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"   Photo: iStock  Follow the stairs down to the zen oasis that is Pure Yoga West, pass the lush orange couches, and a Buddha or two, and you&amp;#039;ll stumble, or better yet chass\u00E9 into something new. Figure 4 (named after a ballerina&amp;#039;s favorite cross-ankle stretch) is the latest in ballet-inspired workouts. Pink-slippered students line the professional barres for a muscle-gripping, energizing (think up-tempo music like Martin Solveig&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Hello&amp;quot; featuring Dragonette and Adele&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Rolling in the Deep&amp;quot;) hour-long session that targets abs, thighs, arms, and glutes. The glamour of the class is enough to inspire a slicked back ballet-bun, but the hairstyle also lends itself to the arm pumping light weight intervals that fall between a few long holds of yoga-like planks. &amp;quot;What I saw in the barre industry was that there were no true and trained dancers developing barre programs. I think that to be able to develop an authentically ballet-based program, one has to have trained rigorously, fiercely, and obsessively for years in order to know how to create something ballet-inspired and something that also works,&amp;quot; says Kate Albarelli, a dancer with 15 years of professional ballet and dance company experience, and creator of Figure 4. &amp;quot;I structured the Figure 4 class in a way that emulates a ballet class, maintains the flow and the rigor, and promotes the most health for the heart and the muscles plus the element of cardio that I didn&amp;#039;t find in other barre programs.&amp;quot; According to Kate, simple pirouettes and port de bras might look pretty, but alone they&amp;#039;re not enough, &amp;quot;toning is effective and necessary, but without burning the fat underneath the muscle, you will not appear as chiseled.&amp;quot; The long and lean strawberry blonde keeps the class moving and takes time to perfect each student&amp;#039;s form so they fully benefit from each movement. Don&amp;#039;t be fooled by her sweet demeanor, she is tough enough to push each student through the burn to finish strong, &amp;quot;you&amp;#039;re here, you may as well get it done!&amp;quot; she&amp;#039;ll voice to a class full of sweat-dripping students rotating between a deep pli\u00E9 and a tippy-toed relev\u00E9. Reverence is a traditional end to a ballet class, a way to honor the art of the dance, the music, and the instructor. At the end of Figure 4 reverence is to Kate, and to oneself for getting through the workout, a step (or graceful leap) closer to a lean body by summer. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a6294/raising-the-barre-19683/>