Create an easy DIY Ballet Barre for your dancer! Trust us, it will improve their at home dance experience leaps and bounds and is pretty easy on your wallet too compared to traditional barres!
A couple of us have created this barre for our own dancers and it is a great size and it's light enough for them to move around themselves during their classes. Plus, it makes your home studio (aka your kitchen or living room) feel much more like the studio they are used to :).
This barre will turn out to be around 43 inches tall (which is standard) with a second lower barre. It's up to you to decide how long you would like it. A good length would be about 4 feet but you can make it shorter or longer depending on the amount of space you have. We wouldn't recommend any less than 2-3 feet and remember that some usable space will be take up by the connectors. For the rest of this tutorial we will call your length "L".
Step 1: Go to anywhere that sells PVC pipe. PRO TIP: Sometimes they will even cut it for you for no extra charge.
Step 2: Get the PVC pipe. You will need:
- 2 10ft lengths of 1.25" PVC pipe. (this is the inner diameter - the outer diameter is closer to 1.5")
we have also used pipe that is 1.5" (because that is what we could find) and it worked as well, whatever you use just make sure all of your connectors and the pipe are the same size!
Step 3: Get the connectors. You will need:
- 4 elbow connectors (the 90 degree kind) in size 1.25" (or the same size as your pipe)
- 2 t-connectors in size 1.25" (or the same size as your pipe)
- 4 end caps in size 1.25"(or the same size as your pipe) - these should be rubber and will fit over the end of the feet of the barre (see diagram below) PRO TIP: These serve a double purpose of also helping reduce the slip of your barre on hard floor surfaces because the rubber is sticky :)
Step 4: Cut the pipe (or get an associate at the store to do it for you) to the following lengths:
- 6 pieces 10" long
- 2 pieces 26" long
- 2 pieces 'L' long (this will become the length of your barre so if you want a 4' barre then this should be 4')
Step 5: Remove any stickers on the pipe and wash off any residue (make sure you dry thoroughly to avoid trapping moisture inside the pipe)
Step 6: Assemble all of the pieces. Note: they will just just snap together but if you want it to be extra strong you can use an adhesive such as a PVC glue :)
Step 7: Enjoy your brand new ballet barre in all of your virtual classes!!