Biographies
Jill Rose Jacobs PhD
Jill Rose Jacobs has recently completed her doctoral programme at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, having accepted a faculty award from the School of Arts, English and Languages for academic achievement. To support Jill’s research, she also received a £35,000 award from ICURe (Innovation to Commercialism of University Research) on behalf of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton, Surrey, and Queen’s University, Belfast.
Prior to entering the doctoral programme, Jill was a professor for dance-movement in the department of Performing Arts Professions at New York University (NYU). She holds a master’s degree from NYU in dance education and was awarded academic scholarships throughout her study. Her students are currently performers on Broadway and in musicals and operas across the country and abroad, and many are Barre instructors for leading fitness corporations. Prior to relocating to Belfast, Jill was also a Group Fitness Instructor with Equinox, where she specialized in and launched Barre programmes.
Jill’s doctoral thesis posits that Barre is a highly adaptable methodology that can be tailored to bolster higher education performing arts curricula. Jill’s research interests include other applications for Barre methodology that feature elements of movement, music, and choreography that studies find are beneficial to participants. Her philosophy is that dance-movement is universal and that Barre methodology and practises foster improvement in muscle strength, tone, control, posture, mood, confidence, proprioception, and individualized artistic expression.
Bernadette Kenna
Bernadette Kenna came into the fitness industry later in life by a fortunate meeting with Esther Fairfax and an invitation to attend her class. Through her mentor, Esther Fairfax, who was 82 years at the time, "Bernie" fell in love with The Lotte Berk Technique. For the following three and a half years and over two thousand hours, Bernie assisted Esther in classes in her private home studio in Hungerford, developing training materials, hosting international visitors for teacher trainings, and, accompanied Esther to New York where she partnered with Jill Jacobs to produce an on-line story about Esther Fairfax and the Lotte Berk Technique in Self magazine that generated over 3 million viewership. Bernie considers herSelf to be Esther's (and Lotte’s!) number one fan, "the technique has changed not just my body -- it's changed my life forever!"