Countless girls dream of pink slippers and pliés, but only a few make it to New York City’s ballet stage en pointe.
Mary Helen Bowers was 16-years-old when her grace and grit carried her to the bright lights of America’s preeminent ballet company, and she brings the elegance of ballet to women around the world through her Ballet Beautiful workout and lifestyle company.
As a mother of five, wife, and entrepreneur, Bowers’ life today is the same blend of femininity and quiet strength that defines her art form.
“I always loved dancing,” Bowers told IW Features. “I was always dancing around our house, the grocery store, the yard, church, wherever we went.”
She took her first dance class at 3-years-old, and by the end of elementary school, Bowers said she knew she wanted to be a professional ballerina.
“I would go to the library, take out books on ballet, read about all the famous classical ballerinas,” she recalled. “I knew I had to go to New York because that’s where the big companies were.”
When she was 14, she auditioned for the School of American Ballet and was offered a full scholarship, but her parents were concerned about her being in New York for the summer. So she auditioned again the next year and was once again offered a spot in the summer course. But this time, she was told she wouldn’t be offered another opportunity—it was now or never.
“I was just starting my sophomore year in high school when I went up full-time,” Bowers said.
She squeezed in high school classes around the rigors of the dance world while living in New York. And the next year, she received an invitation to join the New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker for the winter season as an apprentice.
“It takes a lot of discipline with your body, with your physique and you’re always sort of in this quest for the perfect line, the perfect turn, the perfect leap, the perfect performance,” Bowers said.
Even as she danced over 60 hours a week, pushing her body to exhaustion for her art and rising to the upper echelon of ballerinas around the world, Bowers’ entrepreneurial journey was already beginning. An injury early in her career forced her to take a step back and learn about cross-training and exercises that complemented her ballet and helped heal her body. The program she developed would become the foundation for Ballet Beautiful years later.
During this time, she also joined the Reebok Sports Club, which was close to the Lincoln Center where she danced, and in a spin class, she even met her future husband.
After a decade of the demands of ballet, Bowers made the decision to transition into a new phase of her life.
“I took a break from dancing. I took a break from working out,” Bowers said. “My body needed to heal… I ended up picking up with my old exercises that I had done backstage and at home in the mornings before I would go to the theater.”
“That was really where Ballet Beautiful was born,” she said.
Soon, Bowers was training Victoria’s Secret models, actresses, and celebrities. Famously, she trained Natalie Portman for the starring role in Black Swan, a performance that won Portman the Academy Award for Best Actress.
“We were spending five or six hours a day working out together doing ballet class, doing Ballet Beautiful,” Bowers said.
“Ballet is so chic, and it’s always been a sort of darling of the fashion set,” Bowers said. “So when we launched Ballet Beautiful in New York… it got taken up very quickly by the fashionistas and the Vogue editors and the supermodels and the Victoria’s Secret models.”
And as Bowers’ entrepreneurship took off, she and her husband built proprietary software to offer her live interactive classes to clients around the world.
Then, in 2024, many of the very editors and fashionistas who had praised Ballet Beautiful for years turned on Bowers when they learned her husband worked in conservative politics. Ballet Beautiful’s workouts and mission are not political, but that didn’t stop the cancel mob from trying to turn other women against Bowers.
Nevertheless, Bowers continues with grace and femininity, doing what she does best: uplifting other women through fitness, rising above the smear attempts, and focusing on her family and business. And today, Ballet Beautiful offers live and recorded workouts and sells a collection of ballet-inspired activewear.
Bowers’ goal is to support women through every stage of their lives, she said.
“The ballerina is the emblem of strength, of grace, of fluidity,” Bowers said. “We incorporate all of those elements into this workout that’s really meant to be very female-friendly for whatever stage you’re in.”
Guiding IW Features staff through a Ballet Beautiful workout, Bowers explained how the method uses high repetitions and minimal equipment to lengthen muscles and craft the ballerina’s lean and graceful figure. Using a combination of standing and floor exercises, she targets key muscle groups to build a strong core, posture, and toned arms and legs. She added that some ladies who have worked with her have even been asked if they are dancers because of their posture.
“All you have to do is open your phone or open your laptop, and you can get a world-class workout with virtually no equipment and a workout that’s going to completely transform your body,” she said. “I’m not worried about calories burnt or where your heart rate is. This is really about getting in, targeting your muscles to the point of fatigue, and stretching, and doing it again. And that’s what ballet is.”
While she taught IW Features in an hour-long, beginner-friendly session, her website boasts a 15-year catalog of videos for both 10-minute and hour-long sessions and beginner to advanced options. Bowers said the workout style is particularly beneficial to women’s unique needs around fertility and rebuilding strength postpartum, and her program offers specific workouts for pregnancy and postpartum.
“It’s a very safe way to train your body,” Bowers said. “It’s very low impact, it’s very anti-inflammatory in that respect, you’re not pounding… and you’re not in a zone where it’s easy to get injured.”
“I’ve had five children, been through five pregnancies, been through COVID, helped people recover from illness from injury,” she added.
Right now, Bowers said she is focused on returning to the barre after giving birth to her fifth child only a few months ago.
“I was really blessed to have this great career [in New York] and then be able to pursue my family with [my husband] Paul afterward,” she said.
Today, she lives with her family in Charleston, South Carolina, and balances Ballet Beautiful alongside her roles as a mother and wife. As she exercised with IW Features from her in-home studio, her baby daughter was nearby with Bowers keeping careful watch.
“I always wanted to be a ballerina, and I wanted to get married and have five kids,” she said. “I know in this modern life, we don’t talk that much about girls wanting to grow up and get married and become a mom, but… it is divine work, and it puts your life into perspective.”
As a true champion woman, she hopes to uplift women and their health through each one’s unique talents and path in life.
“[I’m] just encouraging women to keep their body moving,” she said. “It really is about consistency and caring for your body… tapping into that grace and strength that I think is inherent in all of us.”
Bowers/Ballet Beautiful has offered Independent Women’s Features readers a complimentary 1-month trial of her Classic Custom Workout Subscription. Use code INDEPENDENT to receive your first month for FREE*.
*Subscription auto-renews at full $39.99/month after 1 month, cancel anytime.
