BURR LEONARD - FOUNDER

Founder Burr, who grew up on both the East and West coasts, studied ballet, art, writing and music from an early age. She attended the Mannes College of Music before graduating with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970 with a degree in journalism.

As a young journalist living in New York City, Burr discovered the Lotte Berk Method and became an avid student. At about the same time, her father George Leonard, author of 13 books and co-founder of Big Sur's Esalen Institute, published the acclaimed work Mastery. Leonard’s groundbreaking exploration of human potential influenced Burr’s ideas about learning and physical fitness.

In 1991, Burr left her career as a journalist and, along with then husband Carl Diehl, both an attorney admitted in New York and California, as well as a Ph.D. in History from Yale, purchased the Lotte Berk franchise for Fairfield County, Connecticut. They opened their first Lotte Berk Method studio in Greenwich and over the next ten years added three more in nearby Darien, New Canaan and Westport.  By 2001, Burr had dramatically updated the exercise system and renamed it The Bar Method. Shortly after, Burr and Carl sold their Connecticut studios and opened a large studio in San Francisco. The strikingly beautiful Marina studio has won praise from the local media and including being named the “Best in the Bay” by the CBS affiliate evening news.

In February 2003, Burr, along with her sister and brother-in-law, Mimi and Mark Fleischman, opened The Bar Method of Los Angeles. Since then, she has launched nine new Bar Method studios in locations including New Jersey, New York, to Chicago, San Francisco.  Her first DVD sold strongly for three years and now she is producing a new set of DVD’s along with LA-based producer/director Andrea Ambandos.

MIMI LEONARD FLEISCHMAN - PRESIDENT

Soon after graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1975, Mimi met and married Jerry Rubin, anti-war activist and Chicago 7 defendant. Together they wrote a book, The War Between The Sheets (Putnam) and organized a Human Potential Event with Masters and Johnson, Werner Erhard, George Carlin, Wayne Dyer and many others.

Mimi also assisted at Jerry's speaking agency, New Line Presentations, which became New Line Cinema, booking him on speeches around the country when he was the number one speaker in the country in 1980 and 1981 There, Mimi and Jerry met Mark Fleischman, one of the Founding Shareholders at New Line. who later invited the couple to be promoters at his renowned Studio 54. Mimi and Jerry’s events averaged two thousand of people per night for nearly two years, and Bob Greene of the Chicago Tribune coined the word Yuppie while he was reporting on one of their nights. Throughout the eighties, Mimi and Jerry continued as major promoters in the New York nightclub world, bringing up to 12,000 people per week to venues such as Limelight, Vertigo and Palladium.

In 1991, Mimi was hired by Mark Fleischman to be his Creative Director at Tatou New York. Soon after, Mimi and her two children moved to Los Angeles where she became Creative Director of Tatou Beverly Hills. Mimi and Mark married in 1994 and Mimi retired from business in order to be a full-time mother. In June 2002, Mimi moved to San Francisco with her children for the summer to study the Bar Method under the guidance of her sister Burr. In March 2005, the Fleischman’s opened their second studio in West Hollywood, California.  The Hermosa Beach locations opened its door in May, 2008 and a studio in Agoura Hills and San Diego will open later this year. 

MARK FLEISCHMAN - DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

After graduating from the Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in 1961, Mark served in the Navy running Officers Clubs. Soon thereafter, Mark purchased a number of troubled hotel properties, converting them to upscale, thriving facilities with fine restaurants. In the mid-seventies, he became one of five founding shareholders of New Line Cinema, raising its funding during its formative years. In 1979, Mark opened a Studio 54 in his Virgin Island Hotel on St. Thomas and later that year purchased the original Studio 54 from Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. From 1980 to1984, Mark co-owned and operated that nightclub, hosting the world’s most celebrated late night destination.

In 1990, wanting to return to the style and glamour of the supper clubs of the thirties, forties and fifties, Mark created and opened New York City’s Tatou. With the momentum generated by his wildly successful New York facility, he soon opened venues in Beverly Hills, Aspen and Tokyo. After moving to Los Angeles and marrying Burr Leonard Diehl’s sister Mimi in 1994, Mark opened West L.A.’s largest supper club and dance venue, The Century Club. Well-known as a destination for thousands of young people, it also serves as a first class banquet facility for premiers, charity events, and corporate parties.

After a 14 year run, Mark took the staff from the Century Club, when it was raised for a 14 story condo apartment unit, and bought Vertigo, which had been Glam Slam, a property in downtown L.a which has a license as a nightclub with a capacity of 1,000 patrons. After more than a year of its operation, Tatou is a popular destination for the Downtown Crowd. Mark handles all business matters for the Bar Method L.A. including the many requests to start new Bar Method studios around Southern California.

JOEY DECKER - MANAGING DIRECTOR

Joey Decker attended Santa Monica College where received his Liberal Arts Degree with Honors. He then went on to attend the University of Los Angeles, where he graduated in 1996. After College, Joey worked with Rhonda Britten of Starting Over fame. He assisted Rhonda in penning her first book Fearless Living, and helped to create the now thriving Fearless Living Coaching Institute™. A brilliant coach in his own right, he spent years working with creative artists in Los Angeles.

Prior to moving to LA, Joey worked as a professional dancer. He began his dance career in Denver, Co as a company member of the world renowned Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble working with such noted choreographers as Bill T. Jones, Donald McKayle, Eleo Pomare, Milton Meyers, and James Truite. After Joey’s company work, he moved on to more commercial gigs including the Andy Williams Show, Carnival Cruise Lines, & national tours including West Side Story. In his travels, he has worked with such noted stars as Chris Farley, Sherri Belafonte, Danny Gans, & Linda Blair. He is currently the founder and artistic director of the Joseph Allen Decker Dance Company.

For the past four years, Joey Decker has worked with and developed the Bar Method Los Angeles. Joey is an integral part of the Bar Method, operating in all capacities as an instructor, trainer, owner and manager. A large portion of the Bar Method’s success is due to Joey’s impeccable planning and management skills including scheduling, hiring, and training all the current teachers and staff. An entrepreneur by nature, Joey has spent the past 4 years preparing to open his own business. Being a life-long health and fitness devotee, bar method instructor, and dance enthusiast, the Bar Method™ represents Joey’s ideal vision of work and play.