Pointe work on less than ideal floors!

[annaliesey]

I'm after people's opinions on doing pointe work on less than ideal floors, particularly wooden/slippery/parquee type flooring. 

 

Lots of our good dance teachers locally all use church halls, school halls, community centres and have been running for donkeys years with a good track record as as far as I can make out, no injuries from slipping. 

 

However, recently a couple of people who I respect, have commented on me allowing my DD to do pointe work on a less than ideal floor. To the extent that I should move her to a different dance school as that is how strongly they felt. 

 

Now, I have sat back and thought about this and actually I don't want to take the risk of her slipping over, so I have decided to move her pointe classes to a different venue that isn't on a slippery floor. 

 

I'm interested in how much of a big deal this is for people on this forum as my real life friends all have opinions that vary considerably. Most say, I'm over-reacting.

 

Thank you

[taxi4ballet]

No, you're not over-reacting. There may not have been any accidents, but it won't do your confidence on pointe any good if you are constantly holding yourself back because you're afraid of slipping over all the time.

 

My dc was asked to dance on pointe in a school show once on a floor she wasn't entirely happy with (lovingly polished by the school caretaker) and she refused to do it because she knew that she'd have to hold herself back because of the slip risk, and it wasn't worth it.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

My daughter did a solo for her old dance school summer school show in a local theatre. The stage was very slippy & it also had a revolve.

 

The rehearsal went fine but on the actual performance her shoe caught in the revolve & she went slightly over. She also slipped a couple of times. The rest of the dance she was really hesitant. Taking account that this was the first time she had danced in front of this audience since leaving for Voc school 3 years ago it knocked her confidence a bit.

 

That saying church hall floors etc may actually be better than some stages. Each case needs looking st on its own.

[Светлана]

A slippery floor makes pointe work much harder, and it is much easier to get into bad habits because of a slippery floor. Simple releves at the barre and in the centre with a bit of rosin is not too bad, but it really isn't ideal. If possible, I think it would be better to move your dd to a school with a really good teacher and a good sprung floor covered in proper floor covering like harlequin or marley (easier said than done, lol!).

[Pas de Quatre]

However, beware what may lay beneath the ballet flooring.  Some schools lay it down on top of a hard floor such as parquet, tiles or even concrete,  and this can be even more dangerous than a slippery floor. 

[Cara in NZ]

Agree with the other posts – my DD is nearly 13 and learning her first variation en pointe. I told her teacher our house has polished wooden floors or large rugs and asked which was best to practise on. She said on the rugs, for safety and confidence!

I'm also interested in how kids adapt to different performance floors en pointe as she will be performing en pointe next year. I've offered to darn/blanket stitch around the box of her pointe shoes to help grip but so far she has refused! (They don't use rosin in classes or at competitions.)

[Moomin]

A lot of proper dance studios have a wooden floor which is pretty slippery and I don't know about the large stages but certainly the smaller ones are also often quite slippery. The problem with other venues such as schools is that the floor varies a lot from week to week depending on whether its been cleaned and what with. And some patches are slippery and others tacky which is difficult! If you go to a studio it tends to be consistent so that you acclimatise to it. So I think it depends on the specific floor at your venues.