Beachbarre
I never really enjoyed ballet as a child. I wasn’t very graceful, partly because I was the tallest in my class and always got the male parts in the show as there were no boys in our class. My ballet career ended age six, grade one (or two?) with a slight complex.
I was invited to try a BarreConcept fitness class on the beach by Veronika from Edinbarre. Luckily you don’t need any ballet experience and they don’t require you to do a recital during the class, phew!
Created by Pilates master Emma Newman, BarreConcept is a challenging workout which combines strength conditioning, Pilates, yoga and ballet.
On Saturday afternoon I headed down to Cramond beach and luckily the weather was sunny. We warmed up on the beach, facing the beautiful Firth of Forth. It seemed my pirouetting days would come flooding back as Veronika eased us into the class.
We went onto the ramp and used the railings as ballet bars. I was constantly working on posture, balance and body positioning. The class consisted of basic movements, lunges, plies and leg raises. During some movements we pulsed and held static holds, by the end of the class my legs were shaking like a leaf.
To finish off we stretched to ‘elongate the muscles’. As a runner and triathlete, I have the flexibility of a brick so struggled with this part of the class. I was however pretty pleased I could touch my toes by the end.
Overall I really enjoyed the class and found it quite challenging. It was a good leg workout, my legs were achy afterwards! The setting was beautiful at the beach and Veronika is a lovely enthusiastic teacher. I would highly recommend and would definitely go again (no complex this time).
For more information email Veronika at info@edinbarre.co.uk, she has classes across Edinburgh.
Jenwaar
Photo credits Rob Tesh.