Studio: WeBarre
Location: 13F, Hilltop Plaza, 49-51 Hollywood Rd, Central, Hong Kong
City: Hong Kong
Cost: 280HKD ($46.68 CAD/ $35.00 USD) – classes are also available through ClassPass.
History & Background
WeBarre was founded by Linda Tang and Anabel Chew. According to WeBarre’s website, they met by chance while exercising at another fitness studio and discovered that they were both passionate about barre. They realized that barre workouts were underrepresented in Singapore and felt that this was an experience they could bring to consumers in Asia. Linda and Anabel took a leap together and joined forces to create WeBarre, a supportive community that empowers people to be #strongertogether.
Photo: Dorothy Ng
About the Workout
I attended WeBarre’s Signature Multi-Level class, which was taught by Wing Lai. It was a traditional barre class that fused elements of ballet, yoga, Pilates, and strength training to work my entire body. The class opened with a full body warmup incorporating the ball. This was followed by arms, thighs, HIIT (which I wasn’t expecting, so imagine my shock!), seat, core, and stretch/cool down.
Photo: Dorothy Ng
We did bicep curls, arm lifts, arm circles, and incorporated some thigh work with curtsies and curtsy lunges. I found it interesting that the suggested weights at WeBarre weighed 0.5kg (1.1lb) and 1kg (2.2lb), but in the classes, I’ve taken in North America, they range from 2lb to 5lb.
The thigh section reminded me of traditional ballet – we did many plies, releves, and passes. I definitely felt the burn and it reminded me of the ballet classes I took as a young girl. This was followed by a 5 minute HIIT section! The exercises included jumping jacks, leg lifts, walking planks, hovering table top crawls, and burpees.
We then transitioned into seat work and ended the class with core work. I found this to be the weakest part of the class as there was a heavy emphasis on the lower core, rather than the upper core or a balance of the two. We did many leg lifts and a few crunches, but they were never the focus of the exercise.
Overall Impressions
The studio itself was bright, spacious, and welcoming. However, I found that space could be better utilized as we were cramped together in 3/5ths of the room during floor exercises. The mats were also placed very close to one another and someone accidentally let go of her ball during warmup. Furthermore, as the mats were not staggered, individuals who were less self-aware hit each other during exercises. I had to move my mat forward and out of the way because my neighbour and I were practically touching fingertips.
I enjoyed the music as it was Top 40, but found that the music did not always match the movements we were doing. Shooters of cold coconut water were available after class as a nice treat!
Amenities: mats, lockers, towels, showers, hair and skincare products.
Photo: Dorothy Ng
Photo: Dorothy Ng
Photo: Dorothy Ng
Photo: Dorothy Ng
In Vancouver, the cost of a single barre class ranges from $25-$35CAD. I was surprised by the high cost of a class at WeBarre, but upon further research, found that most barre classes in Hong Kong float between 250-300HKD. A single class at Barre2Barre is 290HKD while one at Barre Formula will set you back 250HKD.
