Alusha's blog

I’ve come out of every class I’ve attended here at Bälans and noticed how much taller I’m standing. This was most obvious after the BarreConcept classes. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s ballet-based, and so I stand up straighter in an effort to be elegant or just the general magic of Barre. Either way, in the two sessions that I’ve attended here, I have come out of each feeling at least an inch taller.

I’ve tried Barre before at my University’s gym, so I knew what to expect going into this kind of class at Bälans. Despite having a good idea of what of what kind of exercises we would be doing, I still went into this class with a fair degree of nerves, especially since this was the first class that I attended as part of my new job here. I’m not in any way a dancer and coordinating my arms and legs at the same time isn’t exactly something I’m famed for. With this in mind, every time I go into Barre, I always dread the warm up section the most, since this is where the more dynamic, coordination-requiring movements come in (or, in the case of my first class here, line dancing!). The class itself is less of a source of fear, since it often only requires the movement of one limb at a time, something even my clumsy self can manage.

I expected the small class sizes at Bälans to be an additional source of anxiety. However, this has actually turned out to be one of my favourite parts of each class I’ve attended here. Having fewer people to a class means that the instructor can give each individual the attention they need to get the most out of the session. Often this involves some hands on and verbal corrections. Every time that I’ve been given a correction, it has been delivered clearly and it’s made a real difference to the feeling of the movement. I’ve been trying to remember each correction for future reference, with some success. These small classes also accentuate what a community has been formed here at Bälans, with the instructors calling each person by their name and much more back and forth communication than I’ve seen in classes anywhere else.

In my time here, I’ve now attended two Barre classes, each with a different instructor. In between those classes I’ve also attended some of the various matwork and apparatus Pilates classes we have at Bälans. By the time it came to my second Barre class, I was correcting some of my movements before the instructor had to: particularly, making sure my core was engaged in each plié. These corrections were based off of the knowledge I’d gathered from communicating with the instructors in class, but I also think I’m beginning to get a higher degree of body-awareness. This body-awareness has made me realise how much more I want to work on through Pilates in my time here and beyond. I’m excited to get started!

Hopefully, next week I’ll be able to use the core engagement I’ve learned in Barre to stand up straighter for even longer. I’ll definitely be taking the other lessons that I’ve learned from Barre into the rest of my week, including trying to be less scared to try something new!

Until next week, see you in class! - Alusha

P.S. If you want to know more about what I’m doing here at Bälans, check out my first blog post.