dancerbabe82

Just goes to show you shouldn't trust everything you read I suppose! This was taken from her agents page "Choosing to pursue a professional career in dance, she successfully auditioned for the Royal Ballet Lower School, but was asked to leave after two years due to a large bust, which ruined her lines for classical ballet." http://www.roarglobal.com/clients/jennifer-ellison/biography/

It was reported that Jennifer Ellison was assessed out of WL aged 15 for the size of her bust...

L is for lyrical A balletic style of modern/contemporary dance, often danced to ballads . Seen in festivals and certain exercises/amalgamations in the ISTD modern syllabus

It's frightening how many young dancers think that to warm up they must stretch. I don't know where these young people are getting this message but it's up to us as teachers and parents to instill into them that the first part of a warm up must be cardio based, anything that gets them out of breath. It can be as simple as jogging on the spot, star jumps, playing a game of tag etc. Once they're physically warm some gentle stretches are ok as part of a general pre-dance routine. tomuchtallent I think I can see the idea of that teachers exercise in that it's trying to get the dancers into a flat plie but a) stretching like this before class is bad news and yes it's bad for knees, hips etc. Not every dancer has the ability to get into a flat plie in 2nd because of the way the hip joint is made. Knees can twist once bent, although they're not designed to so to force it is very bad. (edited to remove a random smiley that crept in!)

I'll do the easy ones then.... C is for CAT Centre for Advanced Training. Non residential vocational training schemes for teenage (?) dancers showing lots of potential. Most are contemporary dance-based, although there are some that focus on South Asian dance. The only purely ballet based one to my knowledge is at Northern Ballet, Leeds. Most contemporary ones do some ballet though. D is for DaDA Dance and Drama Award is a government based funding scheme that covers a lot of the fees at vocational schools/colleges running degree or foundation degree courses (I think!). The student/family has to pay the same amount in fees as if the student was attending a university.

I don't think the size of the foot matters - like Anjuli says its more important that it is used correctly

The elements of physiology and psychology of dance fascinate me too! Anjuli I totally hear what you're saying! I've heard recently that a pirouette is 80% mental and only 20% physical / technical.... Perhaps if we stopped thinking about everything so much things would just happen? But there's got to be a certain element of technique there, in the muscle memory as you say, otherwise things would all go horribly wrong! Fascinating!

It's all about extending the curve from the top of the foot rather than 'scrunching' up the toes. A good exercise to do is 'doming' the foot. Try it with your hand first... put your hand flat on a surface with your fingers all together and then pull your knuckles up off the surface keeping your fingers straight. Now try that with your feet! It's hard at first but gets easier quite quickly. The main aim is to keep your toes straight. Another exercise to do is a divided tendu: go to do a tendu, working through your foot, but stop before your toes leave the floor. Keep your toes straight on the floor then point your foot into a complete tendu still keeping your toes straight. Then put the toes back on the floor (still straight) keeping the rest of the leg/ankle/foot in the tendu line, then go back into full tendu with toes straight... keep repeating this 8-10 times. If you have a theraband, sit up straight with one leg bent (like in frogs or something) and one leg out straight (but make sure the bent leg isn't tucked under the other). Wrap the theraband around the toes (only the toes) of the straight leg. Point the leg, ankle, foot and toes -again keep your toes straight. Use the theraband to add a bit of resistance then lift your toes up and point them slowly. If you can separate your toes that adds a bit more dexterity. Look for photos online for theraband foot exercises. Last one! Sit on a chair or on the sofa (or the loo!) with your knees bent with your feet flat on the floor. Lift your heels up so your feet are on demi-pointe. Keep your toes flat on the floor and try to lift your heels as high as you can. This will strengthen your arch too. Next push your toes down into the floor but keep them flat. Slowly allow yourself to point your foot the whole way so your basically on pointe (but because you're sitting down it's not really pointe!). Work the muscles really hard but KEEP YOUR TOES STRAIGHT! In all these, the movements should happen at the joint where the toes meet the foot (the 'knuckles'). The actual toes should not bend or curl. Good luck!

The pointed 'foot' is a combination of plantar flexion at the ankle and the bones of the foot and toes 'pointing' to extend the line further. Ankle plantar flexion is the position of the ankle as it is on demipointe and this is dependent on the range of movement at that joint (based on the size of the talus bone, mostly) and happens due to contractions of the deep calf muscle (the soleus, mostly). The movement of the metatarsals (bones in the midfoot) and the toes comes from muscles running along the sole of the foot called the flexor digitorum and the flexor hallucis longus (FHL) which operates the big toe. Over the top of these muscles runs a layer of connective tissue called the plantar fascia which can often get tight and inflamed, leading to plantar fasciitis. As for the shape of the foot - often the 'ideal' foot for pointe work has the 1st 3 toes the same length, because this gives a better platform for weightbearing. However, due to the pointe shoe fitting the foot so tightly at the 'knuckles' of the foot, a lot of the weight is borne at that area of the foot rather than the very ends of the toes. While the foot bears the brunt of the weightbearing, while the muscles of the foot and ankle constantly make fine adjustments in their support it is the calves,hamstrings, gluteal and abdominal muscles that have to work harder to support the dancer on pointe. Aesthetically, a 'bendy' foot with a high arch looks very nice but if a foot/ankle is very mobile, it's more prone to sprains and strains due to the amount of body weight it is subjected to . The ideal foot would be a moderately flexible foot, which is trained well and strengthened properly so that the strength of the dancers' muscles work it to an aesthetically pleasing, full range of motion that is strong enough to support the demands. Like any area of the body, the top of the foot can be stretched manually using the hands but care should be taken to make sure that the ankle is straight and that the foot/ankle isn't stretched into a sickled position.

I teach the ISTD modern syllabi too... Intermediate foundation has existed for a long time and is an older syllabus;it's fun but the content is less involved in my opinion, than grade 6. Intermediate is technically challenging but boring as it's also very old, and advanced 1 and 2 have recently been revised so I believe that Inter and Inter foundation will be next up and will follow adv 1 and 2 in being much more 'current' in terms of styles and choreography and I imagine they'll be harder too. The school where I trained originally pushed able pupils through the vocational grades including girls who were only just old enough, through Advanced 2 (the old work) right in the middle of the ISTD's transition phase when the modern grades changed and they changed the mark system, about 10 years ago. Then I went to a school (while at university) where they held kids back too far in the opposite direction and they were in grade 3 at 14 despite being able. Their viewpoint (bearing in mind the school was run by a fairly important ISTD examiner who was on the tap committee at the time) was that students away at vocational colleges are taking intermediate in their first year, adv 1 in the 2nd and adv 2 in the 3rd so examiners use that as a comparison. Anyway - I digress slightly.... grade 5 is a lovely syllabus, I prefer that to grade 6. There is only a tiny bit that can be chosen as jazz or lyrical, only the amalgamation and perhaps a couple of other exercises. If your DD is in intermediate ballet she will be strong enough to cope with the work. There is a certain element of maturity required but again if she is at a fairly advanced level in ballet, and is a good and versatile performer it shouldn't be an issue. One other thing to consider with grades 5 and 6 is that there is a section requiring the pupils to demonstrate a series of dance movements first just travelling from the corner and then in a free amalgamation set by the examiner so if your DD hasn't done this section in class yet that might be something holding her back a bit. There is a DVD of the modern grades available. It's expensive but perhaps your DD's studio might have a copy or someone else might have a copy that would allow you to have a look and see what you think too?

Fiz I'm intrigued by your comment - what did they do?

As a teacher who knows a bit about anatomy and science, I am astounded at the amount of people who refer to the 'inner thigh'. An old colleague of mine used to go on about it all the time, and the poor kids didn't understand what she meant. In parallel, the muscles on the 'inside' of the thigh are the adductors. However when in maximum turnout, the muscles closest to the centre line of the body (so the inner-most) muscles are the hamstrings. Hamstrings are designed for bending the knee (non weightbearing) or to move a straight, turned out leg closer to the centre line of the body (so lowering it down from 2nd en l'air). Contracting, or 'using' a muscle usually has a purpose, and it's rare to just contract it for no reason, (unless you're a body builder!) so perhaps it would be more helpful if your DD could ask her teacher to explain whether its related to turnout, or the placing of her leg in arabesque - it might also be a good idea if the teacher could demonstrate what she wants so that your DD could see how it works, or maybe the teacher could suggest a way of visualising moving so that the muscle would engage - eg a feeling of extending the leg as well as lifting it, One point I should make is that dancers should avoid 'gripping' the buttocks as they are so strong that contracting them tends to actually restrict the movement of the leg within the actual hip joint and dancers then appear to be 'lifting the hip' (which is really one side of the pelvis) to use the leg.Most ballet movements tend to require the smaller deeper muscles (iliopsoas, piriformis, gracilis and the deep external rotators) rather than the large muscles that are visible like the quads, hams and glutes

I find this all a bit bizarre... for a start, professional ballet has a much higher injury rate than sports like rugby (80% of professional dancers who participated in a research project by Dance UK, reported an injury in one year, whereas the stats in rugby is more like 30%). The only difference between ballet injuries and injuries sustained in PE is that ballet injuries tend to be chronic, overuse injuries which take much longer to heal, and PE injuries tend to be the more acute, accidental injuries that heal fairly quickly. Any sport that involves running in trainers involves much LESS impact on the joints than ballet jumps, with legs turned out, in shoes which are about as supportive as bare feet. I get that fields might have pot holes etc but if they did, wouldn't every kid that ran on them get twisted ankles? Dance training probably helps kids avoid injuries on uneven surfaces because of the extra stability that the ankle develops, compared to non-dancers. Something else to remember, is that children are children! You can't protect them from everything. an old pupil of mine who is currently at vocational school has just had 5 weeks off school because she broke her elbow doing cartwheels while playing outside at the weekend!

I don't know if ballet schools are like this but universities tend to take a fair few non-British students because they pay lots more in fees than UK students

Hello everyone, I was just wondering what peoples thoughts are regarding ballet shoes. The RAD have now said that split sole shoes are allowed in exams but that they discourage use of split sole shoes for training. My old teacher (I'm over 30!) never let us wear split sole shoes because she said they made your feet weaker but I think I disagree - if a student uses their foot properly barefoot they can get stronger feet than a student in thick soled shoes - I've seen that myself. But teaching by myself leaves me quite isolated - it would be nice to hear what other teachers think, or parents for that matter!

Interesting that lots of people here DO know that using BMI for dancers is rubbish - because muscle is heavier than fat! This makes me happy in that all of our young dancers have parents who know their stuff! The tide may well be starting to turn; this years Dance UK conference (which I can't go to because I am teaching!) is all about body image, healthy eating and eating disorders in dance http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3053540221/efblike

PS thats in Birmingham, sorry I forgot to say

Hi, I know that the MIDAS scheme are doing a Summer course that looks packed with ballet, body conditioning and contemporary (they've got Katie Love from So You Think You Can Dance!) - I've recommended it to a few of my pupils as it's supposed to be a 'back to school' thing and I've heard they're very good at body conditioning and techniqe, I think it's around the 22nd of August but it's a week long, I can't remember the dates, sorry!

Ooops sorry for any offense caused! Congratulations to all your clever dancing children and I hope they are all very happy where they go :-)

Angela - just out of interest did your DD get into Elmhurst or Hammond?

I have also soaked de-shanked pointe shoes in water which softens the glue - and after that you can completely remove the hessian from the inside of the box if you choose. By putting your foot in the shoes while they are still damp, you can stretch them and make sure they fit nicely (although it feels a bit gooey and strange!). My friend put her pointe shoes in the washing machine to clean them once (we were about 15!) and discovered that this softened them quite a lot!

Someone mentioned the ENBS graduates in the company at the moment - The choreographer George Williamson (who did the Firebird with Ksenia Osvyanick) was also a student at ENBS

A teacher colleague of mine who is studying dance science is currently doing some research into eating habits at one of the vocational schools. There is a questionnaire that pupils can fill in which possibly raises some concerns in students that might 'slip through the net' otherwise. Points to note though is that one cannot use the term 'eating disorder' unless diagnosed by a medical professional. Many people, in many walks of life, have disordered eating patterns, but very rarely is it given a clinical diagnosis. My colleague has done a lot of research in this area and interestingly, one other dance school (also vocational) do NOT take pupils off dance if they suspect a problem, as this actually increases the pupils' depression and reduces the amount of control they have over their day to day life. Rather, they intervene in an appropriate way with counselling etc. Eating disorders are all about control - any person who feels like they have no control over their life is vulnerable to an eating disorder. The research so far does seem to hint that they are no more common in dance than in any other walk of life.

The whole idea of contemporary dance is that it is supposed to 'move with the times' therefore a syllabus as such would be stuck in time. However, there are a lot of Cunningham/Graham based exercises in the ISTD majors (although thats just been revised) and there's a 'release' influence in some of the grades (3 upwards). Interestingly, the RAD inter foundation and inter now have a 'neo classical' variation which is slightly contemporary in its feel but I think that the genre of contemporary dance is really that 'anything goes' and that training therefore needs to include lots of different styles and techniques. A syllabus might be a little too narrow and restricted....

FYI - the point about bone ossification (cartilage hardening to bone) that so many people refer to regarding age and pointe work is actually untrue, as bone doesn't fully ossify until age 25! For anyone interested (including mums/teachers etc) this is very useful http://www.iadms.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=185