Can You Use Ballet Barres for All Kinds of Dance?

If you’re starting to learn ballet, it’s very natural that you’re going to be interested in buying a ballet barre to practice with. However what you may not know is that it’s actually very useful to use ballet barres for all kinds of dance.

One of the first, most important reasons is that all dance styles use a lot of energy and strength and many of the same muscles, and barre exercises are especially designed to build those muscles. Also no matter what style of dance you’re studying, you need to learn balance and ballet barre exercises offer some of the best ways to learn it because so much of ballet is about balance.

Flexibility is also vital, as it’s exactly what a dancer needs to be able to bring life and momentum to hip hop, jazz and countless other styles.

Barre exercises also improve posture, the importance of which can't be overestimated. For both ballroom and Latin dances, posture is important when working with your partner and for exuding that seemingly effortless elegance that likely played an important part in attracting you to dance in the first place.

Posture is also important if you're interested in ever competing in dance competitions, amateur or otherwise. Judges take posture into account very seriously when scoring, especially for ballroom dancing.

However ballet barres have more to offer than exercises. They offer a great way to practice new steps. For instance if your class is tackling a new tango step and you want to work on it at home, you might not have a partner to try it with and the balance a partner can give you plays a big role in the feel of each move. A ballet barre acts as a stationary partner, giving you the chance to learn the proper distance you should be from your partner and practice with that extra bit of helpful support.

At the end of the day, whether you’re learning swing, Irish step-dance, ballroom or ballet, a barre is an invaluable training tool.


Please feel free to contact us at any time; we'd be happy to share more information with you, and go over the barres that would best suit your situation.  We'd love to hear from you.