Balletmumfor2

Wish I could give you some wonderful advice re your injury as you always try to do for others, but as I can't, will have to make do with sending you best wishes and prayers for your recovery. X

Hi All, After all your helpful suggestions and advice, I thought I should update you on DD's ankle injury. It is now roughly six weeks since she first injured her ankle and this week she returned to pointe work with no problems as yet. She has a festival next week so after taking it easy on flat for 4 weeks thought she should see how it felt. She has done very little with it except fully rest for the first couple of weeks until the swelling went down then basic class (minus jumps and pirouettes) to slowly gain strength and maintain mobility. She was talking about doing triple pirouettes from fifth in SA class today so hopefully she has been lucky and it is now healed. It just shows however, how easy it is to go from fully fit to unable to dance! Thanks again for all the support and advice we were given. X

When my daughter did EYB (a while ago now) I panicked as she had a dance exam in the middle of a Sunday rehearsal. I felt I had signed to say she would be present for all rehearsals and didn't know what to do. In reality it was fine. I apologised to Miss Lewis, assured her I would get her back as soon as possible and was told this was fine. I later heard of others with main roles missing several whole rehearsals for one reason or another. When my younger daughter was offered a place she had exam rehearsals for several days meaning she would miss the start of 2/3 rehearsals. Again I asked if she should not commit to taking part and was told it was fine. I would email Miss Lewis asap with your valid reason and apology and say your daughter will make sure she learns anything missed from one of the others. I think as the show gets nearer and she gets.more excuses each week she understandably loses patience as it is difficult to rehearse without a full cast. Unfortunately, its the committed students and parents that stress and the others who take absences for poor reasons who don't let it bother them! Hope this helps.

I am able to supply more personal information re Centre Pointe if that helps as my daughters attend for ballet and MT. Feel free to PM me

Thank you all for your responses. I knew when I posted that I wasn't going to get a specific answer but having things spelt out by others clears the mind and is a great support! She did her SA class today on flat with no jumps and her teacher has told her she is right to get back slowly, bit by bit. Have suggested she ices it now she's back home. She didn't strap it but did wear the light support bandage the hospital gave her to wear whilst walking. Will also get her to try a few theraband exercises tomorrow. Thankyou again to everyone who has responded. It is much appreciated.

Hi JulieW. I think we can access the RBS physio but it will be based in London I suspect and we are at Birmingham for SA's and live a couple of hours away from there so I suspect travel costs and time off work and school would not make it a viable option. We do have private health insurance but I suspect they would not pay out for physio now since her ankle seems absolutely fine for day to day activities. Thankyou!

Thank you everybody. We agree with all you have said. If we don't get anything more specific from her SA teacher it may be a case of trying some jumps and seeing how it feels. She has had no problems at all doing classes this week even though she sometimes does 2/3 hours each night. One of her teachers even adapted his non syllabus class so she could do it all without sitting out. Regarding her auditions, I am just conscious she has GCSE mocks in the new year so it may be harder to fit them in. She usually has a weekly private festival lesson so will get plenty practice on pointe once we feel it is safe for her to start again as both her ballet and character are on pointe. We have a festival at the end of this month and English championships next month if her ankle is okay! Guess it's just bite the bullet, have a little go and see how the ankle responds, stopping at any slight discomfort. I still think support could be beneficial for her. Will let you know what her Royal teachers says.

Thankyou Taxiforballet. She doesn't have separate pointe classes now but wears soft blocks or pointe shoes for all lessons as her teacher feels girls at her level should treat pointe shoes like normal ballet shoes not as something they use for a separate class. She has remained in flat shoes for now though. We still have the dilemma of what is slowly. Does she try pointe after 2 weeks, three? Not dancing myself and being given little information as to her specific injury I feel it is difficult to advise her. I was hoping that some of our 'experts' on this forum could give some general advice as I appreciate every injury is specific to the individual. Maybe she should try jumps this week and see how that goes? I know she intends to ask her SA teacher about it today so she may get more specific advice from that source. It is obviously a balance between allowing maximum healing for the injury and getting herself to peak condition for her auditions. Advice on strapping or supporting her ankle may also be relevant if anyone has any experience of this.

My daughter landed awkwardly a fortnight ago after having completed a double pirouette on flat. Her ankle was painful, so she iced it, sat out for the remainder of the lesson, then walked out to the car at the end telling me it was sore. The next morning it was extremely swollen and she couldn't weight bear so we took her to A and E. They x-rayed it, told her it was soft tissue damage, gave her a support bandage and told her to elevate it when she could. She was allowed to walk on it and keep it moving as much as she could. The ankle was swollen and painful for a full week. Following the weekend it felt better however, an she returned to class to start exercising it lightly. She had been advised she could dance as soon as she felt comfortable. She has now been back a full week avoiding jumps and pirouettes but is keen to get back to normal ASAP as she has 6th form auditions this year. I appreciate that in an ideal world we would seek scans or physio at this point but money and time constraints make this very difficult. I was therefore wondering if anyone could give us any advice about how to return and how long to wait before pointe. Her teacher has just said take it slowly and carefully! We have followed medical advice but it now seems to be down to our choice and any suggestions or advice would be most welcome.

My daughters current MA class includes several children who were offered a yr7 place but turned it down. They knew before the audition it was not right for them but the JA teacher encouraged them to attend finals anyway so they could make an informed decision. WL says a lot of children there had never considered going away before being offered a place. Equally so, you have no idea what you are turning down until you have been there to look around. The audition is as much for parents and children to assess what a school has to offer as for the school to assess the child. Who knows how you would feel if your child was talented enough to be offered a place. And if no place offered then it's good to experience an audition when the end result is not crucial. Hope this gives good for thought!!!!

Hi Spannerandpony. We also thought Mirella came up smaller as dd had to buy a small rather than petite in a front knot leotard. However, when we ordered a small Mirella plain camisole leotard for an audition it came up a bit baggy. I think some straps or detailing on the outside of the leos can cause them to fit smaller. Generally though, my dd is a petite in both.

Which level was the 2:15 class? We were undecided upon the correct class for my dd as she is in grade 6 which is the older class but just about to take her interfoundation which is the middle class. We provisionally ticked the middle class as she is hoping to go with a friend who is a year younger. Not looked at the shows yet but it is on my 'to do' list for this week. Think it's nice for them to see how the repertoire they've learnt fits into the performance but then there's that small matter of cost.....especially with elder dd applying for upper schools this year.

Hi dancetaximomx2. My daughters friend got a confirmation letter for the Salford course next Sunday. It arrived on Saturday morning so we are hoping to hear tomorrow. Which course has your DD applied for? If it's Salford we may see u there. She said she had been sent another form for a friend which suggests there are still places available.

A small tip for those of you looking for a matching waist elastic. Buy a white waist elastic and a felt pen of similar colour to the leotard. Take the end off the felt pen and remove the coloured inner part. Put it in a cup of water and allow the dye to come out. After a few minutes, remove the felt tip inner and place the elastic in the cup of dye. We did this to match an aquamarine leotard and it produced an amazing result which was permanent after the elastic had dried out. Great for matching more unusual leotard colours and more flexible than using normal ribbon.

Advice from royal associate teachers has always been to avoid black or navy and go for a colour. We were told RBS don't like crossed straps so to avoid those. Another thing to consider is whether it is easy to pin your number on the back of a leotard if it is very low. It definitely had to be plain, even a logo on the front was frowned upon. For junior auditions we have always had to have a waist elastic so they can check hip alignment. Is this still a requirement for 6th form auditions does anyone know. It was requested for yr10/11 finals at RBS. At the end of the day, they will be assessing the dancer, not the leotard so I'm sure comfort and confidence is more important than anything else in the end. We were told to add small bows or flowers to match the leotard for yr 7 auditions.

Just to let everyone know that 'press and clamp' files are also available at the stationers 'Partners' and are requested by Miss Agar who teaches the Manchester JA's and Newcastle last year.

Hi taxi4ballet. Yes, she has to redo them after a couple of wears. Dread to think of the state of some of the shoes she has worn for associates, festivals and auditions. She tells me it is acceptable for pointe shoes to look well worn and that you can't tell when she's dancing. She does calamine her shoes to blend in with her tights so don't know if that helps at all. I just know we've found nothing to help the damage on my bank balance yet. She does wear pros for class use which are a little more hardy and the nicer looking standard shoes for performing.

Hi Taxi4ballet. This is the same problem my dd has. We use papillon pointe shoe hardener to try to strengthen them but as you say it doesn't last for long. Would be interested in anything that prolongs the life of them as can't keep up with them at the moment. Did suggest a change of shoe but she loves her Freeds! Please let us know how you get on.

I have to admit that regarding ribbons for exams, my dd's last school always attached ribbons rather than elastic for exams. Our current school does the same from a certain grade. They use pointe shoe ribbon rather than the narrower stiffer ribbon as it is easier to tie. So maybe in the shops view it wasn't such a riduculous idea as it may sound to some.

I totally agree with Dance*is*life but for my eldest who will be auditioning this yr feel splits is one of the few things she can work on regularly at home. She can also do turn out and core strength exercises. Dance quality, pirouettes etc can only be worked on by her teachers in the studio but anything she does at home on these aspects can only help! Mind you, when she finds time/energy to complete these exercises is a totally different matter.

Just to clarify, both dd's are royal associates so received feedback from teachers after end of year appraisals.

My two dd's have also struggled with flexibility and have had to work hard. Eldest managed to get down for yr7 audition after a lot of intensive hard work. She needs to be warm to go into front splits nowadays and is still not totally down in box. She is the same age as your dd and splits was not mentioned at her recent royal appraisal. Youngest is 12 and was not down at all in royal appraisal so was asked to work on it! Has done them everyday over summer and is now down on all but left front. Exceptional dancers will be taken on with weaknesses but every weakness makes it harder to compete with others who may not have them. My answer would be does your dd work on them everyday? What is she doing to improve if this is what she really wants? I have seen from experience that they only improve with regular practice and you can go backwards when u stop this! Eldest has weaknesses to work on and needs to improve these to the best of her ability to stand a fighting chance next year. Core strength, turnout, extensions, performance and physique all just as important. Get working and good luck!

Yes please, will PM you.

Hi Oldermum. My dd always has classic pros or studio 11's both of which are nightmare to darn. She usually wears them a week to soften them up then darns them before she wears through the satin. Lots of plasters wrapped around your fingers.

My daughter didn't apply for summer school this year as she was involved with the World Cup and All England finals. Does anyone know of anywhere that may still have places available that we could contact?