DD and pointe shoes

[CianOFountain]

My daughter is 13 and attends a dance school. They do alot of different classes and my dd came home today saying that they are now allowed to have pointe shoes. I was a little shocked at this as they do a ballet session once a week for an hour and I'll admit I'm not a professional but surely they should do more ballet that that!
What do I say to the teacher without causing offence? Or am I wrong to question it and I should trust that they know what they are doing
Googling only supports my feelings but I'm hoping someone here is actually knowledgeable about this
Thanks!

Which exam though? Is it RAD?

No it's a theatre dance association exam

My daughter does ballet 3x week (and other dance on all the other days!)... At her dance school they have to go to the extra pre pointe classes and have done 2 years in ore-pointe shoes before their teacher would even think about pointe shoes.

I am reluctant to let my daughter do pointe at all but I find it reassuring that her teacher won't rush it

Same I did ballet for an hour and pointe for 30/45 after. Once a week from about 13/14

and it was purely recreational or extra curricular. I had no intention to study dance long term. I did it until I finished university

we’d all been doing ballet for nearly a decade at that point.

What is the name of the exam. Primary is for 5 -6 year olds & is skipping & pretending to hold a basket of flowers type stuff.

Has she not been offered pre pointe classes ?

Is it BTDA? If so they offer a range of regulated & non regulated including vocational exams in a variety of genres. You need to actual name of the exam & the genre.

What? Sorry, but I don't quite understand what you're saying here. Ballet is just part of what class? The one-hour class a week?

I think the fact that she is doing a range of other dance classes muddies the water a bit. How many hours dance is she doing a week?

How many classes/hours per week does she attend in total?

My daughter went on pointe when she was almost 12 and started ballet at baby ballet when she was 3. Her dance school does a 2 hour ballet class each week and she does an additional 2 hour class at a satellite conservatoire thing on top of that. The conservatoire moved her up to pointe first and she was the only one in her other class up for a year or so. There are now a handful of them in her half hour pointe class after the other class. She does other classes as well each week and is in their competition team.

She’s doing the RAD syllabus and just had her grade 4 exam but I think she’s on a slower pace than typical as her school isn’t competitive. The girls in her conservatoire class are 1-2 grades ahead of her (she’s the youngest too).

I would be cautious about this too. My daughter worked on this for years and had special exercises to do for months before being approved. They check specific things and it’s a serious decision. I’d be concerned as well. Even with all the prep and years of training my daughter has ripped her feet up a bit getting them used to it - there’s various adjustments she’s made but some of it is just working through what works for her feet.

Ballet is just one class for 1 hour each week

Right, so she does one hour of ballet & what other classes?

9 hours of dance per week including all the dances as above
Ballet is for 1 hour once a week

Acro/Tumble
Modern /Jazz
Lyrical
Commercial
Contemporary

Ok so that’s looking more like it. That’s a LOT of classes and genres such as modern/jazz & lyrical will contain strength training.

However it wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask the teacher about pointewirk, how it is being introduced & is your Dd being given any excercises in between class that she is expected to do.

I would be cautious and discuss with her teacher. Dd was a dancer and was on point from 12. She had danced since she was 3 and pre point was grade 5 or 6 RAD and had done a second 1.5 hour class for vocational RAD exam class weekly for 18 months first . She has very stong but flexibke feet and a high arch her dance teacher was very ,very fussy about fit and allowed only 2 places she trusted to fit and then checked them. Dd feet were so challenging we ended up at bloch in covent garden to fit them with a senior fitter who found her perfect shoe. I am.a.physio so did have concerns and had to be convinced she was ready too. Sadly she no longer dances at 19 but her feet are fine. If your dd teacher is as fussy as ours was you will be fine , if not be very cautious.

I did one hour ballet a week and went en pointe at 13 and did a further five years. It’s not great for your feet obviously although I have no long term side effects. If it’s like my class everyone did en pointe so if she isn’t it may be that she drops the class

This is very similar to what dd2 does so it seems a good progression point no pun!

I think age alone does not mean a child is ready for pointe, people shouldn't blanket say "a 13yr old can do pointe, no issue". I also have a 13yr old, but developmentally, her body is very small and slight, she's often mistaken for considerably younger than she actually is. There's no way I would allow her to start pointe.

I am concerned about damage to my children's feet if they ever do pointe, I know my youngest can't wait, but I'm worried about damage and as an athlete, it could really damage her competitive career in her sport.

She's an athlete at 13? Really?

I think if you want to do ballet at a higher level then a lot of them would be looking forward to having pointe shoes. But if you don't want her to have them just say no.

And obviously use the fact that she only does ballet once a week or whatever as the reason why she doesn't need them. As well as saying that they can sometimes damage people's feet.

Lots of young people are on an elite athlete pathway by age 13.

Yes she's been an athlete since the age of 7 actually.

Actually, no, my 13yr old isn't an athlete, it's my 10yr old who is, she's been competing nationally since the age of 7yrs old.