Lula-belle

I agree with dancemad, could you not ask your DD's teacher to help you with them, even if it is out of class time? Or at least take a few in each of the positions required and email them to the ballet teacher so she can help with choosing the best ones/advise you on improving them? X

It's like anything, we have to respect everyone develops at a different pace, being tall doesn't mean you are stronger, neither does being small. The reason alot of teachers say 12 is that statistically this is probably the "average" age, from a teacher/dancer point of view I can tell a pupil is ready for point when they dance in there soft blocks/demi points and they are completely in control of the shoe, rather than the shoe being in control of them! If the shoes are still effecting the pupils turnout whilst on Demi point, the mobility of the foot is still compromised and the student is finding it hard to break in the shoes, basically not dancing as they would in flats, they are not ready for pointe, this of course is my opinion. As for your question Anjuli, why the hurry? It still baffles me, little girls in a rush to feel like ballerinas? Keeping up with a class or friend? Some parents or teachers do seem to enjoy bragging how young there daughter/pupil was when she went on pointe!?!? Xx

Pointe work isn't exactly good for you at any age, obviously because its completley unnatural! So with the amount of problems it causes to mature, proffesional dancers, there should be no rush to start it at an early age! That being said it is a natural step for an aspiring dancer and everybody is "ready" at different times, I know 11year olds that are much more stable and safe on point than some 14 year olds, I understand your concern but I would trust you're DD's teacher, as she will be the best judge of your daughters capibilitys and anatomy, you shouldn't have any doubts if you respect her as a teacher, talk to her to put you're mind at rest though, if you are still worried Like you said 10 minutes at the end of class should be fine, they will be strengthening excercises introducing your daughter to the basics of pointe work. Hope this helps Xx

I have little experience of the NATD ballet syllabus though I know I did do it briefly when I was very young, but echoing what pups mum said I wouldn't worry about wether it looks good on her cv or how it will effect her in auditions, what's important is the quality of teaching wether its ISTD, RAD, NATD, BBO or a school that does completely non-syllabus classes, if your happy with the teacher and your DD's progression then don't worry

A friend used to swear by Suffolk pointe, though personally I've never experienced them, her shoes were allways beautifully fitted! But pointe shoes are such personel things I think the best thing to do is try as many as you can throughout your ballet journey until you find a pair your happy with and a fitter you trust, this will take a while whilst you're feet change shape/get stronger/grow! The best advice I was ever given regards to pointe shoes was that once you have a pair you love, wear them in class until there at that "perfect" stage of broken-in-ness (new word?) then put them away and save them for shows/exams/festivals, and get a new pair on the go for class to start the process again, if I'm making sense? This way you allways have a shoe on the go and a pair perfectly broken in ready for an important date! Perfect for a busy dancer, and that way you never get caught out with a pair of rock hard shoes the day before an exam!

Hi there, the Checetti syllabus is actually a faculty of the ISTD not RAD, here is a link to their website with info on the syllabus and where it comes from if your intrested I studied it briefly and it's a lovely syllabus, very dancey with intricate port de bras. http://www.istd.org/cecchetti-classical-ballet/ ISTD have a second faculty called ISTD imperial classical ballet, this originated from the french method of the Paris Opera. Link below to the imperial ballet site. http://www.istd.org/imperial-classical-ballet/ Also if you're interested guys there's videos of the vagonova ballet academy's different grades, the dancers are stunning! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9DuWgmbEm48 And here! Amazing http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T1ABwt-KN6w

Personally im not a fan of the photo but that picture is obviously made to make a point of her muscles with lighting and photo editing, like others have pointed out yes she is extremely muscley but in other pictures and on videos on YouTube you can see she is an incredibly talented beautiful dancer with an amazing physique wether its "the norm" or not. I'd much rather see a figure like that on a ballerina than a worryingly stick thin one! I personally think its great that ballet is constantly pushing the boundaries, if no one had ever gone outside the norm then we'd still be stuck doing 14th century court dancing... And if someone is beautiful to watch who cares what shape they are.

Hi everyone, when I was younger I did Rythmic gymnastics from 6 to 14 at a very competetive level, I started it to help my dancing and it very quickly took over! Obviously I'm talking more from a Rythmic gymnast point of view than an artistic but I can let you know of the pros and cons I've come across as a dancer, from my opinion the pros being flexibility, all round body strength and toning that then enables the flexibility to be used, tricks (which have come useful as I've found in the majority of westend/cruise/commercial auditions they've asked who can "flip/trick" ) and the self discipline that comes from doing competetive sport. The Cons would be the bad habits gymnastics pushes, spikey hands, arched back, also found that balancing the two was very hard and one had to give way, (I did dancing twice a week whilst doing gym 6 days a week, then took up dancing properlly at 14), an RG physique is very similar to a dancer's but an Artistic Gymnast tends to be a lot more athletic and bulky, close to a swimmers body and of course there is a risk of injury doing such a high demand sport but I suppose you could say that with dancing, all in all from my experience gymnastics doesn't hurt a dancer if they are being trained well in BOTH activities they help each other and that if you DD/DS is adamant dancing is their passion, make sure the gym coach knows this. ... Also I remember my mum going on the gymnastics forum when I was doing the sport!! Xx lula

They are Rythmic Gymnasts, they use ballet barres for stretching and do alot of ballet classes, the picture circulated a while ago

To be fair, I do remember having many classes from both the upper schools I went to and at my local dance school when younger, In wich the different quality of jumps were discussed and practised, one teacher in perticular used to drill it into us with different enchainment for each quality, and being taught the appropriate times to use them, but maybe I've been fortunate in this!? Even so I suppose this is off topic now! Lula xx

As a dancer currenty in the industry and also a teacher I feel I have to point out that aswell as an art dancing is also a career and as in most industries the "keeping up with the jones'" approach has to be taken to do well in auditions, if you as a dancer can't better the girl next to you in flexibility, strength AND musicality then sadly the job is going to her, and when teaching pupils who have passion and talent for entering this dog eat dog world then the best you can do is prepare them for what the panels want. In the end a dancer must know that as flexibility is important at this time, you need strength and incredibly core stability to use their mobility safely and technically correct, as well as this dancing is first and for mostly an art and artistry is obviously a must. Going back to the original topic, I personally don't have a problem with over split, if done safely by a dancer who is already comfortably down in split, try a cushion under the back knee if painful, agree with the person who said it helps to get a perfect split in a grand jete. Just to finish with, I'd like to point out that someone posted about grand jetes having a floaty quality, and I agree that this is true for the romantic era where the move takes more of a glissade action, but grand jete means Large Throw, insinuating that the jump has height and strength behind it, wich is the case in classical ballets like don Quixote. Also watch the Esmerelda Variation on YouTube, this solo is a perfect example of pure strength, technique, musicality Along with amazing flexibility. Lula xx