taxi4ballet

If you look on the Bloch website you can narrow the search for pointe shoes and specify the shank strength etc, it helps to rule out different styles.

The French mum of a girl at dd's school says she went on pointe at 9.

If you are finding Aspirations too hard, see about trying on Amelie, they are similar and have a soft shank.

I remember reading somewhere that the earlier you start on pointe, the earlier you have to stop.

i wonder what an x-ray of her feet would look like...

Does anyone have a copy of this dvd they no longer need, please?

Anjuli, yes, it's really helpful, especially the bit about heels down in demi-plie. She really does struggle with this, particularly with several jumps in a row, and so can't get the elevation because she's pushing from the balls of her feet. Interestingly, this was picked up by her modern teacher, and not by the ballet one. She doesn't get constant reminders from her ballet teacher which is why we are moving (I talked about this on another thread).

Pas de Quatre - yes, she is hypermobile, and she is lazy with her feet too, so foot strengthening exercises do sound like what she needs. DD tends to instinctively tense her muscles, even when trying not to - perhaps it's the body's self-defence mechanism kicking in to stop her over-stretching her joints (?) and it seems to give a jack-in-a-box effect. She' been told to not 'lock' her knees, as otherwise she has a gap between her heels in 1st position, and also has to work hard to releve close together in 5th, and she finds it really frustrating that her body is almost working against her.

I'm hoping that someone might know whether swayback knees can cause problems when landing from jumps. My dd's teacher has mentioned that dd has trouble bringing her heels down on to the floor, and dd says that she can't relax her calf muscles enough and tenses up as she lands. Are there any exercises she could do to help?

Thanks Anjuli, I might try and order a copy of the book via our local library

We were sitting in Trafalgar Square in London the other day, and dd noticed three tall, lean, fit, agile young men (I noticed them too ) and she said that they looked like dancers. I had to point out that I knew they definitely weren't, as they were dressed in army fatigues and green berets, and were in fact Royal Marine Commandos!

I would be interested to know the type of foot a 3/4 shank is suitable for.

If it's got to the stage when I just can't ignore the ironing pile any longer, I fetch out Hairspray on dvd and iron along with John Travolta!

With mine, it's the high arch and narrow heel

Thanks, always good to know when there are bargains about

Your poor dd, and her sore feet It sounds like these shoes definitely didn't fit, nobody should have bleeding, blistered feet when they are starting on pointe. What a shame it put her off, no wonder!

We've found Dance Line tights are reasonably cheap and last well

Nine pages - I didn't get that far!

Today, hung up bunting, went clothes shopping, saw a Lancaster Bomber flying very low and very loud!, dd having sleepover. Tomorrow, family dinner Monday, possibly a walk in the rain? Tuesday, street party Wednesday, into London for pointe shoes

So frustrating...

I used to overrule the fitters in Clarks - I'm not sure their training includes 'ballet' feet!

When you see a man in the chemists buying bun nets and you don't think it's odd. Edited to add - his dd was a gymnast!

Absolutely! This is dd's teacher exactly - have you met her, Anjuli?

Thanks everyone, as dd is hopefully taking her Inter exam soon, and if we move schools, your advice will help us in our decision. It does look like quite a leap up (having looked at the pointework on the dvd I got on ebay a few months ago), but as JulieW says, it's probably better to spend the time in Advanced 1.

Do many schools miss out Advanced Foundation and go straight from Inter to Advanced 1?