If it's part of a trick, like a bar hop, then hell yeah, using the bar is definitely all good. But doing it to simply help with balance is definitely a death wish in an FS tourney. I also remember the judges mentioning to use the arms and do spins too, as those score bonus points.
As for if there's a bar this time around, that depends entirely on whether or not we get an actual machine this year or not. That's still way up in the air right now (budget things and all).
What's funny about the whole freestyle thing is that I didn't deliberately start doing it either. I just tried to get fancy every once in awhile if I was familiar with a song, particularly if certain steps were repetitive, and it worked. It definitely livens up several songs I really like though.
PezCat