taxi4ballet

About a year ago, I was chatting to another mum at dd's dance school. She was starting to find it hard to get her 15-year-old dd to continue with ballet and was having to persuade her to go every week. She said that, considering all the money she had spent over the years, she wanted her dd to be able to 'pay her back' when she was older by getting a part-time job teaching at a dance school! Haven't seen them for a while...

Re elastics - quite a few of the professionals use elastic as a back-up in case the ribbon breaks during a performance. It shouldn't really be necessary when you are starting out. Ribbons - you sew them in much the same place as the elastics normally go. There are several quite good videos on youtube, and it's a good idea to pin or tack the ribbons on first, to check that they are in the right place. We use clear nail varnish to stop the ends of the ribbons fraying.

Well, when I'm not playing polo, clipping the topiary, mowing the croquet lawn or polishing my tiaras... ! Dick Francis novels, QI, watching old dvd's of DD's dance school shows, and a few years ago I started researching my family tree. I've managed to go back quite a long way, and found Irish, German and Scottish roots hidden among all the Londoners.

Perhaps the focus on what all our DD's and DS's may become in the future can take away some of the joy of dancing now. I guess that children need to be growing up carefree, and enjoying life to the full, rather than worrying about whether they will be good enough, or feeling that they might not live up to expectations. There's plenty of time for all that when they are grown up! It's a tough old world out there...

My DD started pointework aged 11 with about 5 minutes on pointe at the barre once a week (at the end of inter-foundation class), and her teacher also gave her exercises for ankle strengthening to do at home. She's now been on pointe for two years, and does roughly half an hour of pointe twice a week, much of which is still at the barre. Her feet had already stopped growing before she got her pointe shoes. Her teacher doesn't usually put girls on pointe till about 13, and I know that my dd was very much the exception rather than the rule. I did spend a fair while poring over information (lots of it on this forum) and agonising over whether to let her do pointe so young, but, due to her strength, foot shape and physical maturity, and with advice from her teacher and two pointe shoe fitters, I eventually said ok).

We were advised by an osteopath that the age at which a girl's body reaches puberty and her periods start, is a reasonably accurate indication of when the bones in the feet will begin to ossify (harden) sufficiently for pointework.

I like chocolate

Thank you Anjuli, you are a veritable goldmine once again, By the way, do let us all know the next time you are vacationing in the UK - We'll all club together and book a studio....!

Thank you Anjuli! Inspiration is a funny thing - sometimes all it takes is a single word. A few months ago my dd had an injury (fortunately minor) and, after a mammoth search, we managed to arrange an appointment with a dance physio at a vocational school. Following the consultation, the physio asked my dd when she was going to audition for the school. On the way home, my dd said that at long last she finally believed that she truly could achieve her dream to become a dancer, as the physio hadn't asked "if" she would be auditioning, but "when?"

Anjuli, I would love it if you could explain about the breathing during pirouettes, so I can show it to my dd. She says her teacher has never mentioned when to breathe during an exercise, and I think this would be a great help.

This is really good news.

My dd at contemporary day yesterday too, she said it was great, but her stomach muscles are suffering this morning!

We queried some very dodgy-looking topsy-turvy exam results once, and got nowhere.

From memory, the auditions are split into groups according to age / grade, so could be any time.

Had to read this twice, as the first time I thought it said that you'd been scrubbing the dogs!

It can be very easy for children to get the wrong end of the stick sometimes, particularly when remarks are made as a joke.

Fascinating stuff!

Sorry about this - I come from a horsey background The racehorse Red Rum was bred specifically as a flat racing horse from parentage known for high speed over short distances. He was plagued with leg trouble as a youngster, and was small and fine-boned, with hooves like teacups. To look at him, he was totally unsuited to slogging his way for miles through deep mud and over jumps bigger than he was. He turned out to be one of the greatest steeplechasers of all time. BTW I steered DD towards ballet rather than riding as I thought it would be cheaper!

Does anybody have any information on this topic? I was wondering whether being strongly right- or left-handed had any impact on dance training.

Will do.

Off-topic slightly, but I can't help wondering about right- and left-handedness and whether it has any impact on training. It would be interesting to find out, as my dd is fairly ambidextrous in most things, but finds it much easier to do some exercises one way rather than the other. Perhaps this might be one for Anjuli to answer...

"Have you been injured in an accident that wasn't your fault?" Perhaps the school should be reminded of their legal requirement to keep children safe. With you all the way on this one.

Very true Spanner, they'll be asking to see photos of cousins next!

Agree that the new ENB website is hard to handle - can't find the interaction events pages anywhere. DD is a ballet buddy so we do get stuff in the post, though. NYB is another one where the pages aren't updated all that often.

This was lovely to watch, and really expressive. Re all the comments about inherited physique, I am guessing that height/weight may only be a part of the picture. Length of limbs in proportion to torso, hypermobility and shape of the bones at the hip joint all spring to mind.