About

The creator of Barre Concept

BarreConcept was created and developed by fitness expert Emma Newham, who has been in the fitness industry for over two decades. Having studied classical RAD ballet since the age of 8, Emma is delighted to combine her background in Personal training, yoga instruction and Pilates teaching with her former ballet training.

Emma began her career in London as a fitness instructor and personal trainer and is one of the longest serving Pilates teachers in the UK. As an advanced Level 4 member of the Register of Exercise Professionals, her speciality is in cardiac rehabilitation. She teaches various forms of yoga along with Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis. Pilates is Emma's passion and she has written several accredited Pilates instructor training courses for her international company, Pilates Union. Her 8 published Pilates manuals and DVD's are sold all over the world.

Emma recognised the need to add an aerobic component to her existing Pilates classes in order to satisfy certain students, who were seeking a different challenge. After experimenting with various approaches, Emma decided to combine the elements of her different training qualifications over the years into one unique workout. She added to this the ballet barre exercises from her former training and set the class to high-energy music and hence BarreConcept was born. A workout, which satisfies all of the elements of fitness - strength, endurance and flexibility.

BarreConcept is the first barre course in the world to gain international accreditation. Her BarreConcept Workout manual was the first barre training manual to be published in the world and her BarreConcept DVD's are sold all over the globe.

Emma has a wealth of media experience, having written and appeared in articles for national newspapers and fitness magazines as well as hosting her own live fitness shows on London radio. She has appeared on TV shows in the UK, promoting the BarreConcept Method. Many top-level international athletes, including footballers, cricketers and dancers have worked with Emma to enhance their career. Emma presents workshops internationally in many different countries, helping to spread the popularity of her training. She runs the successful, MyBody Studios, in the North East of England.

Emma Newham, creator of Barre Concept

Background history

The origins of barre workouts have their roots in the Lotte Berk Method, a jewish ballet dancer who fled to London in the 30's when she was banned from dancing on stage by the Nazis. Lotte became injured and used her dance training to help with her rehabilitation and hence the Lotte Berk Method was born. Celebrities such as Joan Collins, Barbara Streisand and Yasmin Le Bon have pursued the method since the opening of her studio in 1959. Britt Ekland introduced Lydia Bach to Lotte and, after training with her, she opened her first studio in Manhattan in 1971 and purchased the worldwide rights. Sadly, Lotte died in 2003 at the ripe old age of 90. Despite her method being over 40 years old, it has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity and Lydia Back has continually developed the method by incorporating exercise and sports conditioning into the method.

As some exercise practitioners may tire or plateau with traditional yoga and Pilates classes, they often seek a new challenge and Barre classes can provide that logical progression. It can often bring a breath of fresh air to Pilates studios and attract new clients looking for the next new trend.

Barre workouts of today have added a 21st century spin to the original exercise method, to take into account recent knowledge of anatomy, physiology and biomechanics. The method has been updated to reflect current trends in exercise thinking and research.