With clients including Madonna, Demi Moore, Natalie Portman and Drew Barrymore, and, closer to home, Margot Robbie and Jennifer Hawkins, Xtend Barre is a fast-paced workout that combines the benefits of ballet and pilates.

“It’s aimed at any age and any fitness background,” Xtend Barre Canberra owner and director Natasha Harrington says.

“It’s taken the strength and technicality of pilates and the musicality and isometric barre exercises of ballet, and put the two together.”

As an ex-dancer, Harrington has learnt the hard way what dancing can do to your body. She explains dancers have amazing elongated figures but end up with a lot of injuries and sadly for a lot of them their careers get cut short.

“Quite often when you get a dancer come through the door who has never done pilates before all of a sudden they realise that there is this huge weakness in their body, and that is why Xtend Barre is so great,” she says.

Originally a Queensland girl, Harrington danced her way through the Sayers Ballet Academy, then the Queensland Dance School of Excellence and further onto the Queensland Ballet Company. But her dreams were shattered when she sustained an ankle injury that required keyhole surgery.

“Basically I was told the surgery could either go fine or I could walk with a limp for the rest of my life,” she says.

“So I made the decision then to come away from dance all together. That was 20 years ago.”

After studying to become a personal trainer, Harrington had her first child. She says it took a long time to get use to motherhood but always knew that she would return to the workforce.

“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but knew that when I found it something in my gut and in my heart would switch and I would just know,” she says.

It wasn’t until she stumbled across a Facebook post about Xtend Barre that sparked a feeling of certainty.

“There was part of my past that I thought the door had closed – the whole dance world that I thought was my history. This reignited that flame,” Harrington says.

When Harrington realised there was no location in Canberra she enquired about bringing the craze to the nation’s capital for mothers like her to attend. This lead to a light bulb moment – who better to bring it here than herself?

“I have to admit, at this point I was incredibly unfit, my exercise routine was almost nonexistent, my abdominal muscles were weak from pregnancy and that really scared me,” she says.

Despite this, Harrington did the training, completed the required course, challenged herself physically and mentally, and the rest is history.

Xtend Barre Canberra offers a range of classes from baby-inclusive, and beginner to advanced, spacious studios, a relaxing sofa area with chandeliers and damasked wallpaper, cold-pressed juices, coconut water, various different protein-type snacks and stylish workout attire.

“It’s about that community feel. Being a woman and having a child I’ve definitely had difficulties adjusting, and a lot of women go through that and I really want Xtend Canberra to be a safe place for people,” Harrington says.

“Whether it’s getting away from being a lawyer with incredibly busy work hours to the busy mum who doesn’t get a second to herself, they can come here and just focus on themselves – but you’re going to have to work hard too.”

A: London Circuit, Canberra City

W: xtendbarrecanberra.com.au