taxi4ballet

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.

A few years ago, I had the thankless task of manning the bouncy castle at DD's school fete. One of the kids fell over and another one landed on her ankle. I heard the bone crack. Good job I'm a first-aider.

Especially since the plate was the one I had just used for my lunch!

Don't remember the source, but I heard that cheerleading accidents are the greatest single cause of injuries in teenage girls...

Someone who used to work behind the scenes for a ballet company told me that a lot of the dancers were doing Open University degrees in their spare(!) time.

The PE department at my DD's school is very co-operative and helpful: at the last parents' evening the PE teacher was even talking about the different muscular development of ballet dancers compared with the general pupils.

Unlike the performing arts department, strangely, that teacher is very dismissive about ballet.

DD also has an unlikely talent for the climbing wall..