balletmania

Yes I agree, the power dynamic does cause some issues in the ballet world. Perhaps a relevant fact is that the privates at my current school are quite expensive and there are few slots available so I'm not able to take as many of those as I'd like. Thanks all for the advice! I'm in the midst of discussions with my parents (weighing the pros and cons of leaving vs staying) so hopefully we'll be able to make a decision that is best for my training.

Thanks guys! I think the Perfectfit inserts have more or less solved my issue but I'll try the animal wool trick for sure if I experience problems again in the future

Thanks all for your responses! This is such a difficult decision and I'm grateful to have received so much helpful guidance. Peanut68, I appreciate your focus on practical concerns - to answer your question: I do think there is mild favoritism going on but in general I would say individual corrections are rare for everyone here... and I'm also worried that bringing it up with the faculty might change their attitude from apathy to antagonism. Definitely hard dilemma!

Am a pre-pro student in a full-time academy right now but I am having second thoughts about my school because the teachers don't give a lot of personal corrections and I just generally feel a bit ignored outside of privates. However, the classes often have difficult and complex combinations which I think are somewhat helpful. On the other hand, there is another school elsewhere I'm considering transferring to, and while the teachers there don't have spectacular CVs like the ones here do, I have attended a brief intensive there before and know that they give more personal corrections and attention to students. Given this, which is more important to my training and improvement: challenging steps/star-studded faculty, or individual attention? Would appreciate any guidance! Thanks

Thanks for all the tips! I'm trying the PerfectFit ones now and they seem to be working for me Glad to have found a solution!

Thanks all for the responses! To answer your questions: - I'm in the Chicagoland area - Yes, I'm considering PerfectFit shoe inserts Just dragging my feet since they're quite expensive haha - Yes, sadly my second toe is longer than my big toe.

I'm a pre-pro student and have been dancing en pointe for years. Previously, my Freed of London Classic Pros have always served me well; however, recently I've noticed that I've been experiencing enormous amounts of pressure to the point of not being able to go en pointe towards the middle of the day. The pressure is usually on my big toe but since my second toe is the longest, it also experiences quite a bit of pain. I doubt it's a fitting issue as the shoe seems to be more or less the right shape and size and make my feet look nice. I use gel pointe shoes, toe caps on my big toes, and more recently 2nd skin gel squares. I suspect the problem might be sinking but don't know which dancewear stores in my area actually have quality fitters to help me get the issue checked out. What could be the problem and what can I do to fix it? Here are the options I'm considering: getting fitted for new shoes (and beginning the long, arduous, and expensive process of shoe searching once again...), trying perfectfit toe pads, or adding some other form of padding. I would appreciate any form of help! Thank you so much in advance

Hi drdance, Anna C, and birdy, thanks for sharing your thoughts and I appreciate the concern! Just wanted to clarify one thing to alleviate any worry: I don't really stretch my hyperextension at all, and I definitely don't "push into it" or "push down"! What I meant was that it automatically occurs when I do my splits, while not being present while actually dancing. If anything my knee is slightly bent at times which is confusing because as mentioned my leg seems to naturally have the required range... Hope that makes you all a bit less concerned for my safety Thank you to drdance for evaluating that the culprit is likely the VMO muscle - I will try to incorporate more of those strengthening exercises into my routine.

This is a bit of a strange situation because I do have some hyperextension (as in, my heels come off the ground when I straighten my knees in a sitting pike position, and when I am doing the front oversplits with a yoga block the knee still touches the ground), but for some reason when I'm actually dancing it's near impossible to extend the leg completely. For example, during tendus, my leg doesn't look or feel completely straightened and developpe devant is just hopeless. Is this a common situation? What can I do to utilise my available hyperextension while dancing? Thanks in advance! x

Will do!

Thank you meadowblythe, Colman, Peanut68, and Pas de Quatre - I really appreciate your help and advice! I'm a lot less worried now and feel much more ready to step foot into my first PDD class. Thanks to Pas de Quatre for your advice, I will work on cross-training before the school year starts. x

Dear Kate_N, DVDfan, glowlight, and Pas de Quatre - thank you so much for your kind words and reassurances! I am somewhat new to balletcoforum and am glad to be joining such a warm community. I'm feeling a lot less fearful now about the prospect of attending the school. The following reads a bit like a dump of all my anxiety-filled thoughts so please feel completely free to ignore - everyone has helped me enough already and I am sincerely grateful! To elaborate on the language issue, my worries are twofold: firstly the fact that because the school is in Eastern Europe I'm not sure if the students there will be quite as fluent in English compared to people in, say, Germany. Also, I'm pretty sure that even though the school welcomes international students, the receptionist(?) person I have been corresponding with this whole time does not actually speak English (I've basically been getting by with the help of a friend who speaks the language, using Google translate, and being as taciturn as possible with the limited words I know), so to convey as elaborate a message as my concerns about pas de deux may be quite beyond my abilities. Dear glowlight, you are right that I actually have 2 concerns all rolled into one, which is the PDD and the language barrier. As you mentioned the language thing will likely permeate my entire school experience and not just PDD class, but the reason I am worried about PDD in particular is that as you know it requires a bit more sophisticated communication, especially since my partner may very well be (at some point in the class) literally the only thing standing between me and a concussion. Also, the thought of the partner getting frustrated with a mistake I'm making yet me not being able to understand how to fix it is quite nightmarish...

What should one do if they haven't had prior pas de deux experience, but are placed in a grade with quite advanced pas de deux students, potentially in a school where there is a language barrier? Coming from a small studio background I have never done pas de deux. I'm have been accepted to a couple of schools but one of them (which in my opinion is the best one amongst those to which I have been accepted) is in Europe where a language barrier would be a further obstacle to communicating in pdd class... should I let the school know in advance? Should I ask to be placed in a lower level for pdd class only? Should I try to learn the language in a short period of time? Quite terrified and uncertain what to do. Would appreciate any and all advice/anecdotes! xxx

Thank you, Janet and Birdy! I appreciate the info. I'll try my luck over at ballet pursuit.

Hi! New member here and was curious about the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory in Torrington, CA. If anyone has experience with the school, could you answer some of the questions below? 1. Favoritism exists to some extent at most schools, but how big of a deal is it there? Are less favored/less skilled dancers also given a reasonable amount of corrections, or are they left to their own devices? 1a. IF there is significant favoritism, how correlated is it to actual skill? (i.e., can initially less favored kids change their status by catching up?) 2. What is the general level of the students there? Is there an abnormally large discrepancy between the more skilled and less skilled students? 3. How is the atmosphere? Is it competitive or friendly? 4. Any other informed opinions/personal experiences would be appreciated! Thx!