barre3: Pilates, yoga meet ballet at the barre

• What: Barre3.

• Where: 16415 S.E. 15th St., Suite 108, Vancouver.

• When: Classes daily. For a schedule, visit www.barre3.com/locations/vancouvercamas

• Contact: 360-314-6769, vancouverwa@barre3.com

Carrie Caldroney stands barefoot in her east Vancouver studio, her left hand resting on the ballet barre. She lifts her heels off the ground, shifting her weight to the balls of her feet.

With her legs slightly bent at the knees, Caldroney lowers her body an inch, then rises back up. After a few repetitions, Caldroney adds another component. She lowers her body, rises back up, then leans her upper body back to resemble a water skier. She repeats the series at least a dozen times — all while balancing on the balls of her feet.

Her legs begin to tremble.

“Let me see those legs wiggle,” Caldroney tells the 20 women in the class following her lead. “That wiggle sensation you feel in your body is change happening. Don’t run from it.”

The women line the mirror-paneled room, each with a place along the ballet barre — a stationary handrail that’s pronounced “bar” and is typically used during ballet warm-up exercises.

But the women aren’t at the studio for a ballet class, they are there for barre3.

Barre3 combines yoga and Pilates and incorporates the barre for a workout that emphasizes muscle tone, flexibility and strength. Barre3 builds long, lean muscles and focuses on strengthening under-utilized muscles, such as core muscles and glutes.

The improved strength makes the body more balanced, allowing people to use their bodies more safely and prevent injuries, she said.

“The goal of barre3 is more balance in our bodies,” Caldroney said.

‘It never bores’

The class begins with a warm-up routine similar to those of many aerobic exercise classes. Then, the class moves to the barre for a series of exercises to tone and strengthen the leg and core muscles. They spend some time away from the barre, too, using small hand weights to work their upper body and perform quicker movements for cardiovascular work.

The women move back to the barre for exercises that resemble ballet poses, testing their balance by standing on one leg and extending the other leg away from their bodies. The hourlong class finishes with more abdominal work and stretches while lying and sitting on mats.

The variety, Caldroney said, keeps the class exciting.

“It never bores,” she said.

Caldroney opened the Vancouver studio — the second of the Portland-based barre3 franchise — in June 2010. She trained with barre3 founder Sadie Lincoln and taught at the flagship studio before opening the Clark County studio. Today, about 75 studios operate across the country, Caldroney said.

Amy Ferdinando of Washougal has been involved with barre3 since the program’s humble beginnings in a Portland studio above a grocery store.

Ferdinando was a marathon runner and tried various other workouts before finding barre3. Barre3 workouts helped to strengthen deeper muscles, those closer to the bones, she said.

“I just never got the results I was looking for until I added barre3 to everything else,” she said.

Ferdinando, 41, continued the workouts when she got pregnant three years ago, taking classes nearly every day. The workouts helped to subdue her morning sickness and prevented back aches and other pains, she said.

“It was a really easy pregnancy,” she said. “I give all the credit to barre3.”

Ferdinando came to class the morning of the day she was scheduled to be induced. During class, she felt an unfamiliar sensation but continued with the class. She later learned she had gone into labor during barre3 class.

Ferdinando returned to barre3 after having her baby and lost all her baby weight within 16 weeks. She’s maintained her weight, which is 10 pounds lighter than before she had her daughter.

“Barre3 is my happy place,” she said.