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Best age for first pair of pointe shoes


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WRT the Inter Foundation, my own dd learned the whole Inter Foundation syllabus thoroughly before starting en pointe and learning the pointework at the very last minute.

 

Well that's what this girl did, spent a year and a half on the syllabus but went en pointe, it must have been 2.5 months before the exam. She got 90 but I think pointe was her lowest mark and she wasn't very confident with it.

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I was flabbergasted the other night when, after some idle trawling round the internet, I came upon the US website of a very well-known American brand of pointe shoes. 

 

On this site, it says - and I quote:

 

"Occasionally, a supremely strong 8-year-old is ready for pointe, but this is very rare".

 

Oh really??? Words fail me...

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I was flabbergasted the other night when, after some idle trawling round the internet, I came upon the US website of a very well-known American brand of pointe shoes. 

 

On this site, it says - and I quote:

 

"Occasionally, a supremely strong 8-year-old is ready for pointe, but this is very rare".

 

Oh really??? Words fail me...

 

They want to sell shoes.

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It`s funny the things you forget as the years roll by. Just thought of the time,I think I was 11,that my dancing teacher told me I could go and get pointe shoes.Oh the excitement.!! They lasted just over a week,then my poor [literally!] mother had to take me back to Mitchell`s in Manchester and buy another pair. The reason?  It`s all Dame Margot Fonteyn`s fault.!!  In her book, A Dancer`s World, I read that "Professional dancers break in their pointe shoes before classes and performances". So,desperate to be like a professional dancer,this is exactly what I did. They were completely destroyed .!!!!!

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Going on pointe from a young age can damage the way that your bones grow. Professional ballerinas get broken bones sometimes because their bones aren't strong enough because they haven't finished growing yet.

 

I would say 11/12 would be ok for pointe but only if your daughter is comfortable and does different exercises to strenthen the anckles first. It is so unbelievably easy to just bend your foot one way and break it while on pointe.

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  • 1 year later...

Just read this thread, hope you all don't mind me bumping it :)

 

My daughter (10 1/2) is about 6 months into inter foundation syllabus - she is desperate for pointe shoes (aren't they all?) and teacher has said everything is ready but you can't hurry a skeleton!!

 

Personally I don't see the rush as it doesn't seem like she's missing out or being slowed down in any way

 

She hurt her foot recently at a birthday party and insisted I take her to a&e for X-ray. We thought something was broken. As she was being wheeled into X-ray she was calling over her shoulder to me to get a copy for her ballet teacher! (The whole thing might have been a ruse on her part to obtain X-ray or at least make the most of the opportunity)

 

So now we actually have a current X-ray .. I don't know what I'm looking at lol ... Can anyone share some light on this as it would be nice to explain to her why she is waiting for bones in her feet to change :)

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Basically children have cartilage plates instead of bone at the end of the bones and this is softer than bone. These slowly become bone over childhood and fuse at puberty to become all bone.

 

I'm not a dancer but I think the theory is that you wait until they're at puberty or thereabouts to reduce risk of damage.

 

It isn't an exact science and of course the same children within a class will be at different stages....

 

It's hard to explain on the xray. May be best to look online - search for metaphysis and epiphysis I think.

 

Whatever the xray shows it sounds as if her teacher has it under control. Definitely no rush..

 

That is hilarious about getting copy for teacher.....

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Oh how lovely that your DD is so keen :)  As I'm sure you've been finding out, there's lots of information and advice on this forum and other internet sites too - much of which is conflicting! 

 

Probably the best person to advise will be your dd's teacher, as they will know her feet best and be best placed to make that decision. As well as needing to wait until the bones start to ossify (usually around puberty), there are lots of other factors that the teacher will need to take into consideration as well, one of which is physical strength in the feet and legs.

 

Maybe your dd could ask her teacher to show her some ankle strengthening exercises she could start doing now?

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Thank you :) I think the scenario currently is that she's purely waiting to get older. She's been doing 5 classes of ballet a week now including pointe prep, inter foundation, graded work, and freework plus a ball class and a strength and technique class plus other classes in modern, tap, jazz, lyrical etc so I'd be surprised in it was anything to do with that side of things.

 

Teacher has been watching her feet like a hawk. Rolled/balanced a pencil over her feet, looking for redness after classes, and I think my dd has been spurred on by this renewed interest in her feet and grabbed the opportunity for xray!

 

(Mind you my dd is a little bit persuasive .. She did actually suck chocolate off a piece of nougat in a toblerone and pretend her tooth came out for money for tooth fairy so I can't honestly rule out this engineered opportunity for xray!)

 

She's got at least 3 friends all her age and all recently on pointe and is just fixated on it being her turn next.

 

The last girl at her dance school to be allowed on pointe is 14 and my dd is adamant she is not waiting until then! Haha

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Does she do any associate classes anywhere? If she does, it might be worth asking the teacher there for advice, but I suspect they would tell her she has to wait too!

 

She can do all the inter-foundation exercises in flat shoes on demi-pointe anyway, and she'll then find it easier to do them on pointe when she finally gets the go-ahead :) That's what my dd did.

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Its hard for them to be patient at this age. I remember my DD being absolutely desperate to get onto Pointe at around the same stage. Thoughts of what could go wrong at some time in the future don't mean much to a child of that age unfortunately when something they desperately want seems to be within reach. But there really is nothing to lose and everything to gain from waiting a little longer so try to encourage her to be patient. I am sure that if her teacher is preparing her for intermediate foundation already she must be getting there. I can't imagine her teacher would have started that syllabus if she was planning on waiting til she was 14 to start pointe. I am no expert but at my DDs school girls go on Pointe anywhere from about 11 to their late teens depending on their maturity and physical and technical strength rather than at a set age and I would think that all good teachers assess each child individually, so I wouldn't infer too much from the last girl's age. Hope she enjoys it when the time comes.

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Well I found my very first post on this forum from March 2013 on this thread, so I am pleased that it got bumped!  You have to be 11 to take the RAD IF exam, but the pointe work is minimal, so basically even if a very strong child started pointe a bit early in order to take the exam, she would hopefully not be doing any damage.  Any serious teacher will keep beginning pointe to the bare minimum and just at the barre.  There's one exercise in IF in the centre and it's on two feet, so not a big deal.   Whenever your teacher thinks your daughter will be ready to take the exam, I am sure she will let her start pointe three or four months in advance at least.

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There is an excellent article about starting pointe written by the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (sorry if someone else has already mentioned this). I really think it is well worth having a read, they have some excellent articles on a range of related topics too. I appreciate that teachers and parents will use their experience and best judgement to decide when a child should start but their experience is always going to be limited to just the children they have seen. Those children may not necessarily be a representative sample. Here is the link http://www.iadms.org/?185

 

I've copied their summarised suggestions here;

 

To summarize the above discussion we offer the following guidelines for when to begin pointe training:

  1. Not before age 12.
  2. If the student is not anatomically sound (e.g., insufficient ankle and foot plantar flexion range of motion; poor lower extremity alignment), do not allow pointe work.
  3. If she is not truly pre-professional, discourage pointe training.
  4. If she has weak trunk and pelvic ("core") muscles or weak legs, delay pointe work (and consider implementing a strengthening program).
  5. If the student is hypermobile in the feet and ankles, delay pointe work (and consider implementing a strengthening program).
  6. If ballet classes are only once a week, discourage pointe training.
  7. If ballet classes are twice a week, and none of the above applies, begin in the fourth year of training.
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My dd drives me nuts with constantly asking when her teacher will let her get her first pointe shoes!! But I trust her teacher to let her when she knows she's ready. She turned 11 in October and has been studying inter foundation for 2 years so I think we are nearly there ????. Her teacher said when she goes to grade 6 in March that's when she will decide ????. But no rush for me but you can't tell that to a 11 year old !! She even dreams of pointe shoes????

Edited by grumpybearzuk
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My DD is being fitted for her first pointe shoes tomorrow and she is beyond excited! She's 15 so is older than probably the majority of those moving to pointe work but she's no less excited :)

How lovely. :-) Do let us know how she gets on, and what shoes she buys!

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The fitting went well but she doesn't have her pointe shoes just yet as there's another pair that the fitter wants to try her with before making the final decision which are due to be delivered either today or tomorrow.

 

So far it's looking like it will be either Grishko 2007 or Grishko Triumph. All being well she should have them by the weekend - the excitement continues :D

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My daughter is 13 and only started on pointe last year, at her dance school all the girls progress together regardless of their ability which is nice in a way as they are all good friends. She is only studying ISTD Grade 5 ballet - got a while to go before IF although she has been doing ballet since she was 2! Her teacher does not like to rush it. 

She was desperate to start pointe work last year but I would agree that proper preparation is the key and I was interested to read the article (thanks for posting)  which highlighted having good soft tissue strength and flexibility as well as good balance, proper alignment and a strong core was important. I think if they have a good underlying technique then there is no rush in my view.

I know they are all so desperate to get on pointe, and getting their first pair is very exciting, but judging by some of their faces when they do it is not always an enjoyable experience!

I would be interested to know what you use in the shoe for cushioning, we started with the ouch pouches but she is now using a bit of wool and some tape. Her teacher says you should use nothing but harden off your feet with surgical spirit.  :huh:

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In her Gaynors, dd just uses jelly toes on her big and little toes. In her Freeds she uses ouch pouch Pro - thin gel on top but just fabric underneath.

 

As you do more pointework it is important to be able to feel the floor - but the main thing to remember ALWAYS is to wear whatever type of padding you were wearing when the shoes were fitted. So if they are fitted with ouch pouches, always wear ouch pouches or padding of equivalent thickness and size with that particular pair of pointes.

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Well DD now has her first pointe shoes and ended up with Grishko 2007's. The joy on her face as she went on pointe for the first time was a sight to behold :)

 

I took myself off outside and had a little 'moment' because she had a number of hip operations as a baby so to see her up on her toes was so emotional for me.

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  • 2 months later...

I am feeling quite distressed about this topic just now, as DD's entire Int Foundation class (except the ten-yr-old) were told to get pointe shoes. The school is a leading one but doesn't offer grades after Gr 5 so everyone went into IF. My DD is 11 but had been moved up from Gr 3  (with strengthening exercises to do over our NZ summer, ie Dec- Feb), so I thought she might have to wait, but she got hers in April with the teacher's approval. But now all the girls have them, including two or three who cannot get up properly at all, and one whose ankles and feet wobble around so much when she's showing her mum in the waiting room, that I'm worried she's going to injure herself. They had just been working at the barre, but then last week the teacher said anyone who was confident could try releves in the centre, and the two weakest girls went!!! I am just quite alarmed for these girls as everything I'd read said that teachers would decide when you were ready. These are older and experienced teachers but I just wonder if it's to keep the girls dancing, rather than feeling left behind?

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Initially It does sound a bit worrying if the two weakest girls went to try as no matter how keen they might be(and one can commend them for that) the teacher should really be the one deciding when she thinks they are truly strong enough to start centre work especially.

 

But perhaps in her judgement she did think any of them could have coped with it hence the open invitation to try.

I think Ive understood from your post that they've only had the pointe shoes since April......so that is only about 4-5 weeks!! It does seem a bit early to be introducing centre work but difficult to say without seeing the girls.

 

How many pointe work classes do they have each week? If it's only one class or even only part of a class then I would not be that keen to get them in the centre just yet.

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Thought I aught to add Im not a ballet teacher though.

 

Have just had quite a few years now of dancing experience on and off and can still remember just what it felt like that first time on pointe.......very painful!! But there was noway I wasn't going to persevere!! It was definitely a big deal as an 11 year old though I didn't have a "ballet mum" so at least she wasn't pushing for it .......and I have seen that too.

I do think now that I was too young and wasn't really strong enough in my case to be on pointe at 11 from the understanding I have of it all now though.

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Yes, all the girls in their first year of IF got pointe shoes in April. They were so keen to wear them at first that they did normal barre in pointe shoes, but now they just do some IF pointework at the end of syllabus class, once or twice a week. My DD is doing the full four syllabus classes a week (plus private lesson), but several of the girls only do two. I think I am so bothered because when I did adult ballet, our (Russian old-school) teacher didn't bother much with the weaker students, and one developed stress fractures in her feet from being left to 'roll in' in plie. Even I could see it wasn't right but she didn't get corrected and I felt so bad for her when I heard what had happened.

I guess the problem is that if you only offer vocational classes at this age, you have to accommodate the girls who would really be better going through the grades instead. They are supposed to be told this term who will be sitting the exam in Oct so that will be interesting  :wacko:

Edited by Cara in NZ
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