Reset with Barre Base Anywhere

How a Dunedin barre studio is connecting people all around the world and helping them to reset.

Barre Base opened its classes to the world during COVID-19 lockdown with virtual sessions, and now they’re here to stay, says founder Rosa Anderson-Jones.

The success of Barre Base Anywhere has connected a powerful community of barre lovers online and has since seen international success, with people tuning in from places like the US, France, Germany and Australia.

During lockdown, Anderson-Jones took her classes online on Zoom, digitally connecting with her members, new and old.

"COVID-19 really threw everything up in the air, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone to create something I have wanted to do for a while. Yes, it was a challenge, but COVID left us no choice, we had to find a solution that was online so we could maintain an offering for our clients,” says Anderson-Jones.

Passionate about wellness, Anderson-Jones set up barre studio, Barre Base, in Dunedin six years ago. Barre Base fuses elements of ballet barre (French for 'bar') conditioning exercises with pilates, yoga, and functional, body-weight training. Alongside traditional barre classes, they also offer yoga-fusion classes and stretch and mobility sessions— offering a balanced timetable of classes for regular clients.

“It’s about feeling good in your own body,” she says.

Post lockdown, the Barre Base Studio in Dunedin is now back up and running and is once again a hub for people of all shapes, sizes and ages de-stressing and resetting from their busy lives. And many have continued with online classes and joined the Barre Base Anywhere community.

The combination of barre, yoga and mindfulness offers a balanced workout practice – from low-impact yet powerful workouts to mindful mobility sessions. Combining these practices allows clients to find both strength and freedom in their bodies and enhances a mind and body connection – allowing clients to gain much more from their workout.

“Everything that we do starts with the core. Once you learn to connect with your breath, you can improve posture and alignment, and in turn, gain so much more out of your workouts,” says Anderson-Jones.

Barre Base allows you to leave behind everyday stresses through slow mindful stretches or intense strength-based classes and gives you time to pause.

With an age range of 16 to 70, there is a barre class to suits everybody's needs.

Focusing on tuning in with the body and strengthening the muscles, barre classes allow you to better connect to your body and mind.

Anderson-Jones says that there is more than just the physical results because “having a strong core, and truly connecting to your body, allows you to feel confident and empowered but it does go beyond that, you stand a little bit taller, feel stronger, and even more confident day to day.”

Barre Base offers an opportunity to reset and invest in the time to participate in this precious exercise to improve the muscles and your headspace.

Dancing since age 4 – jazz and contemporary – she has a passion for teaching and encouraging people to move with strength and confidence. And while she has a communications and marketing degree, her passion and love for the barre exercise was the reason for opening the studio.

“I was encouraged to think what my passions were, what do I love, what have I studied at university, and where do I want to go from here,” she says. “Combining all of those things led to opening a Barre studio,” says Anderson-Jones.

Barre Base started small by renting community halls and dance studios, but quickly grew into their own space with over 20 classes and weekly paying members. Barre Base offers various barre-focused classes, such as their original Barre Base class, which combines barre, pilates and yoga to their hugely popular Self-Care classes, combining yoga, mindfulness and breathwork.

Barre Base Anywhere is a $30 monthly subscription allowing users to get a hold of an array of 20-30-minute online classes, extending their audience to those who don’t have time to go to the physical studio. With a mix of recorded and live Zoom classes, members can stay connected on a digital level.

Shift workers can make time to move their bodies when their schedules are invariably changing. For those who live out of town or rurally, classes are always available to them. Barre Base Anywhere is for anyone and everyone. We are here for you. And all you need is a chair.

The Benefits of Barre Base Anywhere

Strength Building, Muscle Toning, Weight Loss

Barre is a fitness class that focuses on the core while developing muscle endurance and stability, lessening the pressure on the spine, joints, tendons, and ligaments. Strengthening your core muscles and pelvic floor muscles can result in improved posture and decreasing back pain.

Mobility and Flexibility

Enhanced flexibility and stretching helps with moving safely within a good range, improving posture and reduces the chances of injury. Refinement of posture through stretching is reflected in personal life as it grows confidence within the body.

Connectivity

Barre Base helps members gain a heightened body awareness by reconnecting with their breath, or maybe for the first time, educating clients on how connecting with their breath can help them become stronger. Barre Base allows a connection to the parasympathetic nervous system, that calm state in your body to get the most out of your workout.

Willpower

The mental strength gained through exercise is easily transferred into our daily lives. As you gain physical strength, you also gain the value of mental strength, discipline and focus

Stress Management

Take time out of the hustle and bustle of life to slow down and retreat away from the demands of life in mindful exercises. Through barre, you can gain the ability to identify the stresses of life and to move with them, and to let them go.

Original story written by Bernadette Basagre of Good Magazine.