I am a fitness fiend and ever since I can remember I’ve been on a quest for that perfect tush. That is why for months now I’ve been waiting for The Sports Barre to open…. I met Jacey and Danielle a few months ago, and we had a fun boozy lunch at Marco and Pepe. They are not your typical fitness chicks, these girls were eating burgers and insisted on ordering a whole bottle of Prosecco. It was love at first lunch.

Jacey and Danielle are hard working girl bosses with the best bodies in Jersey City. I kid you not, they are the babeliest babes with the most down to earth fun personalities. I just love them. The Sports Barre opened while I was in Israel so as soon as I landed I went to take a “Barre Naked” class.

As some of you who follow me know, I work out a few times a week, and like to consider myself to be “in shape”. All I have to say is that this class was a humbling experience, my muscles were burning in places I’ve never thought possible! I am well on my way to that perfect butt.

A day later Jacey and Danielle invited me back so I could hear their story and get the inside scoop on The Sports Barre method. I just love these two!

What are your names? Danielle DeAngelo and Jacey Lambros.

What do you guys do? (Jacey) We are co-owners of The Sports Barre.

Congratulations on your opening! (Jacey) We opened last Wednesday!

What is The Sports Barre? (Danielle) The Sports Barre is a dance based fitness studio where we fuse athletic conditioning with classical dance.

(Jacey) We composed and transcribed our own methodology based on what we felt would create the most efficient and effective total body workout. As professional dancers, we both danced together as Rockettes in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.  There was no singular workout regimen that could prime us for that type of show. We were dancing up to 6 shows a day, 6 days a week. Simply taking dance classes wasn’t enough… we needed a more comprehensive workout. We wanted to create a one stop shop for all our fitness needs.

Tell me about your different classes. (Danielle) We offer four different classes: Barre Naked, Sports Barre, Dance your A$@ Off & Tramp Stamp.

Our signature class is Sports Barre, rotates strength, cardio, HIIT, combined with flexibility training to keep you burning long after you leave the bar. Clothing is NOT optional in our Barre Naked class, designed to promote a long, lean musculature… this core centric workout combines isolated movements with isometric resistance, muscular endurance and flexibility training.

Our Dance your A$@ Off is Jersey City’s ultimate dance party… This cardio workout rotates high and low impact sport and dance routines. We have lights here that strobe and change colors… it’s a cardio workout so it is high impact. We also have Tramp Stamp, and that is our rebounder class.

I love that its called Tramp Stamp! Each client will get their own trampoline and the teacher will instruct and take you on a journey to sweat!

(Jacey) A journey to sweat, with additional benefits. Tramp stamp is a low impact workout that will firm and tone your entire body as you increase energy, circulation and vitality! Each class is a total body workout, so you hit all the muscle groups in each class.

You mentioned you were both in the Rockettes, is that how you met? (Danielle) Yes, 10 years ago. We met each other because we shared a dressing room….

So you’ve seen each other naked many times… (Jacey) Yeah, now it’s like almost every day.

(Danielle) To become a rockette you have to be proficient in tap, jazz and ballet.. you are working together as a team so its really like a sisterhood. Which is something Jacey and I wanted to create here, at The Sports Barre. A place where woman can feel empowered, create a sisterhood, camaraderie between each other… we really wanted to facilitate a place of warmth, where people can feel comfortable and confident when they take these classes.

A lot of times people walk in, for example to the Dance your ass off class and clients will say “Oh I can’t do that I am not a dancer…” And you don’t have to have taken dance classes to have fun, it’s just fun and if you screw up one of the moves who gives a shit.

That’s what I say to people when I teach my hip hop class. (Jacey) Yeah who cares! It’s a judgement free zone… by the end of the class the people who were timid are like “Woohoo” screaming, hollering…

(Danielle) And we are proud of that.

What kind of music do you play? (Jacey) Sometimes we kick it old school, other times new dance remixes… we try to cater to everyone and play every type of musical genre.

For people who are not really into fitness, how would you convince them? If they are a little intimidated by your method… (Jacey) I would say we have something for everybody, our classes are really diverse… and also don’t knock it until you try it! People come in and are intimidated and they leave loving it. It’s feat that holds us back!

What I like about your training is the emphasis on a more lean type of body…. (Danielle) We promote the strength of an athlete with the body of a dancer. Our method promotes long, lean musculature while building strength and endurance. We change up the exercises to keep our minds and bodies guessing. We also combine stretching techniques into each of our classes. Stretching after you work your muscles is so important to creating supple but strong bodies.

What do you eat? (Danielle) Everything!! (Jacey) We work out alot, we don’t believe in dieting, or promote dieting, we believe everything in moderation… You have to enjoy life.

I loved how yesterday after class you guys were like “Wanna go to Wonderbagel?” haha. (Danielle) Haha. We do everything in moderation… Jacey and I will go out to eat and we will split the burger, split the fries but we never share a drink!! In life we believe it’s about balance, pull back where you need to and let go where you want to and somewhere in the middle there is a happy medium.

How long have you guys been in Jersey City? (Danielle) About 6 years. (Jacey) 12 years.

How did you end up here? (Jacey) I was fresh out of college and my first audition was for the New Jersey Nets, so I moved out here with a couple of the girls from the Nets team, I fell in love with the city and I just never left.

(Danielle) I moved here for a boy! Another Rockette set me up with my husband and he was living here. Jersey City has so many Rockettes running around!

We should do a reunion show haha! (Danielle) We are very fortunate because many former and current Rockets have become our trainers, all of our trainers are professional dancers… some have been on Broadway and other shows but they are also trained in fitness and certified in THE SPORTS BARRE method.

What are your favorite JC Hangout spots? (Danielle) There are so many….

The Hamilton Inn obviously? (Jacey) Haha. Well the sweet potato salad is one of my favorite things… We also like Marco and Pepe.

(Danielle) I love Lighthorse, GPs….

(Jacey) We also use the hashtag #workouttoeatout

Haha, that can be interpreted in many different ways. (Everyone) hahaha.

What else do you guys have going on? (Danielle) Well we made an announcement at our opening that we are taking over the second floor and we will be opening a spin studio.

(Jacey) We feel Jersey City is ready for more Boutique fitness and a spin studio and cycling is something we’ve been passionate about.  We are really fortunate to be able to have the second floor in our building. We call our building Jersey City’s “mini flatiron” building!

Awesome! And I am guest teaching this Thursday! (Danielle) So excited! We called it “After Party”!

So fun, I love it!

Any other future plans? We will be hosting quarterly soirees where we involve local business’s such as nutritionists, acupuncturists…. People in Jersey City are so interesting!

(Danielle) We also offer personal training.

Can you elaborate? (Jacey) We have a private training room downstairs and we have availabilities all day every day. It can’t be booked online, however you have to call or email to book the session. It’s a one on one customized personal training experience. We do a fitness assessment and we measure your performance to create a program that is tailored to your needs.

What about men? I know there is a misconception that The Sports Barre is only for females? (Jacey) We have found that men need a lot of flexibility training we have found… we have a few guys that come to our class. They are probably intimated by all the lycra and maybe “body of a dancer…” but what we mean by that is we are trying to create supple yet strong bodies…Our bodies thrives on new exercises, so for guys who are at the gym lifting heavy, it’s nice to compliment it with low weight, high rep training…. and we also target muscles they aren’t used to working.

You are also very nice to look at let’s be honest… (Everyone) Hahaha, if you could only smell us.

Anything else you want people to know? (Jacey) Yeah so this wall right here… in developing this method we wanted to combine the most important elements of being a dancer and being an athlete. We try to incorporate all these to our exercises… From the athletic side there is cardio, agility, strength, intensity and power and then from the dancer the musicality, stability, poise, coordination and flexibility…. Those are our underlying fundamentals that set us apart.

Any plans on more locations? (Danielle) More things to come, that’s all I am going to say!

Love it!! 

Class Schedule: Visit thesportsbarre.com to sign up. Drop ins always welcome!

Web

Instagram

Facebook

[wc_googlemap title=”THE SPORTS BARRE” location=”162 Newark Ave, 3rd Floor, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302″ zoom=”16″ height=”250″ title_on_load=”yes” class=””]