Finally getting her pointe shoes!

[Sparklymommy]

Just wanted to share with everyone that dd1 is finally going for her pointe shoe fitting on Saturday! She is so happy and so am I for her. She's worked so hard to get here.

Soooo... Any tips from wise mnetters?

She's 9 and actually I've just been following some of your posts on ballet forum :) ... and hopped over to the Tring site to look at Easter and Summer schools. I see the junior dance day is planned for 20th June and shall be booking that :)

I'm further North do stuff dd did was more around Birminghsm/Manchester/Chester.

She did Harpended summer school last year which was excellent but it's non residential.

DD is starting ballet on Sat, she's 5. I've been so excited for her as she's been asking for ages, and has been watching Strictly episodes on repeat for the last few months, but this thread is starting to scare me! Are your daughters exceptional or is this where ballet ends up? (Of course they're exceptional, but ykwim...)

It's complicated & there are lots of issues - but my DD started Ballet (apart from baby Ballet) when she was 14.....& it kind of went 'viral' from there (as DD would say)

Mostlyharmless - not all children oh dance crazy. There are some at DD's dance school who are still happy with a couple of lessons a week (or have given up). There are a committed few though who would happily be at the studios 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. DD seems to think the dance principle is an additional parent.

Dd started dancing at 2. She has been held back in a way because she does so much, and has been held up by age restrictions on some exams.

She does more dance in comparison to some of the ex students that are now at vocational schools. She is technically very strong, and her teacher is very cautious about putting them up too early. But when you have a child of 10/11 who is dancing every day they are going to be stronger than a child of 13/14 who is only doing two classes a week.

Dd has worked her socks off to get here, and having watched her peers at other local schools get their pointe shoes earlier, and then watched as photos of them have appeared on the Internet and they aren't up right, and look horrific, it's been hard for her to have to wait. Her fitting went so well and she is beautiful on pointe. She has the core strength (which is just as important ad the ankles and feet) to carry it off.

:) I'd definitely categorise dd as dance crazy - she did one half term of baby ballet aged 2 and has been asking to go back ever since (I couldn't cope with the fact it was mostly mummies stood in a circle doing good toes naughty toes while 10 2-3 year olds charged around aimlessly...)

Ah well, will wait and see. I'd love it if she found something that she loves so much, but would also be happy for her to find something she enjoys for a couple of lessons a week.

I may or may not be a frustrated dancer myself

Sorry for the hijack OP, very exciting for your dd :)

Sorry, x-posts Sparklymommy your dd does indeed sound exceptional, you must be very proud of her.

UPDATE! She's just got home from from her first lesson with the prized pointe shoes and she is buzzing! So happy it's untrue and she was only asked not to do one exercise on pointe (pose turns). She appears to have loved every second of it. And I can see that she is up and over on her pointes and her weight placement is very good. Hate to sound all gooey and proud but right now I am!

Well dds been to her first physio session today. They also looked at her feet & ankles & there are no issues that will prevent pointe so now it's down to technique.

Gosh I think I might be quite old as I was going to give advice about darning! Maybe no one does that any more. Probably a good thing as it's hard on the fingers. It did look nice though

Celery - done of the girls at our dance school have their shoes darned. I think it is the correct way and can correct imperfections in technique, but I lazily stuck on suede tips.

Suede / leather tips not allowed here - I spent some of Christmas carefully chain-stitching according to the prescribed pattern!

Dd is 11. She does the following:

Monday: street jazz half hr, body conditioning 45 mins, intermediate ballet 1hr 30mins, contemporary 1hour- total 3hrs 45 mins

Tuesday: modern grade 4 (45mins). Jazz 45 mins, student programme 1 hour. Total 2.5 hours

Wednesday: grade 6 ballet 45 mins, Interfoundation ballet 1.5 hours, total 2 hours 15 mins

Thursday no dance (although wants to add intermediate 1.5 hours)

Friday: Greek (45 mins), song and dance 45 mins, tap 45 mins. Total 2 hours 15 mins

Saturday: Interfoundation ballet 1.5 hours intermediate ballet 1. 5 hours body conditioning 1.5 hours. Total 4.5 hours.

Weekly total: 14 hours dance at present (will be 15.5 when I relent and let her do the extra ballet class!)

Then on top of that she usually has 1 hour private body con lesson and 1/2 hour private ballet technique class. She also does festival groups which take up most of Saturday afternoons and Sundays and often has workshops etc.

She has gone up on her pointe shoes exceedingly easily! No pain, no red marks, she loves it. She has good posture, good technique and strong feet!

She has though, attracted the "it's not fair" brigade as she has gone up before several other girls who are older and think they should be allowed their pointe shoes. At the en of the day she is use to that and won't let it spoil her happiness.

She's not far off doing vocational hours!!'n at her age my dd was doing far less

Now it's

Monday: 90 min ballet, 1 hr ballet, 1 hr tap
Tuesday: 90 min ballet, 1hr vocal, 1 hr modern
Wednesday : 1hr ballet
Thursday: 90 min Inter Foundation ballet, 1hr Pilates, 1 hr drama
Friday: 90 min Inter F ballet, 45 min choir, 1hr ballet, 1 hr tap
Saturday 1 hr Stretch, 1 hr Pilates, 1hr modern

I actually calculate that dd does more than your dd in the dance stakes pictures. Which is one of the reasons we haven't auditioned her for the Hammond or Sylvia Youngs, because from the experience of friends at these schools she wouldn't be gaining much.

Dd also does an hours singing lesson a week and ukelele, choir, and cornet.

We don't currently have a drama teacher (which is the only real place she could do with a bit extra). But other than that she is pretty much doing as much as most of the vocational students.

Congratulations to your DD, what a great achievement!

My DDs are all en pointe except my youngest, who is 10. They all went up at 11, nearly 12.

They had to have a fitting with dance teacher accompanying them, ankles and feet checked and 2 terms of 'pre pointe' classes where they do lots of ankle and core strength work. DD4 has started her pre pointe classes so I imagine she will go up this summertime.

All 4 DDs do a lot of ballet - 7+ hours a week at 'normal' dance school plus associate classes on Saturdays. They also do other dance classes and gymnastics on top of that. They have done vocational style summer schools too.

My eldest 3 haven't had any problems with their feet since going up, they are always properly over their box and they are strong en pointe. You do see some wobbly sights on Facebook and the likes, where the strength isn't there. That's why I'm happy to support the teacher and have them wait a little longer.

Re the darning- my DDs dance school insist that all pointe shoes must be darned- stick on pads are not acceptable.
It can be a bit tricky but she is on her 4th pair of pointe shoes so I am a dab hand now!

A lot of our seniors don't seem to bother darning or using stick on pads! They just dance on them as they come.

We used the pads on her first pair but I think we will darn the next pair. Purely because it looks so much nicer!

Our gil's shoes are inspected by the principal- undarned pointe shoes or those without pads can be a safety issue as the satin doesn't have the same grip.