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INSTRUCTOR SPOTLIGHT SERIES: DUSTIN ISOM
With so many of us taking our barre3 practice into our homes these past few months, the online instructors have become familiar faces—friends we invite into our living rooms to help us move, breathe, and destress. In our new Instructor Spotlight Series, you’ll get to know the instructors beyond their energy-boosting choreography and motivating mantras.
This week, we’re chatting with Dustin Isom, an online instructor from barre3 Henderson who joined our team in May of 2018. Read on to learn about Dustin’s background in dance—including a three-year stint touring with Norwegian Cruise Lines—how barre3 has helped him cope with our rapidly changing world, and why he drew stick figures to help him prepare for his barre3 instructor audition.
BARRE3: The barre3 online community knows you for your goal-worthy Carousel Horse form and your ability to gently coach us through the most challenging holds. Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of barre3?
DUSTIN: Originally from Rhode Island, I began performing at the age of 7. From there I moved to Natick, Massachusetts, where I studied musical theater at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, a boarding school for young artists. After graduating, I attended a year of college at Pace University in their BFA Commercial Dance program, and then I left school during my second year to begin working as a professional dancer. I toured around with Norwegian Cruise Lines for three years, traveling and performing around the world before settling down in Las Vegas, Nevada. I moved here to dance full-time in “Vegas! The Show.” Although I no longer dance full-time, I still freelance and perform around town, and occasionally with Norwegian Cruise Lines for various events.
BARRE3: How did you first discover barre3?
DUSTIN: I discovered barre3 after relocating to Las Vegas. A friend and coworker of mine was just going through the new-hire process at barre3 Henderson and invited me to her community free class. Immediately after her class, while stretching and warming up for the show we were in, she suggested I give it go and audition for barre3. That evening I emailed the studio owner, Jackie, and asked about auditioning. The rest is history!
BARRE3: When did you know you wanted to be an instructor—and what was the audition process like?
DUSTIN: I’ve known I wanted to become a fitness instructor for quite some time, but when I discovered barre3 I knew I wanted to teach there instantly. My audition process was actually pretty quick. After emailing Jackie about becoming an instructor, next thing you know I’m training with my studio mentor to become a certified instructor. The process to become an instructor is similar to what any performer or dancer would do for a job. They give you material to learn and then require you to submit a taped recording of you demonstrating the material. From there, you are either approved to move on to learning an entire class, or they give you a few notes to work on before re-auditioning. After passing my audition, I began to learn the choreography for my first barre3 class. Now let me remind you that I had only taken ONE barre3 class before auditioning, so a lot of the terms and posture names were such a challenge to pick up. If you look at my first notebook, I have little stick figures drawn in so that I could remember what the postures looked like. Once you learn the class and practice teaching at your home studio with your mentor, you then fly out to the barre3 Training Center in Portland, go through a three-day intensive training, and then after just a few more steps, you’re on your way to becoming a certified barre3 instructor!
BARRE3: What is it about barre3 specifically that resonates with you?
DUSTIN: As a dancer, I’ve always suffered from some type of muscle pain or injury, whether it’s back pain, a sprained ankle, or an overstretched hamstring. What I love about barre3 is that it is low-impact but still super challenging. Barre3 allows me to strengthen the muscles that have weakened from performing—the same muscles I would strengthen in a ballet class, but I’ve not taken one of those in years. Because it’s low-impact it’s possible for me to work out even when I’m nursing an injury, so it helps me stay active—which is a major plus. There’s nothing harder for a dancer to do than to rest and be inactive, so barre3 has been perfect for that!
BARRE3: Have you noticed any changes in yourself since you began your barre practice?
DUSTIN: I have become a lot more aware of my body. Being a dancer I am already very in tune with my body, but more so where my body is in space rather than what does and does not feel good for it. I feel like a much stronger dancer/performer because of barre3. I know how to safely brace my muscles for high-impact dance moves while recognizing what is too much or when to hold back. A major physical change that I’ve noticed is my back. I have always suffered from awful lower-back pain—so bad that some days I can’t get myself out of bed or a chair—but I’ve noticed that the pain fires up less and less since I started practicing barre3. Barre3 has helped me achieve a stronger core and glutes, which has drastically reduced pain in my low back.
BARRE3: Life looks very different than it did just a few months ago. Let’s talk about COVID-19 first. First of all, how have you been faring, both physically and mentally?
DUSTIN: Mentally it’s felt like a bit of a rollercoaster. About a few weeks in, I started getting very anxious, feeling like we were stuck in this forever. It was very difficult for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel, especially since it seemed like there was no escape with the virus being worldwide. But the upside was that staying at home gave me the rest that I needed, both mind and body (I’m a very go-go-go person). Today I feel fine, and I think it’s because everything just feels “normal.” Social distancing, staying at home, it all just feels like normal life after many weeks. Now that Las Vegas is opening back up, I can totally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a very dim light, and I know the tunnel is extremely long, but I do see it.
BARRE3: Do you feel like your barre3 practice has helped you cope with the changes, fears, and anxieties that go hand-in-hand with COVID-19?
DUSTIN: Barre3 gave me a sense of community, virtually. I had the chance to meet all of the other online leads during my travels to Portland, so doing barre3 online feels like I’m just working out with friends, like they’re really here with me in person, in my living room. I haven’t felt much fear about COVID, but I did have days where my anxiety levels were quite high, so I turned to barre3 as a distraction. Even if it was just a 10-minute workout, those 10 minutes were able to put me back on track to keep trekking forward.
BARRE3: Let’s switch gears to the recent weeks. With the devastating murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor—along with so many Black lives before them—our world has finally been waking up to incredibly important truths and seems to be beginning to move toward some long-overdue changes. How have you been doing throughout all of this?
DUSTIN: Times are definitely very difficult right now, especially being a Black/African American male in America. Although I have not faced a lot of the racial prejudices that others have, I am fully aware that it still exists. To see my non-BIPOC coworkers step up to the plate has made me feel extremely loved and supported. To see barre3 take action and speak up as a company is just amazing. I know there is still work to be done, but all it takes is the voices of two to educate two more people, who will then go on to educate more, and so on. I have learned just how powerful our voices are, and I am happy that we are all speaking up as a nation, demanding change, demanding justice.
BARRE3: Have you found that having a movement practice has helped you during this time?
DUSTIN: Movement truly is medicine! For me, it puts me in a completely different headspace. I feel energized, de-stressed, ready to conquer my day. With all the heaviness going on in the world right now, that is the exact medicine I need. I have pretty bad anxiety—I get fixated on an issue for a while, and it totally consumes me. When I move, dance, exercise, I feel all those issues just disappear. Dance has been my happy place for a while, and I’m happy that barre3 is now my happy place as well. So although I have not been able to dance in three months, I have still been able to move my body and stay active and grounded with barre3.
BARRE3: Are there any other lessons from barre3 that have helped you find center in these past few months?
DUSTIN: Ever since barre3 started incorporating breathwork into the workouts, it has been the number-one thing that has helped me find center. I rarely just relax and breathe, to sit down and meditate or even let my mind rest for a moment, but the way barre3 weaves breathwork into class is just so beautiful! It comes at the perfect time when my body is just so exhausted and has worked so hard, and now I get to celebrate that movement by giving my body a moment of stillness. I definitely finish breathwork feeling much more centered and grounded.
BARRE3: What do you hope people take away from your barre3 online classes?
DUSTIN: I want you to know that everything is okay. If you fail, if you fall over, if you need to take a break and come back later, it’s all okay. I will be here for you as we move through this journey of finding balance in our bodies, together.
Thank you so much, Dustin! Be sure to check out his new workout in our At-Home Series. Not an online subscriber? Get 15 days, totally free, with our free trial.
Dustin’s stick figures that helped him remember barre3 postures and prepare for his instructor audition.
With so many of us taking our barre3 practice into our homes these past few months, the online instructors have become familiar faces—friends we invite into our living rooms to help us move, breathe, and destress. In our new Instructor Spotlight Series, you’ll get to know the instructors beyond their energy-boosting choreography and motivating mantras.
This week, we’re chatting with Dustin Isom, an online instructor from barre3 Henderson who joined our team in May of 2018. Read on to learn about Dustin’s background in dance—including a three-year stint touring with Norwegian Cruise Lines—how barre3 has helped him cope with our rapidly changing world, and why he drew stick figures to help him prepare for his barre3 instructor audition.
BARRE3: The barre3 online community knows you for your goal-worthy Carousel Horse form and your ability to gently coach us through the most challenging holds. Can you tell us a bit about your life outside of barre3?
DUSTIN: Originally from Rhode Island, I began performing at the age of 7. From there I moved to Natick, Massachusetts, where I studied musical theater at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, a boarding school for young artists. After graduating, I attended a year of college at Pace University in their BFA Commercial Dance program, and then I left school during my second year to begin working as a professional dancer. I toured around with Norwegian Cruise Lines for three years, traveling and performing around the world before settling down in Las Vegas, Nevada. I moved here to dance full-time in “Vegas! The Show.” Although I no longer dance full-time, I still freelance and perform around town, and occasionally with Norwegian Cruise Lines for various events.
BARRE3: How did you first discover barre3?
DUSTIN: I discovered barre3 after relocating to Las Vegas. A friend and coworker of mine was just going through the new-hire process at barre3 Henderson and invited me to her community free class. Immediately after her class, while stretching and warming up for the show we were in, she suggested I give it go and audition for barre3. That evening I emailed the studio owner, Jackie, and asked about auditioning. The rest is history!
BARRE3: When did you know you wanted to be an instructor—and what was the audition process like?
DUSTIN: I’ve known I wanted to become a fitness instructor for quite some time, but when I discovered barre3 I knew I wanted to teach there instantly. My audition process was actually pretty quick. After emailing Jackie about becoming an instructor, next thing you know I’m training with my studio mentor to become a certified instructor. The process to become an instructor is similar to what any performer or dancer would do for a job. They give you material to learn and then require you to submit a taped recording of you demonstrating the material. From there, you are either approved to move on to learning an entire class, or they give you a few notes to work on before re-auditioning. After passing my audition, I began to learn the choreography for my first barre3 class. Now let me remind you that I had only taken ONE barre3 class before auditioning, so a lot of the terms and posture names were such a challenge to pick up. If you look at my first notebook, I have little stick figures drawn in so that I could remember what the postures looked like. Once you learn the class and practice teaching at your home studio with your mentor, you then fly out to the barre3 Training Center in Portland, go through a three-day intensive training, and then after just a few more steps, you’re on your way to becoming a certified barre3 instructor!
BARRE3: What is it about barre3 specifically that resonates with you?
DUSTIN: As a dancer, I’ve always suffered from some type of muscle pain or injury, whether it’s back pain, a sprained ankle, or an overstretched hamstring. What I love about barre3 is that it is low-impact but still super challenging. Barre3 allows me to strengthen the muscles that have weakened from performing—the same muscles I would strengthen in a ballet class, but I’ve not taken one of those in years. Because it’s low-impact it’s possible for me to work out even when I’m nursing an injury, so it helps me stay active—which is a major plus. There’s nothing harder for a dancer to do than to rest and be inactive, so barre3 has been perfect for that!
BARRE3: Have you noticed any changes in yourself since you began your barre practice?
DUSTIN: I have become a lot more aware of my body. Being a dancer I am already very in tune with my body, but more so where my body is in space rather than what does and does not feel good for it. I feel like a much stronger dancer/performer because of barre3. I know how to safely brace my muscles for high-impact dance moves while recognizing what is too much or when to hold back. A major physical change that I’ve noticed is my back. I have always suffered from awful lower-back pain—so bad that some days I can’t get myself out of bed or a chair—but I’ve noticed that the pain fires up less and less since I started practicing barre3. Barre3 has helped me achieve a stronger core and glutes, which has drastically reduced pain in my low back.
BARRE3: Life looks very different than it did just a few months ago. Let’s talk about COVID-19 first. First of all, how have you been faring, both physically and mentally?
DUSTIN: Mentally it’s felt like a bit of a rollercoaster. About a few weeks in, I started getting very anxious, feeling like we were stuck in this forever. It was very difficult for me to see the light at the end of the tunnel, especially since it seemed like there was no escape with the virus being worldwide. But the upside was that staying at home gave me the rest that I needed, both mind and body (I’m a very go-go-go person). Today I feel fine, and I think it’s because everything just feels “normal.” Social distancing, staying at home, it all just feels like normal life after many weeks. Now that Las Vegas is opening back up, I can totally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a very dim light, and I know the tunnel is extremely long, but I do see it.
BARRE3: Do you feel like your barre3 practice has helped you cope with the changes, fears, and anxieties that go hand-in-hand with COVID-19?
DUSTIN: Barre3 gave me a sense of community, virtually. I had the chance to meet all of the other online leads during my travels to Portland, so doing barre3 online feels like I’m just working out with friends, like they’re really here with me in person, in my living room. I haven’t felt much fear about COVID, but I did have days where my anxiety levels were quite high, so I turned to barre3 as a distraction. Even if it was just a 10-minute workout, those 10 minutes were able to put me back on track to keep trekking forward.
BARRE3: Let’s switch gears to the recent weeks. With the devastating murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor—along with so many Black lives before them—our world has finally been waking up to incredibly important truths and seems to be beginning to move toward some long-overdue changes. How have you been doing throughout all of this?
DUSTIN: Times are definitely very difficult right now, especially being a Black/African American male in America. Although I have not faced a lot of the racial prejudices that others have, I am fully aware that it still exists. To see my non-BIPOC coworkers step up to the plate has made me feel extremely loved and supported. To see barre3 take action and speak up as a company is just amazing. I know there is still work to be done, but all it takes is the voices of two to educate two more people, who will then go on to educate more, and so on. I have learned just how powerful our voices are, and I am happy that we are all speaking up as a nation, demanding change, demanding justice.
BARRE3: Have you found that having a movement practice has helped you during this time?
DUSTIN: Movement truly is medicine! For me, it puts me in a completely different headspace. I feel energized, de-stressed, ready to conquer my day. With all the heaviness going on in the world right now, that is the exact medicine I need. I have pretty bad anxiety—I get fixated on an issue for a while, and it totally consumes me. When I move, dance, exercise, I feel all those issues just disappear. Dance has been my happy place for a while, and I’m happy that barre3 is now my happy place as well. So although I have not been able to dance in three months, I have still been able to move my body and stay active and grounded with barre3.
BARRE3: Are there any other lessons from barre3 that have helped you find center in these past few months?
DUSTIN: Ever since barre3 started incorporating breathwork into the workouts, it has been the number-one thing that has helped me find center. I rarely just relax and breathe, to sit down and meditate or even let my mind rest for a moment, but the way barre3 weaves breathwork into class is just so beautiful! It comes at the perfect time when my body is just so exhausted and has worked so hard, and now I get to celebrate that movement by giving my body a moment of stillness. I definitely finish breathwork feeling much more centered and grounded.
BARRE3: What do you hope people take away from your barre3 online classes?
DUSTIN: I want you to know that everything is okay. If you fail, if you fall over, if you need to take a break and come back later, it’s all okay. I will be here for you as we move through this journey of finding balance in our bodies, together.
Thank you so much, Dustin! Be sure to check out his new workout in our At-Home Series. Not an online subscriber? Get 15 days, totally free, with our free trial.
Dustin’s stick figures that helped him remember barre3 postures and prepare for his instructor audition.
