Love taking class here. This place is perfect for those who used to dance back in the day and still…read moremiss it! If you have taken a lot of dance in your youth, it can be tough to find the right fit amidst the whole ballet-fitness craze. There are a lot of adult beginner ballet classes out there (Extension Room actually offers some, so does the National Ballet School adult program, Dance Teq, City Dance Corps, InStudio) but if you have already done a lot of ballet before, the pace can be a bit slow/basic. Then there are intermediate ballet classes at serious ballet studios, but if you aren't dancing regularly anymore, it can be intimidating or too hard! Or the other students will all be really young! Finally, there are barre fitness studios like barre3, barreworks, barre beautiful, etc., which I enjoy for the workout, but they are not that "dance-y" if you are craving that. They are more like fitness classes that use the barre as a tool, but there isn't much choreography and most moves are done with feet in parallel, as opposed to proper ballet positions.
Enter the Extension Room -- the barre 101 class is like a legit ballet barre but with weights for an added upper body challenge (think plies, tendus, degages, adage, grand battements in the same sequence one would expect from an "real" ballet class) and the allegro boot camp made me feel like I was really dancing for the first time in ages! I talked with some of the other students and many were like me, people who had studied dance recreationally and were looking for a way to keep dancing in an accessible and fun environment. It helps that all the instructors are/were dancers, often at major ballet/contemporary companies. Watching them demonstrate with beautiful technique is inspiring and they have good eyes for form and give useful corrections. I do think it would be really helpful to have some dance background for these classes, even though they are supposed to be for anyone. That being said, if you have no dance background at all, the barre 101 class is a good place to start (slower pace, barre helps with balance). I found the allegro bootcamp quite challenging (in a good way), and I think it would be hard to keep up for those less familiar with common ballet steps. It is also way harder to do certain steps without the support of the barre! I haven't tried their yoga, mat pilates, or bosu ball classes yet but it looks like there's quite a bit of variety in their schedule.
Facilities are stunning and make it a pleasure to come here. High ceiling, chandeliers, nice sprung floors, etc. It's not a surprise that the space can be rented our for parties/weddings/corporate functions... I also like that they provide mats and weights, plus there are energy balls and juices/smoothies available for purchase. The change rooms have showers and small lockers.
The location is a bit random, but actually easy to reach by the 504 streetcar and there is free street parking in the area too. Plus, for Yelper bonus points, it is in close proximity to a number of good snack/coffee spots like Roselle, Tandem Coffee, and Odin;) Very important!!
