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(DANCERS ONLY) should i practice pointe on my own over the summer?
Okay so my dance story is a little mixed up:
I'm 15 years old and I just started dance last year. (In June I will have completed my second year of dance). I am switching dance schools next fall because the one I am attending doesn't teach technique as well as I want and just isn't very professional or structured. Also, I'm planning on studying performing arts in college and so I want to get as good as I can I dance. But anyway, I have the perfect ballerina body and am naturally talented so my teacher started me right out in my age group with girls who've been dancing for 10 years. Anyway, she's not a proffessional dance teacher so the girls are en pointe but some of them can't even stand without falling over and obviously shouldn't be en Pointe!!
So she's been saying how much better I am as a beginner than them and so I've been watching many shows and reading a lot about pointe. To make a long story short, I know I'm ready for pointe because I snatched a used pair of shoes from the studio and tried it out just to see and I'm really good at it.
Should I get my own pair and practice before next year?
4 Answers
- ?Lv 76 years ago
Oh my. Okay well here's the thing, you AREN'T ready for pointe. Unless you have been taking classes for 3 years, taking about 3 classes a week and your instructor says you are ready for pointe, you are not. You seem to think you're "really good at it" but how would you know, considering you don't actually know pointe technique at all? Just so you're aware, taking someone else's pointe shoes and trying to dance in them is extremely dangerous and there is a super high chance that you'll injure yourself. Also, just so you know, a lot of places that are going to sell your precious pointe shoes won't even fit you if you don't have a note from a studio saying you are going to be starting pointe. Long story short, get off your "I'm better than everyone else" pedestal and wait to see what the instructors at your new studio say. The absolute worst thing you can do right now is try and teach yourself pointe and then have to change every single bad habit and bad technique once you get back to class.
- SLv 56 years ago
Please, please, please do not do this. Those old shoes that you picked up? Throw them out and never put them back on your feet.
1) You are not ready for pointe until a trained professional tells you that you are. This typically comes after 3-4 years of technique training. For some it is less, for many it is more. A student is not a good judge of this.
2) Pointe shoes are not like a pair of sandals. There is far, far more to getting a proper fit that a number on the sole. Pointe shoes must be fitted by trained professionals to assure success and reduce the likelihood of serious injury.
3) It is always ill advised to train at home in the ballet world. You *need* those eyes on you, correcting those minute errors. You will never see them yourself at home. With pointe training, it is just begging for disaster. A broken ankle is basically a best care scenario there.
If you really want to make progress in your dancing over the summer, attend a summer program. There are programs all over the country, ranging from full day intensives, to basic evening study. Just go ahead and ask your instructor for suggestions. Please train safely.
- pigpenguin91Lv 76 years ago
No! Very big no. There are so many things wrong here. For starters, if your teacher started you out with girls who had already been dancing for 10 years, then you're not at a good school. It doesn't matter if you have the ballet body (and side note here: a lot of people don't know what that really means, it's not just about being thin or having long legs), everyone needs to start with the basics.
You recognize that the studio you're at isn't very good, but that doesn't mean you'll be better on your own. The truth is, you're not ready for pointe. Nobody is after such a brief period of ballet training, and especially not with the training you've received. In a good recreational school it should take about 3 years to get en pointe.
Pointe work isn't just about being able to get onto the box without falling over. You need a strong core, to be able to pull up out of the shoes, strong ankles and feet to be able to do jumps and turns, and most importantly, solid ballet technique. You can't rush that.
Also, using someone else's pointe shoes (or any pointe shoes you haven't been fitted for) is extremely dangerous. You're lucky you didn't break an ankle. When you are actually ready for pointe, you need to get professionally fitted, because pointe shoes aren't just about what fits length and width. You need to consider vamp height, shank strength, box shape... and the length and width must be very precise. Too tight and your toes curl under, too loose and the shoe doesn't offer good support.
Finally, even if you had been dancing for 3+ years, and had gotten professionally fitted for pointe shoes, teaching yourself pointe is NEVER a good idea. Even if you'd already been en pointe for a while, practicing pointe (and ballet in general) at home is not a good idea. You need a teacher's eye on you so they can correct your mistakes-- because you WILL make mistakes. And bad habits are so much harder to break than good habits are to form.
You also need the proper flooring. For ballet in general, you need a sprung floor, so you don't get injuries. And for pointe work, there's the added issue of slipperiness. Most home floors are wood, and that makes pointe work too slippery and too dangerous.
Even professional dancers don't practice at home. If you want to improve with ballet, find a better studio, one which offers good quality training, and start at the beginning. Take as many classes as you can-- at least 2 or 3 90-minute classes per week if you want to start pointe in 3 years. Enjoy ballet for what it is, and have patience.
If you don't like ballet, you're not going to like pointe, either. And if you rush pointe, you will end up with awful technique at best-- and a debilitating injury that will prevent you from doing pointe properly in the future at worst.
I apologize for the long answer, but there's so much that needed to be said. So in short, no, you should not practice pointe on your own over the summer, that is a very, very bad idea.
Source(s): Ballet dancer en pointe for 5 years - Anonymous6 years ago
No