Mary Helen Bowers is the ballerina behind Ballet Beautiful, a dance-inspired workout that she teaches to Victoria’s Secret supermodels helping them attain those trademark tight abdominals and lean legs through the carefully crafted dance-inspired workout moves. Bowers is a former dancer who joined the New York City Ballet in her teens and became a prima ballerina, passing this knowledge onto the models with a ballet-inspired workout that sculpts swan-like arms and tones abdominals for the revealing lingerie.
Bowers often trains with the models backstage at runway shows, as well as on-site: for the most of the year she trains the models three or four days a week, depending on what is going on their schedule and if there’s a big photo shoot. Most of the sessions are a one-hour workout, but the schedule increases to longer sessions before a big event, such as the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
The movements in Ballet Beautiful combine modified fitness positions and resistance work with classical ballet moves that target the muscles dancers use, for example Bowers swaps thigh-building gym squats in favour of thigh-slimming ballet basics like the Grand Plié. Another move that targets “ballet muscles” – inner thighs and the buttocks – can be achieved by placing both shins on a mat with one hand on a chair and drawing the opposite knee out to the side in a modified arabesque.
Bowers’ client list isn’t just limited to Victoria’s Secret models; she also instructed actress Natalie Portman for her Oscar-winning role in “Black Swan”. Bowers had to turn to online sessions and bring in extra backup to free up her time to coach Portman for the grueling role in 2010. Following the release of “Black Swan,” Bowers hired professional dancers to teach Ballet Beautiful private lessons to handle the demand.