BARRE FOOT After working long days as an attorney at Babst Calland Clements and Zomnir, Meghan Moran, Lebanon Avenue, swaps her suit for exercise clothes and helps her students burn calories, strengthen their cores, sculpt trouble spots and leave in a more peaceful state.

Foot It and Barre It is an exercise class offered through the school district’s adult continuing education program. Moran created the concept for the class when she realized she could not teach Zumba, since shoes are not permitted on the high school dance studio floor. The class combines ballet, Pilates and yoga exercises. Moran has experience at a variety of studios and community centers in Pittsburgh teaching classes that include the three techniques: Pilates mat, Balletone and barre classes.

“People want to have fun or they’re not going to come back. I try to make it as fun as possible,” Moran says.

The class meets twice a week. It offers cardio dance routines, toning and stretching on Mondays, and on Wednesdays, class members use the barre, resistance bands and hand weights to body sculpt, then moves to the floor for core work and stretching. “I try to make it more approachable, but people can get what they want out of it,” Moran says. “It will be challenging but I always offer modifications.”

Moran decided she wanted to become certified to teach group exercise classes after taking classes herself while she was a student at Duquesne University. She has been teaching since 1998 and is certified by the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) in group exercise, by PHI Pilates as a Pilates mat Instructor, by Balletone as a Master Balletone Ambassador and by ZenLates in Barre.

“This is just my part-time job. People will sometimes sign up for all my classes and it is pretty cool people like them that much,” Moran says.

The next five-week session begins Monday, August 7, at 7 p.m. The fee is $40 for Mt. Lebanon residents and $45 for nonresidents. The class is held in the high school dance studio. Sign up at www.mtlsd.org/page.cfm?p=567.