper back. A long stretch to finish while the muscles are warm. You feel your abdominal and back muscles the next day and your posture the same evening.
Floor Barre and the other ARTIS classes
Floor Barre is included in both beginners’ memberships — Ballet Zero (with Ballet Barre for absolute beginners) and Ballet Set Light (with Ballet Barre and Stretching Light) — and can be booked as a single class by anyone. Its sister class, Ballerina Workout, adds athletic conditioning; Stretching adds length.