Sculpt. Tone.
Define.
Ballet-inspired strength training fused with Pilates fundamentals and music-driven cardio. Sixty-six years of barre wisdom, taught by Jill Jacobs, an industry legend, in a room full of people who come back week after week.
45 min
Session Length
Low
Impact
High
Burn
All Levels
Experience
The Practice
Why Barre?
Barre delivers the strength and definition of resistance training, the postural intelligence of Pilates, and the music-driven energy of a group fitness class - in one 45-minute session that won't leave your knees sore tomorrow.
Builds lean, defined muscle through isometric holds and small-range pulses - without bulking
Low-impact on joints; the perfect strength format for runners, postnatal members, and anyone managing knee or back history
Improves posture, balance, and core control - benefits transfer to every other movement practice
Music-driven and group-energy: progresses you faster than self-led strength work, and lifts your mood every time
The History of Barre
Barre is older than most people realise, and built on a story that runs from a London townhouse in the 1950s to the studio in Sheffield where you're reading this. Knowing the lineage changes the way you train.
1959
London, The Lotte Berk Method
German dancer Lotte Berk opens her studio on Manchester Street, fusing classical ballet barre work with rehabilitation exercises she developed for her own back injury. Barre is born, not as a dance class, but as the world's first ballet-based fitness method.
1971
New York, The American Wave
Lydia Bach licences the method and opens the Lotte Berk Method studio on East 67th Street. For the next three decades it becomes the secret weapon of dancers, models and Hollywood, quietly setting the template for every barre studio that followed.
1991–2001
The Modern Barre Family
Burr Leonard founds The Bar Method (1991). Carrie Rezabek opens the first Pure Barre in Michigan (2001). Exhale, Physique 57 and Barre3 follow. Each strips, refines and rebuilds the original method around safer biomechanics, music and modern strength science.
2010s
The UK Renaissance
Barre crosses back to its birthplace. Studios open across London, Manchester and Leeds. A new generation of British instructors, Jill Jacobs prominent among them, bring barre to towns and cities outside the capital, making the discipline mainstream.
Today
Barre at R1SE
We blend the postural intelligence of the original method with the strength science of the modern era and the music-driven energy of a R1SE class. The barre is wooden. The light is warm. The format is unmistakably ours.
Our Barre Sessions
Two formats, both at our Brook Place studio. New to barre? Either is fine to start with - your instructor will sit beside you on day one and walk you through the rhythm.
Barre Sculpt
Our signature barre format. Small, isolated movements at the ballet barre and on the mat target the seat, thighs, abs and arms. Light hand weights and resistance bands raise the intensity without raising the impact. Set to a curated playlist that drives the tempo.
Barre HIIT
Barre fundamentals plus interval bursts of cardio. The barre work builds strength and tone; the HIIT intervals push your heart rate and metabolic burn. The most demanding format we run - and the one members keep coming back to.
Meet Jill JacobsAn industry legend. An everyday inspiration.
Jill Jacobs
Lead Barre Instructor
View full bio →
Some teachers run a class. Jill changes a body, and, more often than members expect, a life. Three decades at the barre have turned her into one of the most respected voices in UK ballet-based fitness, and the reason a generation of women in Sheffield first found their strength.
Jill came to barre the way the best teachers always do , through dance. She trained classically, taught ballet, discovered the Lotte Berk lineage in the 1990s, and never looked back. She has taught barre through three pregnancies in the front row, hundreds of marathons in the legs of her runners, and more weddings, recoveries and comebacks than she could ever count.
What members notice first is the precision. What they stay for is the warmth. Jill knows your name, your knee, the holiday you came back from on Tuesday and the song that will get you through plié pulses on a wet February morning. Barre at R1SE is hers, and it shows.
“Barre isn't about the body you'll have in twelve weeks. It's about the way you walk into the room tomorrow.”
, Jill Jacobs
Credentials
- Three decades teaching barre, ballet and Pilates
- Trained across the Lotte Berk lineage and contemporary barre methods
- Mentor to the next generation of R1SE barre instructors
- Specialist in pre and postnatal barre programming
- Recognised across the North of England as a leading voice in ballet-based fitness
How Jill teaches
Form before everything
Jill is a stickler. You will be cued, corrected and adjusted, because a single millimetre of pelvic tilt is the difference between a wasted set and a transformed body. Members say it's the closest thing to private tuition you can get in a group class.
Music as a coach
Every Jill class is built around a playlist she has chosen herself. The tempo dictates the pulse, the chorus carries the hold, the drop powers the burn. You will leave singing.
The whole woman
Jill teaches the body she sees in front of her, not the one in a textbook. Postnatal? She'll regress the work and rebuild your core. Long-distance runner? She'll find your weak hip and fix it. New to fitness? She'll have you laughing by song two.
In members' words
“I've taken barre in London, New York and Sheffield. Jill is the best I've ever trained with. She sees you.”
R1SE member, 4 years
“I came to barre after my second baby. Jill rebuilt my body. I am stronger now than I was before children.”
R1SE member, 2 years
“I drive 35 minutes for her 9.30 class. There is no replacement.”
R1SE member, 6 years
Practical
What to expect
What to wear
Leggings or close-fitting shorts; a fitted top. Grip socks (with rubber soles) are required at the barre - we sell pairs at reception if you forget yours.
What we provide
Mats, light hand weights (1–3 kg), resistance bands, balls, and a fresh towel. Just bring water and your grip socks.
Will I be sore?
Almost certainly - barre targets the small stabilising muscles most strength training misses. The first three sessions are the hardest. By session four you’ll feel the change.
Beginner friendly?
Yes. Every move has a regression. The instructor cues both the full and easier versions throughout - you choose. Most members are at the barre within their first week.
Frequently Asked
Barre, answered
Find Your Strength
Two formats, four sessions a week, one location. Show up - your instructor will do the rest.