Melissa Feeney

How did Jill Dailey of The Dailey Method manage to grow her namesake workout into a more than 50-studio franchise across four countries? The Barre Blog had the chance to dig into TDM’s history with its founder and creator, and to talk all things barre.

If you’re not familiar with The Dailey Method, their focus is on alignment and form and is designed to deliver a balanced, full-body workout resulting in a high-calorie burn.

Among their barre class offerings are a signature Dailey Barre class, a cardio-infused Dailey Interval class, a basics class appropriately called Dailey Barre Basics, and a fast-paced Dailey Fusion class among many others. They’ve also launched an on-demand service for anyone to access their classes online. 

Our Interview With Jill Dailey

You’ve built quite a following since you first opened the doors to your Marina District studio in San Francisco. In the early days did you ever think that your workout had the potential to turn into an international exercise phenomenon?

No idea! Really my intention was just to have my own little fitness studio and run that, I never expected it to go big… franchising, expanding was not really my drive. Mine was just teaching classes which is still what I love to do the most… is teach the classes and teach teachers.

I got a lot of women coming and taking my classes that wanted studios of their own, saying “I love this community, I love what you offer, I want to have this in my neighborhood, I want to have this in my town,” and it really just organically grew from that.

When you started your business, the barre scene must have been almost non-existent in the Bay Area.

I was the first barre studio on the west coast. There was really nothing. I got it from going to New York and taking Lotte Berk classes, so that was really where I was inspired. I was a pilates teacher so I started incorporating a lot of Lotte Berk’s moves into my pilates training and then realized I liked that better.

Taking classes at the Lotte Berk Method in New York must have meant you had some pretty famous classmates since there have been many studios and spawns to have come out of that method like Physique 57, Exhale, The Bar Method and others. How would you say your method differs from those other franchises?

I think that our focus on alignment and always really analyzing the body and letting the method evolve based on making it better for people is a little unique. We have alignment principles, we have a very intense teacher training program, we format our classes with a reason. Anytime you say “why do you do that before that?” I’ll be able to tell you because we really looked at your physiology and understand what people’s needs are. I feel like it can take on a little bit more of a rehabilitative [practice]. We don’t do anything in our classes that we don’t think is a functional movement.

Do you have any interesting stories from your days in New York?

I had a client who was from New York who loved the Lotte Berk Method. A couple of times she flew me out there to take classes so that I could train her. I went out there a couple of times. I did spend a week with a woman who owned a studio in Larchmont [New York], Debbie Frank, she owned a studio there, she was an ex-Lotte Berk teacher. I was introduced to her and spent a week with her, learning her systems and all of that before I opened.

So you had a personal training business before you started this —

It was mostly pilates is what I did. I did pilates and personal training.

From what I understand, you brought some of those clients over [to your first studio]. How did you convince your early day’s clientele to try a class when they may not have even known what the barre workout was all about?

I had quite a few clients but when you’re doing personal training versus what you need to do to pack a room it’s totally different. I think the ones who were working with me who came over knew what I was doing because I was training them in a similar way. Oddly not a lot of them came with me because if you’re someone who wants a personal trainer to come to your house or you’re going to go workout one-on-one with somebody you don’t generally then just go take classes, it’s a different mindset. It was almost all word of mouth like I remember doing a whole bunch of mailers 19 years ago, like postcard mailers, I maybe got a school mailing list or something [laughter] and mailed those out, but it was just word of mouth. I was packed from the minute I opened my doors. In the beginning, it was like people really want this and people need it and it was an awesome reception.

How do you think barre has evolved since then? There are so many companies that are coming up now, so would you say it’s changed at all since you started?

My barre has changed for sure. I would love to have a video of myself teaching class 19 years ago versus the way I teach it now.  I think a lot more knowledge has come into it, I mean obviously, the fact that it’s still around and it continues to grow shows that it’s something that’s a very valid method that really works. I mean there’s just so many different barre studios now [laughter]. When I opened it was Lotte Berk and then The Lotte Berk Method moved into The Bar Method. When their 10-year licensing agreement finished they moved three blocks away from me in Cow Hollow. There wasn’t a barre [studio] anywhere and then there were two barre studios right here. You walk around downtown San Francisco now and there’s a barre or pilates studio on every single street.

..and now they’re also incorporating barre into pilates studios, yoga studios as well, so you have that to compete with…

I feel like a lot of places do that, but one of the things about barre is people really love it and they make it their practice so they want to do it almost every day. When it’s in a gym they don’t really have that capacity to take…you know I have 8-15 classes a day on my schedule. That gives you a lot of freedom. When you go to a gym, they have barre, they have pilates but they have it three times a week. You have to be very specific about when you can go.

Part of your offering is also Cycle.

It is. We have a Dailey Cycle component. It’s generally 40 minutes on the bike, and it’s really alignment-based, so we talk a lot while you’re riding, how you should be riding, how you should be sitting. Then it’s 20 minutes of arm work, stretching and core work so you’re still getting that full-body workout.

How did you decide to incorporate that type of exercise, was it to compliment the barre classes?

It actually really was the brainchild of a studio owner in Illinois. Their clientele likes to work out really, really hard, so she really wanted to have a cycle component but have it work with the barre. I let her test it and it worked great, and then others wanted it too.

Do you think that there isn’t enough cardio in a barre class alone, that you do need that added component?

I don’t, personally. I took an interval class yesterday morning and I guarantee you my heart rate went way up. A lot of studies show that cardiovascular strength isn’t as important as the muscular strength and the foundation of your skeleton and all of that. As long as you eat well, don’t smoke and don’t stress your heart out unless it’s genetic, doing work that actually works the muscles gives you more benefit than doing a bunch of cardiovascular work. Cardiovascular work just makes people feel good, it’s the endorphins. But I personally feel better during a barre class, than I do a cycle class. I do it but it’s definitely not my favourite.

What can people expect when they walk through the doors of a Dailey Method studio?

I hope the first thing they get is a big smile from somebody. That’s a big part of having a welcoming community and having a place where you come in and you feel seen and you feel safe. In general, I think that The Dailey Method studios are really friendly and welcoming. Generally, you check-in at the front desk, somebody will show you where the mats are, where the weights are and you wait for class to start. We try to get you up by the mirrors so you can see your body when you’re exercising but a lot of times if you’re a brand new person you like to hide in the way back corner. I know I do that when I go to classes that I’m intimidated by. I think generally it’s a very positive experience and supportive.

How would you say the culture/vibe differs from your competition?

I could say even within The Dailey Method there’s a different vibe in different studios, which I think is so much of the intrigue of the boutique studio business. You have an owner, so that studio takes on the personality or the life or the energy of the owner. If you’re someone who is really hard, you’re going to attract a whole bunch of people who are really intense and like to work out really hard. If you’re really open and playful and really just believe in alignment and teaching the best class possible, that’s going to show through in your studio and I hope that’s what shows through in mine.

Speaking of owners, what do you typically look for in owners?

Because this started so organically, and it was so long ago, it was all about the product. We didn’t have to do a lot of marketing or social media when we first opened. I worked and worked and worked on the product, and I still do, I’m always making the product better.

It really drew people that appreciated that and fell in love with that. Owners, in the beginning, were really people that were good at the method. They were good at performing it, at teaching it, they had the personalities. It was really just about, can you deliver this? Because if you can deliver this, I’ll let you be a studio owner.

It worked for a while but as times have changed you have to have somebody that is also business savvy. All these women would open studios with no business background, no idea how to run a studio and they were fine but now you have tonnes of competition and you have to market it and you have to work on your sales pitch and all of that, it’s a different animal.

Now I really have to find that combination of someone who has both capabilities, or who has a partner, because I don’t allow someone to own a studio that doesn’t teach the method. One person could but within that partnership one of them has to be the face of their studio. I’m very protective of the product.

So going forward how do you see The Dailey Method evolving? Are you thinking of introducing new classes, are you looking at expansion?

We’re always doing a slow expansion and again I really go based on the individuals versus getting out there and opening up a whole bunch [of studios]. It’s finding the people who love The Dailey Method and supporting them having a studio themselves. We have an online product now, and we’re spending a lot of time and energy on that, to get more exposure and have it available to more people.

It seems that’s the way a lot of companies are going…

It’s just this day and age. We have a basics of barre certification that you can get continuing education credits for and am planning on putting that online. That’s supporting our owners to help train their teachers so they don’t have to do it all themselves. They have a platform to get them 10 of the hours there, 10 out of the 15.

Do you think the barre workout has staying power?

I think so. I don’t see how it can’t. It’s been around for so long and people love it. One of my studios just had its 16th anniversary and there were five women in the room that have been coming to me since we’ve been open.

I think one of them had just gotten married and now she has three kids and one of them her kids had just left the house and now she is 75.

It works for them, they don’t get injured, and if they are injured they can come in and rehab themselves. I know that there are a lot of fitness fads and I like to go try them out too but this is based on this is actually safe for you. It’s going to make you feel good in your body.

I definitely think it has staying power. I can’t see it going away anytime soon.

I know not every studio has the cycle component but it’s nice to have that component because it makes it more of an appealing membership if you have both options.

In regards to adding other formats, no. We have a really good range of barre classes. We offer Dailey Gentle which is very, very fundamental, functional movement based around a barre class but super slow.

I’ve had people coming back from injury, with broken knees come in. For people who are older or who might feel intimidated then we have a basics class that is kind of like the next step up.

Then we have Dailey Barre, then we have a fusion class which is barre and interval combined and then we have our interval. So we have a lot of formats but they’re all based on the same alignment principles.

You’d be comfortable in any one of those classes if you take the regular barre class because we’re using the same names, doing the same movements, it’s just whether we’re doing them at a quicker tempo or more repetitions.

It gives people some variety in the type of classes they can take —

Yeah, but it’s like I’m not going to start jumping rope. [Laughter.]

Right, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Exactly.

Okay, so now I want to ask you some fun, rapid-fire questions…

What’s your favourite barre exercise?

Standing parallel seat work.

Planks or push-ups?

Planks, always!

Favourite time of day to take a class?

8:30 am

Favourite barre prop?

Definitely the circular band. It’s one we just added.

Favourite post-class activity?

Either taking my dog on a hike or depending on the time of the day going out and having a drink with a friend.

Go-to leggings?

Two. Alo and Beyond Yoga.

---

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

For more information on Jill Dailey and The Dailey Method, visit thedaileymethod.com.

Have you tried a class at The Dailey Method before? What did you think? Write a comment below, to let us know.