Over the past year due to COVID lockdowns, many dancers have had to accommodate their living spaces to continue dancing at home. As a result, many have had mixed results in finding the right flooring to practice, whether it be on the kitchen tile, hardwood, or patio decks, which resulted in my review of Harlequin Floor's Marley Dance Mat (you can find it on the main page for July 15th, 2020 for my full review).
However, one other aspect/piece of equipment that has been skimmed over are ballet barres. In fact, for many ballet dancers they've found the multi-uses of surfaces to act as their makeshift barre such as kitchen counter tops, stair railings, or chairs. Fortunately, both the largest floor area, right surface, and makeshift barre coincide or have the ability to move furniture around to make this work.
However, for some dancers they may want a barre that provides more stability or portability, which is where the idea of reviewing Harlequin's Ballet Barre came in to fruition. As a result, I decided to compile my observations and information that I gathered from using the barre, as well as some alternative options and a link to my Harlequin Dance Mat review. Now, on to the review!
Harlequin Ballet Barre Review:
After looking at a variety of ballet barre options online to compare and contrast, I finally decided on Harlequin's Studio Series Ballet Barre. Harlequin also offers wall-mounted or floor-mounted barres; however, I liked the portability and freedom that the studio series barre allows.
Studio Series vs. Professional Series:
As for the main difference between the Studio Series barre and the Professional Series barre, it's mainly the materials that they use for the barre. The Studio Series barre is offered in beech wood, whereas the Professional Series barre can be ordered in aluminum or maple wood. Also, the Studio Series is offered in two lengths: 52" or 72", versus, the Professional Series is offered in three length options: 52", 72", or 144".
Barre Size/Length:
For my space, I ended up choosing the 52" (4ft) barre due to space limitations. I found this to be more than enough space to practice stretching and moving alongside the barre throughout exercises. However, for those of you who have multiple people dancing at home simultaneously or if you want more space to travel, then the 72" (6ft) or 144" (12ft) barres may be a better fit.
Ordering/Shipping:
As for ordering the barre, you can either call or email Harlequin Floors to inquire about the cost for a quote at: contact@harlequinfloors.com. For those of you who may be wondering if they ship to Canada, I can confirm that they do. You will have to account for the additional shipping and a customs broker (options include UPS, Purolator, etc. One of their recommendations was: clearit.ca). They also have separate headquarters internationally if you are located outside of North America such as Australia, Britain, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and Germany.
As for processing the order I processed my order through the same account executive that I ordered the Harlequin Dance Mat through, Marlyn, who was happy to hear from me and also very helpful once again. After processing my order, the time had come to wait for its arrival. At the time I had ordered the barre it was around Christmas time, which may have delayed its arrival especially since it was coming the U.S. In the end it took about a month to arrive similar to the Dance Mat arrival time, so I would keep this in mind for turnaround time for those of you considering buying one to continue dancing at home in the summer.
Assembly:
Upon arrival, the barre was packaged in a long thin rectangular box, which was well protected with individual foam inserts for each barre piece. In terms of assembly, there was a paper pamphlet of instructions with a diagram demonstrating how to set up the barre. However, even without the pamphlet it was fairly straight forward and easy to put together, as there were only four barre sections. In addition, there was a turnkey to tighten the barre screws to keep them in place.
Side note: Keep in mind that while the beech barre is sanded it is uncoated, so you may want to consider coating it yourself if you want a smoother surface or use a piece of sand paper to move along the barre a few times to create a smoother finish and ensure there's no remaining unsanded sections. (Don't worry about this too much though, as the barre is nicely sanded. This is just for those who want to be extra careful about splinters.)
Usage:
In terms of using the barre, after three months I've had no issues with using it so far and it works really well in terms of stability and portability. If you ever feel like you want the barre to provide even more stability, consider using sandbags at the base of the barre. However, this shouldn't be an issue for most exercises and/or stretches. The length of the barre also provides enough space to properly chasse and practice pointe work, which is great for practicing at home and helps to complete your at-home studio!
Below, I've also listed some at-home ballet barre alternatives for those of you who are waiting for your own portable barre or who understandably don't have the space for one at home.
At Home Ballet Barre Alternatives:
i. Garment/Clothing Rack
For the longest time I used a garment rack from Jysk and it actually worked fairly well. Just be careful to not place too much weight on it, or grip it too harshly, as it's fairly light. However, you could place some sandbags or something heavy on the bottom of each side of the rack to fix this. Also, I would recommend using some strong tape to wrap around the connecting pieces, so that they don't lift up or lower all of a sudden when you turn around to the other side. Since it's shorter in length, make sure to mentally account for that when you need to move alongside the barre, especially for pointe work.
Here is the link to the one I used from Jysk, as an example of what you could use: jysk.ca
ii. Kitchen countertop
Kitchen countertops are one of the most popular options, as they're generally the right height, have enough length to move with you in all of the exercises, and are very stable. The only possible con against it is the fact that it's located in the kitchen, so depending on the size or shape of your kitchen it may not be feasible to do grand battements. Also, since it is a kitchen, someone else may need to use it for cooking meals.
iii. Chair
Chairs work well in terms of portability and affordability, plus the backing of the chair is generally at the right height for practicing barre. Just make sure to account for the fact that you won't be able to move alongside the barre as much and to not place too much pressure on it or else it may fall backwards.
iv. Stair Railing (Optional: Windowsills)
Stair railings are one of my favourite options, as they're generally fairly stable, so they work great for practicing pointe work and stretching. Also, they're generally at about the right height to do barre exercises. Windowsills can also work if they have enough of a ledge to place your hand on, just be careful, as you won't be able to hold on to it quite as easily as the barre at the studio.
v. Try doing ballet barre in the centre
One of my ballet teachers always liked recommending doing barre in the centre, not only is it great for ensuring proper alignment, it's also great for building up strength and balance for turns, and it doesn't require any extra equipment.
Conclusion:
Overall, I would say that for those of you looking for a portable ballet barre this is a great solution to your problem, and I hope this review helps you decide whether or not it's the right product for you. Thank you so much for reading and if you're interested in learning about Harlequin's Dance Mat, feel free to check out my full review on the main page as well! Let me know in the comments down below about which products/dance related topics you'd like to see me review next. Until next time, Happy dancing! :)
Note: This article is NOT a paid advertisement/endorsement. This article is purely a review of a product to help provide others with information about it.
Here is Harlequin Floor's website: us.harlequinfloors.com
Here is the link to the Harlequin Ballet Barre I bought: us.harlequinfloors.com
Photography by: (c) Mattie C. Photography 2018
Here is a photo of the Harlequin Studio Series Ballet Barre (Size: 52" or 4ft)
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