A New Ballet Barre—Convenient, Portable and Beautiful

Several ballerinas stand poised along a barre, each with one hand

resting atop it and the other reaching out to the side as they complete an

exercise. They lower their arms and withdraw their extended foot from the

closing tendu, holding the final position for a few seconds. “That concludes

our barre work for today,” calls out the teacher. “Practice at home—your

relevés could be a lot higher!”

The students pause and think to themselves as they carry the barres

to the back of the room. How can they best practice at home? Perhaps some

have bulky barres of their own, homemade or bought expensively from a

dance shop, but the rest are stuck with using countertops and windowsills.

What they could really use is a more portable and convenient barre, fully

functional and even beautiful. Such a product has finally arrived, after five

hundred years of ballet history.

History of Ballet

Ballet is a formalized dance form focusing on technique and

performance. It originated in Italy during the Renaissance, when dancers

collaborated with musicians to create entertainment at fashionably lavish

weddings. Some say that ballet was originally a dance interpretation of

fencing. This early ballet, the name of which comes from the Italian word

balletto, meaning little dance, was much less formal than it would later

become. Dancers were not as highly trained as they are today, and at the

end of the dance, the whole audience would often join in. Dance attire was

simply the fashion of the day--ballet slippers and tutus had not yet been

invented. Soon, however, ballets began to be produced and performed

specially, and the first produced ballet was the Ballet Comique de la Reine,

choreographed in 1581 by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx for the court of

Catherine de’ Medici. Ballet soon spread to France, where under the rule of

Louis XIV, it flourished in the royal court. The “Sun King”—a nickname

which came from a ballet he danced himself in 1653—was a dance

aficionado, and established the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661, now

known as the Paris Opera Ballet. In France, the form of the ballet developed

into a dramatic program more similar to today's productions, through the

efforts of Italian composer Jean-Baptiste de Lully (born Giovanni Battista di

Lulli) and French playwright Molière, who collaborated to combine the

Italian theater style of commedia dell'arte with French dance. Among their

most successful works was Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, produced in 1670.

Their legacy defined the future of ballet, establishing it as a legitimate art

form, and France as its center. Since the first schools of ballet were in

France, ballet terminology is nearly all in French even to this day, no matter

where around the world one may go. The first to reference the five positions

to the body was Pierre Beauchamp (1637-1705), a French choreographer,

dancer and composer (tiptoedancewear.com).

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Throughout the 1700s, ballet continued to evolve. It came to exist in

three methods, the sérieux, demi-caractère and comique, and was also

sometimes featured in operas as an interlude. In 1760, Jean-Georges

Noverre wrote the influential Lettres sur la Danse et les Ballets, saying that

a dancer's movement should communicate emotion in order to tell a story.

To this end, he argued, a dancer's bodily form should be displayed as much

as possible by wearing less cumbersome and more natural attire. France

remained the heart of ballet development, but companies opened

throughout Europe and also Russia, not the least of which was the Imperial

Ballet of St. Petersburg, which opened in 1738. The Bolshoi Ballet Academy

opened in Moscow in 1763, and ballet would soon flourish in Russia

(tiptoedancewear.com).

The Romantic period of the nineteenth century brought women into

prominence in ballet. Before Lully’s Le Triomphe de l’Amour in 1681,

female dancers had not even performed onstage in a ballet production—all

female roles were played by men, because it was thought that women

wouldn’t be strong enough to wear the heavy costumes comprising masks,

headdresses and lengthy gowns. However, the popular image of an ethereal

dancer floating across the stage put women in the lead roles in ballets of

this period, and the role of men became to lift and support them as they

completed turns and leaps. Pointe technique developed around this time,

pioneered by ballerinas such as the Swedish-Italian Marie Taglioni and the

Austrian Fanny Elssler. Pointe shoes in their infancy, however, were very

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thin and were strengthened only by a bit of extra darning, so dancers could

not hold positions longer than a few seconds. Anna Pavlova would

eventually create the modern pointe shoe, which is stiffened and

strengthened with tough leather. The first pointe dancers were also some of

the first to wear costumes with skirts that did not reach all the way to their

ankles—in Taglioni’s most famous performance, La Sylphide in 1832, she

shocked the audience with her shin-baring skirt that she had shortened in

order to show off her pointe work. The classic tutu, which consisted of stiff

layers of crinoline or tulle and was designed to display legwork, began to

appear in the late 1800s (tiptoedancewear.com). In 1894, Pierina Legnani

became the first ballerina to receive the ultimate title of prima ballerina

assoluta, a title bestowed upon her by French choreographer Marius Petipa.

She was the first to perform 32 fouettés en tournant, an extremely difficult

step which involves first standing with one foot flat and whipping the other

leg around to the side, thus turning around, then rising up en pointe in the

middle of the turn and touching the working foot to the supporting knee.

Only nine dancers throughout ballet history have received this

extraordinary title (balletalert.com).

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Anna Pavlova as the Dying Swan in St. Petersburg, 1905

In nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russia, the ballet was thriving;

many companies were active and choreographers were composing

prolifically. Marius Petipa collaborated with Pyotr Tchaikovsky to create

some of the most beloved and well-known ballets even of today, such as The

Nutcracker in 1892 and Swan Lake in 1895. The Ballets Russes were a

company that toured the world under the directorship of Sergei Diaghilev

from 1909 to 1929. They presented a new, sensational kind of ballet that

incorporated many different types of music, art, and dance, and were called

everything from classical to avant-garde. The Ballets Russes boasted the

likes of Anna Pavlova, who was perhaps the most well-known of all

ballerinas throughout history. She became famous for her dramatic and

imaginative role as The Dying Swan, choreographed for her by Michel

Fokine in Camille Saint-Saëns's Le Carnaval des Animaux in 1905. Fokine

believed that costumes should relate to the story being told and be

historically accurate where relevant, rather than simply a tutu, a concept

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that would effectively influence all ballets to come. The tours of Russian

companies in the United States, especially after World War II, encouraged

the development of the art there. Russian-born George Balanchine opened

schools in Chicago and New York in the 1930s and 1940s, including the

famous New York City Ballet, which grew to great renown. The Royal Ballet

was founded in London in 1931, the home company of prima ballerina

assoluta Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991) (tiptoedancewear.com). Today, there

are famous and active companies all over the world, perhaps the most

significant of which are the Kirov Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Paris Opera

Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the New York City Ballet and the Royal Danish

Ballet. Some of the most famous ballet dancers of today are Sylvie Guillem,

born in 1965, who performs at the Paris Opera Ballet; Paloma Herrera, born

in 1975, who dances with the American Ballet Theater; Polina Semionova,

born in 1984, who dances with the Berliner Staatsoper Ballet Company in

Germany; and Julie Kent, born in 1969, who dances with the American

Ballet Theater (balletdancersguide.com). There are certainly also many

well-known retired dancers, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Darcey Bussell,

Alessandra Ferri, Alicia Alonso, and Cynthia Gregory. Through its colorful

history, ballet has become popular and well-known throughout the world,

providing a pastime and passion for those who enjoy its challenge and

appreciate its beauty.

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The Kirov Ballet performs Swan Lake in Los Angeles, 2006

The Current State of the Field

Ballet has become a popular enough activity that only the most

talented dancers find work in the professional field. Most dancers begin

studying dance between ages 5 and 15, and if they plan to pursue a career

in dance, they often have their first professional audition by age 18

(bls.gov). Dancers usually retire by their late thirties, the average age at

retirement being reported as low as 29 (ballettalk.invisionzone.com). After a

career in dancing is over, job options for dancers include teaching dance

and choreographing among other studio- and performance-related jobs.

Because of the nature of dance-related employment opportunities—

performances usually run for a few weeks at most—employment is short,

irregular and not guaranteed. The median hourly income for dancers was

$12.22 in May 2008, the middle 50% earning between $8.03 and $18.82

(bls.gov). Most dancers do not rely on dancing to support themselves and

work other jobs to supplement their income. Nevertheless, dance’s allure

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and the passion it incites ensure that it remains one of the most popular

pursuits in the quest for careers. As of May 2008, there were 13,000

professional dancers in the United States (bls.gov) and countless more

practicing their art as amateurs, in homes, schools and studios all over the

nation.

The Purpose of the Barre

In the ballet lesson, dancers learn everything they need to know for

performances, from the fundamentals to the specifics of vocabulary,

technique, posture, and appearance. Today’s ballet classes are generally

one to two hours long. About two-thirds of the time is spent doing exercises

at the barre and about one-third is spent in the center of the room. Center

exercises and barre exercises alike consist of short, perhaps one- to five-

minute-long combinations of steps set to music.

Preparatory position at the barre.

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Students warm up at the barre, beginning with the feet and moving to the

rest of the legs and the body, in exercises which become progressively more

involved. Finally, students can put into use the strength and technique that

they have learned at the barre by working in the center of the room. Center

exercises include turns like pirouettes and piqué turns, leaps like grands

jetés and sautés, and other traveling steps like the glissade, chassé and pas

de chat. These exercises are more similar to performing onstage, but

working with the barre provides invaluable opportunities for dancers to

improve their technique. For example, on the barre, dancers can learn the

steps for jumps and turns slowly and carefully, which on center stage

require much concentration. Likewise, the presence of a barre makes

practicing balances much easier.

Standing at the barre, dancers can pay more attention to the posture

of their bodies. They must focus on standing tall and straight, rotating their

legs outward from the hip socket in a quality called turnout, and strongly

engaging the muscles of the core, that is, those from below the neck to

above the knee. Because of the nature of the barre, barre exercises are

designed to strengthen the body and to perfect form. For example, tendus

are an extension of the leg meant to strengthen the foot as it pushes

carefully into and across the floor, with care taken to articulate the motion

at the ankle and toe joints. Practicing tendus also improves turnout—the

heel carefully leads the leg forward as the small toe leads back. Likewise,

rond du jambes, which are a circling of one leg either on the ground or en

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l'aire, strengthen the leg and teach it to rotate in the hip joint while keeping

the hips square and level. Leaps, as well, can be learned at the barre. To

learn the tour jeté, first one skips forward in a chassé, then kicks the

outside leg into the air in a grand jeté, then holds both hands on the barre

for support and height while quickly turning halfway around in the air and

swinging the inside leg to the back, landing with the outside leg, shifting

weight and turning halfway around once again in a temps lié to begin again.

This step is to be completed within two seconds, but practicing on the barre

enables dancers to take steps as slowly as necessary as well as providing

direction and support.

Attitude to the back

Ballerinas must be able to hold themselves in balances, either with

one leg extended in arabesque or with the working foot resting on the

supporting knee in retiré. The alignment of the leg, whether straight and

allongé or bent in attitude, is precise and important. Practicing at the barre

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in front of a mirror is essentially prerequisite. Though graceful dancers may

make them look easy in performances, turns require much concentration

and poise as well. Even supporting oneself and being able to walk en pointe

takes a huge amount of strength and control, which can be cultivated at the

barre.

Dancers also use barres to stretch on, such as the hamstring stretch,

performed by placing an ankle on the barre, extending the leg, and bending

down over it. These stretches can be worked into combinations set to music,

involving pliés, or bends at the knee, and cambrés, or bends at the waist in

any direction. For this reason, it is imperative that barres be smooth, strong

enough to withstand considerable weight, and the correct height.

Barres in ballet studios are usually mounted along the wall at about

hip height or a few inches above. Many ballet classes also use heavy

“portable” barres to accommodate more dancers, ten or twelve feet long

and often made out of galvanized steel pipes. Being inconvenient in any

situation save the ballet lesson, where they can be stored at the back of the

room, these barres are not the best option for home practice. In fact, most

ballerinas do not have a barre at home, the major drawback being that

existing portable barres are rather large and inconvenient to store. They are

also expensive, and although functional barres can be constructed at home,

this naturally takes much time and effort.

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A ballet barre from Estudio Miscellania

However, the presence of a barre at home enables dancers to improve

their skill in infinitely more ways than simply stretching and practicing on

the floor. Since dancers are obliged to do their major stretching at home, as

well as to strengthen their muscles and perfect their technique by

practicing exercises, they can benefit greatly from having equipment at

their disposal. Ballet equipment is minimal—other than proper attire,

consisting of dance slippers and any type of clothing that does not restrict

motion, usually a leotard and tights, dancers use only the floor and the

barre. Thus, having a lightweight, convenient and portable barre at home

could offer dancers an invaluable opportunity to practice the exercises they

learn in class as well as giving them creative license to create their own.

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Cambré, Our Product in Detail

Finally, this portable, convenient and strong ballet barre has arrived

in the form of Cambré, an oak and aluminum model weighing only twenty

pounds. Fully assembled, it is six feet long, enough space for any dancer to

stretch or perform traveling exercises, and 36 to 42 inches high to

accommodate dancers of different heights. Cambré collapses and

dissembles into four pieces, of which two measure 36 inches by 1.5 inches

and two measure 24 inches by about 6 inches. Its weight is rendered yet

more manageable by the complementary hand-sewn carrying bag the size of

an average backpack. Though Cambré is simple to assemble and separate,

its structure integrity remains sufficiently uncompromised; it is strong

enough to support a dancer’s weight and will not sway or bend. Finally,

Cambré has an attractive wooden design adding to its appeal. Cambré is

a dancer’s dream, the final solution to the problem of a convenient home

ballet barre.

Cambré maximizes strength, portability and beauty. The entire

model is divided into four sections, two of the barre itself and two of the

aluminum legs. The barre piece is constructed of a professionally cut piece

of oak, smooth and comfortable as well as naturally beautiful, with a

rounded top and a flat underside. It separates in the center, being joined by

a steel rod which extends from the middle of one end and inserts into a hole

in the other. This joint is strengthened by a small aluminum plate fastened

onto the flat underside of the wood. At the other end of each piece of oak

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extends a twelve-inch-long piece of hardwood, making up the top part of the

separating legs. The hardwood contains two spring-loaded buttons spaced

about two inches apart on either side near the end. This end inserts into the

legs of square aluminum tubing. By depressing the buttons, one can adjust

the height at four levels between 36 and 42 inches high. These buttons are

simple, yet extremely strong.

The legs comprise three pieces of square aluminum tubing, forming a

triangle design with an aluminum chain. The 24-inch-long main shaft

extends downwards from the hardwood, reaching about ten inches from the

ground. From its base extend two 18-inch aluminum segments at a 45-

degree angle perpendicular to the line of the barre, providing a base of over

two feet long. Rubber strips are attached along the bottom of the feet where

they touch the floor for traction and stability. These two support pieces are

hinged to the main and can fold up and down for carrying and storage. In

the assembled position, a thin, strong metal chain hooked between the

pieces at the midpoint uses a tension system to hold the pieces in place.

How it Works: Reviews and Testimonials

Aesthetics aside, the question of Cambré is whether it performs to

the standards of highest quality professional ballet barres, and it has stood

up to this challenge admirably. Though its joints comprise smoothly turning

hinges, its structure remains strong and stable. Dancers can perform

regular barre exercises in comfort as well as safely levy their weight onto it

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when stretching. Cambré has supported weights in excess of 100 pounds,

as measured by a pressure scale. In preliminary tests by three ballerinas,

each reported satisfaction with its look, feel, and stability. The barre held

up steadfastly at all four height options. One seventeen-year-old dancer

said, “The Cambré’s sleek nature is great for stretching and all other barre

exercises, and its adjustable height allows it to be versatile for all ages.” In

the words of a thirteen-year-old, “The Cambré has the perfect amount of

support and strength for me to do all my barre exercises, yet it is simple

and compact which allows me to set up quickly and easily anywhere I want

to dance.” These analyses testify to the reliability and success of our

product.

The Design Process

Cambré is easy to assemble and dissemble, relying on the simplicity

of its design as its greatest strength. However, the design process to the

final product was by no means simple. All sorts of preëxisting designs of

objects which must be likewise strong, lightweight and compact were

studied to determine the best design options, like normal barres, tables,

scooters, crutches, camera tripods and even telescopes. Originally, some

ideas such as a detachable base, tripod legs, and a folding middle section

were considered, but each of these ideas proved problematic with either

construction difficulty or by interfering with the ease of product use.

Finally, a design for a separating barre was decided upon, but the first

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problem soon surfaced in keeping the pieces together without

compromising the smoothness of the barre’s surface. This was solved by

abandoning the idea of an entirely round piece of wood in favor of one with

a flat underside, which then made it possible to attach an aluminum plate at

the central seam out of the way of the dancer’s hands, which both fastened

and strengthened the joint. Another problem was figuring out a design for

the legs alternative to the tripod design, which had at first seemed the best

option for collapsibility but would have been weak as well as rather large

when fully assembled. Aluminum and wood legs were eventually decided

upon instead, since being made of nesting pieces of square tubing and wood

they would be able to collapse as small as a tripod, but would be much more

compact and strong when extended. The design idea of flat folding-down

aluminum legs was then presupposed until construction began, at which

point the practicality of such legs manifested itself as none too great. The

cumbersome joint between the flat feet and the central leg, which extended

up from the ground, was very difficult to strengthen so that the legs would

not wobble back and forth. Finally, that design was abandoned in favor of

the present, much stronger triangle arrangement. This was one of the last

modifications to the overall design, taking advantage of the principle of

tension to strengthen the structure using minimal material.

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An original design of Cambré excerpted from the engineering log

Designing and strengthening the joints also proved problematic.

Initially, the critical joint between barre and leg was assumed to be a hinge,

presenting difficulty in making it strong yet collapsible. The separating

barre pieces rendered it portable, and each piece of the barre was decided

to swing down from the legs, creating a two-part design. However, the

problem of strengthening this joint proved insuperable, and we conceded to

add a short, twelve-inch-long section to fasten permanently to the ends of

the barre and insert in the tubing of the legs instead. Finally, the holes for

the steel rod in the middle of the barre had to be drilled especially tightly

and precisely, not only so as to ensure that the barre was uninterruptedly

smooth, but also uncompromisedly strong. When building the prototype, a

small error was made in cutting one of the holes and the result was a

wobbly joint which did not support enough weight. However, in building the

final product, every care has been taken to ensure that measurements and

cuts were made with utter precision.

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Cambré in the early stages of construction

Future Improvement

Though Cambré does answer the question of a portable ballet barre,

there are certainly some things about it that could still be improved. One of

its drawbacks is that when folded up, the components of the legs are not

kept together securely in the closed position. This problem is not critical

because the carrying case holds the parts quite manageably, but all the

same, adding some kind of snapping mechanism to keep everything in place

would make it more convenient. The materials used for this prototype could

also be substantially reduced, having been bought for a bulkier original

design and not being the best suited to the final one. This would make the

overall weight lighter and the design more efficient. With Cambré as a

successful prototype and using sturdier and lighter materials, we could go

on to produce a ballet barre in the future that is even more simple and

strong.

Conclusion

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The portable and manageable Cambré is truly a victory for dance

equipment. Its elegant oak and aluminum structure would make any dancer

proud, but beyond aesthetics, its functionality is faultless, between its

smooth and strong structure, convenient collapsibility, and reliability. We

believe it will revolutionize the world of dance practice by helping dancers

everywhere augment their skill and giving them another reason to love

dance. Cambré is an investment not to pass up.

Works Cited

1. "The History of Ballet." Discount Ballet Dance Wear and Apparel.

Web. 30 Mar. 2010. <tiptoedancewear.com/ballet-history/>.

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2. "Dancing Online, History of Ballet." College of Computer and

Information Science | College of Computer and Information Science.

Web. 30 Mar. 2010. <ccs.neu.edu/home/yiannis/dance/history.html>.

3. "Ballet Terminology A-Z." Dance Help: Dance Tips, Articles and Dance

Resources. Web. 30 Mar. 2010. <dancehelp.com/articles/dance-

dictionary/ballet-dictionary.aspx>.

4. "The Performers." Ballet Alert! An Online Newsletter for Those Who

Love Ballet. Web. 30 Mar. 2010. <balletalert.com/ballets/Petipa/Swan

%20Lake/SLPerf.htm>.

5. "Famous Ballerinas - Current Dancers You Need To Know About!" The

Complete Ballet Dancers Guide. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

<balletdancersguide.com/famous-ballerinas.html>.

6. "Dancers and Choreographers." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web.

30 Mar. 2010. <bls.gov/oco/ocos094.htm>.

7. "Ballet Dancer Stats. They ARE Different from the Rest of Us - Ballet

Talk." Ballet Talk (Powered by Invision Power Board). Web. 29 June

2009. 30 Mar. 2010. <ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?

showtopic=29822>.

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