Tell us about your mother, Lotte Berk
Everyone in the health and fitness industry will be familiar with barre, but not many know the technique originated with my mother, Lotte Berk.
She was a renowned dancer from Liselotte Heymansohn in Cologne, who fled Nazi Germany, arriving in London during the war as a refugee.
Lotte found success as a dancer and in later years, when she reached her 40s – the age when dancer retired – she realised she couldn’t live without movement, so in 1959 she created an exercise programme that comprises 19 movements based around using a ballet barre.
She was the first person to take dance and create an exercise programme out of it and her programme became world famous.
She restricted it to women, as she wanted to create a safe space where they could feel good in their bodies.
Tell us about the protocol
She created it following an incident when she slipped a disk. To aid her recovery, she began working with an orthopaedic surgeon to design a series of exercises to strengthen the spine and core.
After making a full recovery, she started sharing her method with others.
Nobody had ever done the sort of moves my mother did. The Lotte Berk Technique works the small muscles which create a sleek body shape, so they work like a corset.
Generally with exercise, people want to focus on the major muscles, but although these are important, they’re supported by smaller muscles which are often ignored. Lotte Berk exercises focus on all those smaller muscle groups and feel like a bow and arrow into the muscle.
How did the business progress?
The Lotte Berk Technique expanded into a number of countries, including Switzerland, Italy, Israel, the Middle East and Canada, as well as around the UK, with classes continuing to this day.
In the early 70s, one of Lotte’s students – Lydia Bach – came to London from the US to train in the method and ended up buying the rights to the Lotte Berk Technique in the US.
Lydia registered the copyright for Lotte Berk’s name in the US, added more movements to the protocol – such as planks, push-ups, strength and balance exercises – to create an hour-long class called Barre.
I regret that my mother lost out on the opportunity to popularise her own method in America, but at the time, it was a choice she made.
What kinds of influence did Lotte have on the wider industry?
You’ll see Lotte’s influence in many of today’s classes. For example, many teachers advise against wearing midriff-baring tops, as exposure to cold air can make muscles more prone to injury – Lotte was huge advocate of injury prevention.
What are your goals now?
I’m 89 and on a mission to protect and promote the Lotte Berk Technique in its original form. I want to make sure Lotte’s name doesn’t die and I’d like to see studios using my mother’s name, with instructors who are trained using my mother’s technique.
Although I’ve retired from teaching, I still work out twice a day using the exercises.
Tell us about the Lotte Berk Foundation
One of my teachers, Jenifer Klepfer, is leading the establishment of The Lotte Berk Foundation, which will promote the method and run teacher training courses.
The next course is planned for 24-29 June in Berkshire, UK. The lead teacher will be Jenifer, who has built a committed community of Lotte Berkers and I will give a Q&A on the Lotte Berk spirit and what makes the technique different. The course will also cover the history of the technique, the art of crafting a Lotte Berk class, anatomy and an exam.
Teachers have to be empathetic as well as strict and they need to have humour because my mother put a lot of mischief into it.
More: www.lotte-berk.com
