Rating difficulty and quality of ballet/barre type workouts

[nevertoolate]

Hi all! I'm new to ballet/barre type workouts and interested in feedback from you on the level of difficulty and quality of some of the instructors/programs mentioned on the forum. I've bought a few and traded for a few more and am interested in some others , but I don't know where to start.

Can you tell me where you would rank the following roughly on level of difficulty?

Ballet Beautiful Series (Mary Helen Bowers)
Ballet Body Signature Series (Leah Sarago)
Ballet Physique set
Physique 57
Booty Barre set (Tracey Mallett)
The Dailey Method
Element: Ballet Conditioning
Ballet Body (Jennifer Galardi)
Xtend Barre - Lean & Chisled
Core Fusion Series

There may be some others that are just awesome that I haven't listed, so feel free to add them in. I would just like some recommendations on which would be the best to start with, easiest to learn, etc.

Thanks for your advice!

Ann

[fuzzie]

Hi Ann!

I will have to think about this a bit to offer my opinion, but I would first suggest distinguishing between ballet-based workouts and barre workouts that are derived from the Lotte Berk technique - IMO, making that distinction makes it easier to compare.

Ballet-based workouts:
Ballet Beautiful Series (Mary Helen Bowers)
Element: Ballet Conditioning
Ballet Body (Jennifer Galardi) - based more on jazz than ballet
Kari Anderson Center Floor
Balletone

Lotte Berk-based workouts:
Ballet Body Signature Series (Leah Sarago)
Ballet Physique set
Physique 57
Booty Barre set (Tracey Mallett)
The Dailey Method
Xtend Barre - Lean & Chisled
Core Fusion Series
The Bar Method
Pop Physique
Barre3

[kitty12]

Although, I guess I tend to think of Booty Barre as more dance inspired. I was thinking she had a dance background and the movements are larger than Lotte Berk type stuff. Been a while since I did Xtend barre, but also thought her background was dance and to me it felt more dance based. However, maybe there needs to be another category since while I think their backgrounds are dance based and the movements are not Lotte Berk, I don't really feel like they are ballet based either.

This is very rough, and very subjective -for the DVDs I own:
(I had Ballet Body by Jennifer Galardi but didn't care for it at all)

More challenging to least:
Booty Barre set (Tracey Mallett) - Exception for her begginer DVD
Ballet Body Signature Series (Leah Sarago)

Physique 57
Core Fusion series

Ballet Beautiful Series (Mary Helen Bowers)
Xtend Barre - Lean & Chisled

[SquishyMommy]

Originally Posted by kitty12

Although, I guess I tend to think of Booty Barre as more dance inspired. I was thinking she had a dance background and the movements are larger than Lotte Berk type stuff. Been a while since I did Xtend barre, but also thought her background was dance and to me it felt more dance based. However, maybe there needs to be another category since while I think their backgrounds are dance based and the movements are not Lotte Berk, I don't really feel like they are ballet based either.

This is very rough, and very subjective -for the DVDs I own:
(I had Ballet Body by Jennifer Galardi but didn't care for it at all)

More challenging to least:
Booty Barre set (Tracey Mallett) - Exception for her begginer DVD
Ballet Body Signature Series (Leah Sarago)

Physique 57
Core Fusion series

Ballet Beautiful Series (Mary Helen Bowers)
Xtend Barre - Lean & Chisled

I agree with this ranking. Booty Barre to me was the most difficult, with Ballet Body coming in a close second, with Physique 57 being third.

In my opinion though, I think the easiest to start with would be Barre3. I have just recently started doing Barre after taking about a year long break. I knew that doing Ballet Body, Booty Barre or Physique 57 would probably discourage me if I tried them to start with, so began using Barre3 workouts instead. I have been very happy at how it can challenge me, yet is easing me into the more difficult workouts. I am combining the barre with a kettlebell rotation so really wanted my barre workout to be more relaxed. I think Barre3 has been a great fit for my needs.

[MomOf2Gremlins]

Originally Posted by fuzzie

Hi Ann!

I will have to think about this a bit to offer my opinion, but I would first suggest distinguishing between ballet-based workouts and barre workouts that are derived from the Lotte Berk technique - IMO, making that distinction makes it easier to compare.

Ballet-based workouts:
Ballet Beautiful Series (Mary Helen Bowers)
Element: Ballet Conditioning
Ballet Body (Jennifer Galardi) - based more on jazz than ballet
Kari Anderson Center Floor
Balletone

Lotte Berk-based workouts:
Ballet Body Signature Series (Leah Sarago)
Ballet Physique set
Physique 57
Booty Barre set (Tracey Mallett)
The Dailey Method
Xtend Barre - Lean & Chisled
Core Fusion Series
The Bar Method
Pop Physique
Barre3

That's a wonderful list to have on hand, Fuzzie, thank you!

[fuzzie]

This thread has me thinking about the "barre genre" and I think there are even more sub-categories now than I first thought. Based on some comments in the above posts, I now see two large categories (Lotte Berk-based workouts and Ballet/Dance-based workouts) and each can be subdivided into two groups:

Lotte Berk-based barre workouts / Classic
Although there are some variations among these methods (e.g., more/less emphasis on tuck; more/less dynamic), they emphasize isometric work, feature certain exercices (e.g., c-curve ab work, plié in relevé, etc.), and tend to follow the LB class structure.
Core Fusion
Physique 57
Bar Method
Dailey Method
Fluidity
Pure Barre
Barre3
Pop Physique
Ballet Physique

Lotte Berk-based barre workouts / Fusion
These workouts feature a good amount of isometric work, some signature LB moves and/or class format. However, they integrate a greater amount of traditional callistenics, ballet, pilates, or yoga.
Ballet Body
Xtend
Booty Ballet


Ballet/Dance-based workouts / Classical ballet
These workouts adopt formal ballet terms, techniques, and exercices.
Ballet Beautiful
Ballet Bootcamp
Element Ballet
New York City Ballet Workout

Ballet/Dance-based workouts / Fusion
These workouts are strongly influenced by ballet and jazz but they combine these techniques with traditional callistenics, pilates or yoga.
Balletone
Jennifer Kries (The Method)
Jennifer Galardi's Ballet Body
Kari Anderson's Center Floor and Reach
Jennee's Ballet Blast


I am really overthinking this, aren't I?

[tytbody]

No you're not over thinking it. That's what allows us to see why we like a particular instructor versus others.

This also stems from the instructors personal training and where they go off on their own to make it *their* method but get to say, Lotte Berk inspired because everyone knows her as the mother of Barre.

Then the dancers went to dancing school, became ballerinas and then got injured and decided to teach. So, they use a lot of ballet elements in their dvds versus the ones that went to become Yoga instructors do more yoga and throw in some Lotte Berk. That's also what makes them into categories. Does this make sense?

[kitty12]

You can add Booty Barre I think to the second list I don't think I saw it listed.

[nevertoolate]

Originally Posted by fuzzie

This thread has me thinking about the "barre genre" and I think there are even more sub-categories now than I first thought. Based on some comments in the above posts, I now see two large categories (Lotte Berk-based workouts and Ballet/Dance-based workouts) and each can be subdivided into two groups:

Lotte Berk-based barre workouts / Classic
Although there are some variations among these methods (e.g., more/less emphasis on tuck; more/less dynamic), they emphasize isometric work, feature certain exercices (e.g., c-curve ab work, plié in relevé, etc.), and tend to follow the LB class structure.
Core Fusion
Physique 57
Bar Method
Dailey Method
Fluidity
Pure Barre
Barre3
Pop Physique
Ballet Physique

Lotte Berk-based barre workouts / Fusion
These workouts feature a good amount of isometric work, some signature LB moves and/or class format. However, they integrate a greater amount of traditional callistenics, ballet, pilates, or yoga.
Ballet Body
Xtend
Booty Ballet


Ballet/Dance-based workouts / Classical ballet
These workouts adopt formal ballet terms, techniques, and exercices.
Ballet Beautiful
Ballet Bootcamp
Element Ballet
New York City Ballet Workout

Ballet/Dance-based workouts / Fusion
These workouts are strongly influenced by ballet and jazz but they combine these techniques with traditional callistenics, pilates or yoga.
Balletone
Jennifer Kries (The Method)
Jennifer Galardi's Ballet Body
Kari Anderson's Center Floor and Reach
Jennee's Ballet Blast


I am really overthinking this, aren't I?

Wow, Fuzzie. This is great. No, you're not overthinking it. This is really helpful.

Thanks!

Ann

[topfitmama]

Originally Posted by fuzzie

Ballet/Dance-based workouts / Fusion
These workouts are strongly influenced by ballet and jazz but they combine these techniques with traditional callistenics, pilates or yoga.
Balletone
Jennifer Kries (The Method)
Jennifer Galardi's Ballet Body
Kari Anderson's Center Floor and Reach
Jennee's Ballet Blast


I am really overthinking this, aren't I?

I don't think you are overthinking this at all, Fuzzie.

I would add Tracey Mallett's Fuse Dance Cardio Lean to this last category. It is very barre-ballet influenced, but not "pure" enough to fit squarely into one category.