Jill Rose Jacobs: Book Launch & Masterclass

Barre is a popular exercise regimen in the United States and United Kingdom, currently understood as a fitness programme. This new book The First Academic Study of Barre (February 2022), by Jill Rose Jacobs, proposes that Barre may also be understood as an arts-based programme, as originally intended by its founder, Lotte Berk. Join us for a Masterclass with the author, followed by a book signing and conversation. No previous experience of Barre required! 

Timetable for the evening: 7.30-8.30 MasterClass;  8.45pm Book Signing and Discussion 

Dr Jill Rose Jacobs has recently completed her doctoral programme at Queen’s University, Belfast, and in April 2022 was awarded one of four Creative Industries Seed Fund Grants by Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Future Screens NI. Prior to entering the doctoral programme, Jill was a professor for dance-movement in the department of Performing Arts Professions at New York University (NYU). She holds a master’s degree from NYU in dance education and was awarded academic scholarships throughout her study. Jill was also a Group Fitness Instructor with Equinox, where she specialized in and launched Barre programmes.

Jill’s doctoral thesis, The High Barre: An investigation of Barre for the performing arts in higher education, posits that Barre is a highly adaptable methodology that can be tailored to bolster higher education performing arts curricula. Her research suggests that the holistic nature of such a Barre programme would improve the trajectory for the performing artist’s well-being beyond their professional career. Jill’s research interests include other applications for Barre methodology that feature elements of movement, music, and choreography that studies find are beneficial to participants. Her philosophy is that dance-movement is universal and that Barre methodology and practises foster improvement in muscle strength, tone, control, posture, mood, confidence, proprioception, and individualized artistic expression.