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How to Build Your Own Ballerina Barre

Ballet students and professional dancers spend thousands of hours perfecting their technique at the barre (or "bar"). Serious students can log extra practice time if they have a ballet barre at home. Although you could also use wood or metal to construct the barre, PVC pipe offers numerous benefits. It's inexpensive and available at most hardware stores. It's also lightweight, so you can move the barre out of the way if you are short on space. When purchasing the PVC pipe, choose pipe that is 2 inches in diameter, and have the staff at the hardware store cut the pipe to the required lengths.

Things You'll Need

  • 1 PVC pipe, 48 inches long
  • 2 PVC pipes, 36 inches long
  • 4 PVC pipes, 9 inches long
  • 2 T-joints
  • 6 90-degree elbows
  • 4 caps
  • Measuring tape, optional
  • Sandbags, optional
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Instructions

    • 1

      Place the two 90-degree elbows on either end of the 48-inch length of PVC pipe. This long piece of pipe will be the actual barre.

    • 2

      Insert the two 36-inch pipes into the other ends of the elbows. These pieces will run perpendicular to the floor, raising the barre off the ground.

    • 3

      Attach the centers of two of the T-joints to the legs of the barre so that the free ends point at a right angle to the actual barre.

    • 4

      Insert the four 9-inch lengths of PVC pipes into the empty spaces of the T-joints. These four pieces form the barre's support. They should lay in the opposite direction from the actual barre. For example, imagine that your barre runs from left to right. These supports should run from front to back.

    • 5

      Place the other four T-joints on the ends of the supports and attach the caps to the free ends to protect your floor from damage.

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Ballet

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