Aurora3

It is all so sad! I´m sorry for all Ukrainian and also Russian dancers - they belong to the ballet culture!!

On 04/03/2022 at 19:19, DancePhysioUK said:

Mostly, disregarding anything else to do with technique and strength as that's another matter, it's because of the growth of bones and the overpressure on ligaments. 

 

When a child isn't fully developed, extra pressure on these growth plates can cause abnormal bone growth and most of all pain. Kind of like an 'osgood schlatters' that often young footballers get but in the heal instead of the knee. This can also cause growth plate fractures.

 

Pressure on ligaments in adolescents can cause laxity in joints. Unlike muscles, once a ligament is stretched you can't often reverse this process (or it takes years and years) and ligaments are what keep our joints steady. Younger or growing kids are more prone to this as our body grows.

 

 

In fact, there is only ONE case known in science where the damage of the growth plates actually happened!

Please take into consideration that technique and strength contribute to easing the pressure on the joints (and of course the lighter weight of the younger girls)! Thus, the level of training is very important indeed!
 

5 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Would that be a problem for later period starters though? Personally I didn't start my periods until I was 14 and a half. As I don't dance the issue didn't arise for me but I can imagine that making some dancers wait for two or three years later than others before letting them go en pointe could leave them behind their peers, especially as they'd have to be auditioning for upper schools only a year later. Given ballet students are usually very slim, I would expect that some of them would start periods later than average.

NEVER found a criterium like that! It is not necessary to already have your period for doing pointework. Also take into consideration that girls in pre-puberty are lighter and better coordinated than girls who already have their periods!

The "age of 12" rule is in dance science obsolete! The full ossification of the bone only occurs after the age of 18, so no pointe in waiting for that. Furthermore, the biological age can differ a lot from chronological age. Instead, strength and technique are much more important!

Also: How much pointework will they be doing? "Starting pointe" is not the same as dancing on pointe many hours and performing variations that are meant for adults!

PBT is fine for you if you choose the right level. also, floor barre classes can help you to develop the right muscles! And, of course, stretching is good and easy to do on your own!

On 05/02/2021 at 13:25, drdance said:

Hi,

 

A good tip for this is practicing sliding into splits then bending the back leg with the shin vertical and foot pointing up to the ceiling. If the hips are open, the dancer will find this very difficult. It requires more flexibility in the front of the hip on the back leg. A dancer who has a good second position / box splits but tighter hip flexors/ilopsoas will find that they naturally want to twist

 

Yes, but often in ballet teachers want both legs turned out(and the hips on one level, of course!)!

Thank you all! It is a private class and I hope the tip with the gallery view will work!

Hello everyone,

as we are in lockdown until January, I am taking a few extra coaching classes per zoom. I asked the teacher to record it so I can watch my mistakes and she tried it, but it always films her instead of me probably because the music is coming from there. Can anyone help and explain how she can record ME?

Considering the (technical) benefits, there are surely classes of very different quality! But most important, in my opinion, is that the students stay motivated in this difficult time! So, if a student enjoys a class, it is always a gain!

Hm- all teachers without experience as professional dancers I ever have tried were not good, but I only noticed when I got to a certain level. As a beginner, I also had the impression they were good... But that doesn´t mean that teachers WITH experience as professionals are automatically good!

But both applies not only to online classes, but also to real life classes!

4 hours ago, The Traveling Ballerina said:

Again, if the "big names" are actually qualified teachers, then yes it is a great opportunity. Glad to hear, though, that you have been able to stay motivated throughout this all

It depends, also professional dancers can be great teachers - or not. Some only focus on themselves, but others are obviously very gifted and inspiring! But most of all, I also liked the teachers from professional schools....

20 hours ago, Peony said:

In current times I think yes zoom is great, the alternative would be no classes. However I really do hope that it is largely phased out when people can go back to studios! There’s no way a teacher can watch multiple students On a screen as closely as they can in class. No hands on touch for corrections, risk of injury because of less than optimal flooring etc, limitations on space. The kids also cleverly position the camera to cover up their weak spots🤣I think there’s also less performance element involved. it worries me a bit that the ‘big names’ may decide to offer online lessons and Hoover up a lot of students due to their prestige. On the one hand it’s no problem if the kids enjoy it etc but it’s likely to be to the detriment of local teachers isn’t it? (And to the student if their technique isn’t closely monitored)

I think it is often a great opportunitiy for the students to work with "big names" and professional programs they don´t have access to locally!
I fully agree about the limitations of online classes (space, floor, no body contact with the teacher), but why not taking the chance to work with high level programs? That was the factor that kept my motivation....

Classes for minors always take place in Great Britain, no matter how high the numbers are? Then you are lucky...

On 06/10/2020 at 09:16, Nama said:

Totally agree. We’ve all experienced it. In auditions kids get cut and sent out after the first exercise on the barre. That is certainly a size issue. Also the size maximum listed on coy audition criteria. That’s ok - we all know what they want. But be honest - don’t waste people’s money and time and the damage done to the candidates confidence who are rejected and don’t know why. The kids watch the candidates and know who is a better dancer. They see the technical faults and know that size is a key factor. Many of the students in my daughters graduate class were constantly injured and unwell. They had no stamina and fitness. That’s why the healthy strong kids danced more filling in endlessly for the favoured student as they were too ill to dance. Vulnerable to damaged legs and to diseases. Just too unhealthy to maintain the demands of daily dancing. It’s ironic that seeing those same super skinny weak dancers have bulked up to almost normal levels when in coys and the daily requirements have necessitated healthy habits in regards to food. So why chose the skinny weak ones then require them to eat properly and get muscle tone when they’ve got the job in the coys. This is particularly evident in the famous coys 

For getting cut after the first exercises: I disagree! The first exercises reveal a lot about clean technique. If this is not there, some auditioners send these people out and I can understand this!

@Derin's Mom, can´t she finish her education in Istanbul conservatoire or is it not so good?
I will get Grishko 3007 and Dream Pointe 2007 next week to try on! We will see how these fit!

Thank you very much! So you think I shouldn´t order Box 2? Better try my box 3 ones another time?

Derin´s Mom, were is your daughter studying now?

@Niko: But you have no explanation for the difference to pointework?

Update: I tried on the Dream Pointe 2007 and I think it would be much better for me as strangely enough, the shank in the demi-pointe area and the box were MUCH softer (in the same shank strength!) than the ones of Dream Pointe. But the shop owner is now ordering Grishko 3007 also for me for comparison, so I haven´t bought it yet! Anyone who wears 3007 here?

@Kate_N Yes, you did jump higher than 25 cm, but you didt stretch your feet and legs - that´s another difference between ballet and sport: If a baketball player hits the basket, nothing else matters, but in ballet, the jump must be according to the rules!

@Niko Kolokythas: Can you tell me something about the difference between jump and pointework? Do jumps require more Type IIX fibres than pointe? Or is it just another coordination?  I´m pretty sure there must be a difference - I´m much better at pointework than jumps and I also see on other people that most have one which is better!

To the last point: I fully agree. It is hardly possible to change the genetic body shape!

If you compare ballet to basketball: I have never heard anyone complaining about small people being excluded from a career, so why the complaints about ballet favouring a certain body type?

@Nico: Thank you very much for the link!

@dr.dance: I didn´t mean all dancers can jump equally well, I meant they all are able to jump despite having long muscles...

Maybe! But ballet is an art form, not a sport, so if the jump is beautiful, everything is fine!

For the type 1 and 2 fibers: Do type 2 fibers look more bulky then?

DrDance, so it is impossible to learn jumps if you have "long, lean muscles"? I have them by nature and absolutely prefer Adagio to Allegro, but I always think most classical female dancers have such muscles and they can jump all the same...