A conversation with Barre Babe, Dayna Marie Forderer
Powerful. Invigorated. Strong, from the tips of my psyche to the bases of my glutes.
This is how I felt sitting down with Dayna Marie Forderer, the energetic twenty-nine year old barre and yoga instructor from Hamilton, fresh out of my third barre class of hers - this WEEK.
Thankfully I had time to cool down, however, as I watched my fellow beaming classmates make their way out of the room, assuring Dayna that they would be back in two days time, ready for her next class.
Having danced for around thirteen years myself, as well as being a long-standing pilates advocate (like, before it was cool!), believe me when I say I adore Dayna’s Barre Yoga classes. The thoughtful way she combines high energy dance with impactful mind-to-muscle movement is so empowering, and there aren’t many people who have the power to get me from my bed to a gym on a weeknight.
Despite their challenge and intensity, Dayna’s classes remain full of regulars, who all return week-after-week to hear her chant empowering mantras like “Release that people pleasing energy,” and “You are a powerful, sexy GODDESS!” to a room packed with sweaty yogis. The words of encouragement, paired with the high impact statements she shouts throughout her instruction are so purposeful, so intentional - I just knew she had a story.
"I actually went to school to be a Correctional Officer,” Dayna told me, revealing that fitness instruction has only been something she has taken up within the last few years.
“I graduated, immediately knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and ended up getting a job as a veterinary assistant.”
Unfortunately, what sounded like it would be a warm, fuzzy workplace, ended up being a completely negative, toxic environment for Dayna - one so bad that her doctor forced her on a three month mental health leave.
“It completely ruined my mental health. I developed an eating disorder because of it, I was so depressed. I would come home from work every day and stare at the wall. I actually fell into yoga because I needed something to calm me down before going into work.”
She credits her love of yoga to Adriene Mishler, of popular Youtube channel Yoga with Adriene, who helped her navigate her workplace distress and her parents’ divorce. Dayna claims that the guided videos, featuring only instructor Adriene and her dog Benji, “saved her life.”
“I used to watch my mom do those old-school workout videos: Jillian Michaels, Richard Simmons… I thought they were useless, that you had to go to the gym and lift weights in order to be effective with exercise. I viewed fitness as a form of punishment, a form of deprivation; yoga was the first time I found movement and I wasn’t obsessed with losing weight.”
Despite her rough start in the working world post-grad, Dayna’s next two jobs, banquet serving and nannying, brought out a bold, extroverted side of her she didn’t know she had within.
“I nannied for a pregnant woman who went into an emergency C-section, a process I watched and supported her youngest daughter through. Watching her pre and post partum, I became fascinated with the way our bodies move, shape, and grow, as women. I knew that I wanted to be able to help women through that process.”
The powerful, and for once positive, female energy of her boss pushed her into pursuing a niche career in fitness, with a specialized interest in peri and post natal health.
“I didn’t want to have kids until I started working for her... I feel confident being a mother because of her. She was such a feminine powerhouse.”
It’s no secret that Dayna is, what I believe the kids today would call, a girl’s girl. When asked what differentiates her classes from others offered in the increasingly popular space, her answer was clear.
“I don’t look like your typical fitness instructor. I want every body to feel welcome in my class, and to feel like they can participate. I want them to see that someone who isn’t super skinny and your typical looking “TikTok Pilates Princess” is instructing you, showing you that you can in fact do this work too.”
Dayna instructing a Barre Yoga class at SOL Yoga Niagara.
As a teacher, Dayna strives to embody the aura of a tough, yet young and hip ballerina teacher, noting that she gets so much joy out of helping women feel good about themselves.
“My teaching energy is high, bootcamp, aerobic dance style - I want my students to come in my class and know that no matter what they look like, everyone can be a f**king ballerina!”
Despite not always feeling so confident in her appearance and abilities, teaching barre is certainly helping Dayna overcome some long held battles within herself, and tap more into her inner bad-ass.
“This job is helping me become more extroverted and confident in what I have to say. The little girl I nannied, actually, gave me so much confidence; she did and said whatever she wanted, and it inspired me to be more that way - she literally healed my inner child.”
Turning thirty in May, Dayna is looking forward to tying the knot next year with her fiancé, a boy she knows from high school - whom she asked out herself!
“I want to have kids, but not for a few more years; I want to develop my career in this industry more first. I hope to become a certified Pilates Reformer instructor next.”
Right now, Dayna’s focus is on expanding her reach with her fitness offerings in Niagara. Her April lineup has her teaching seven classes a week; a mix of pilates, yoga and barre, all classes that she assures me are designed to fit every body.
After a month filled with multiple rounds of her barre classes, Dayna proved to me that workouts - yes, even the effective kind - can, and should, be FUN! As someone who once only viewed exercise as a form of punishment, her barre classes helped me believe that I deserve to move my body in a way that feels good to me, in a way that I enjoy, because what a beautiful thing it is to have a body that you can move.
Over the past few years, I have realized that you can in fact be healthy and happy, and the manifestation of that will look different for every one and every body. Life is too short to suffer through burpees and cardio if that makes you miserable, or turns you off from fitness completely. There is such a diverse amount of exercise out there nowadays, I challenge you to take some time to explore the experience of movement as a reward, rather than just a necessary nuisance.
If you want to catch more of Dayna’s infectious energy, be sure to follow her on her Instagram @FlowwithDaynamarie, or find her at one of her many current class offerings:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays @ SOL Yoga Niagara in Niagara Falls, ON.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays @ Refine Yoga & Pilates in Virgil, ON.
Thursdays @ Bridgewater Yoga in Chippawa, ON.
Thursdays @ Kinetic Synergy in Welland, ON.
Speaking of beautiful movement, Andrea and I are hosting a renewing April Movement & Meditation event, at the beautiful Bridgewater Yoga space, to ring in the spring season. REGISTER HERE! 🌸🧘🏻♀️
Other spring YET Niagara happenings you don’t want to miss:
• 5 WEEK Employee Wellness Initiatives (contact yetniagara@outlook.com for more info)
• Spiritual Canada PEACE Conference - APRIL 5
• Monthly Journal Circle - APRIL 8
• Promoting Your Passion Workshop - MAY 10
I leave you today with the wise and sexy words of the Barre Babe herself,
May you sweat, slay, and surrender the day away!
Namaste,
Julia Ventresca🌞 • IG: @julia_ventresca • Website