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Soft blocks for inter-foundation?


Coffeemum

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Thank you all for the comments. She's doing the exam with her local dance school, whose students will all be wearing soft blocks. Her private teacher and also her associate program teacher say that it's better not to at this stage so she learns to use her feet better, which I totally understand. Problem is, my daughter will then feel uncomfortable if she's the only one in exam with flats! If she's not used to wearing them, will she then loose marks on her foot line?

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Hi

I would say let her use soft pointes with her teacher she is doing the exam with and get used to them and therefore do her exam in them. I'm pretty sure it wont affect her exam marks!

And let her wear ballet flats with her private/associate teacher (assuming thats its an RBS JA teacher - surely shes not allowed to wear soft pointes for assiciate classes anyway!). Plus if anything like our JA teacher when dd was a JA they had to use full sole leather shoes which helps the children use the floor more and therefore strengthening the feet! 

That way it keeps both teachers happy! ??

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Following on from my post above. I'm sure that when my dd did her IF exam at vocational school that they didn't wear soft pointes. 

So if you're dd wears them or not it won't make any difference to how she dances or what mark she gets. But she does have to feel comfortable in whatever she chooses to wear, be it softs or flats! 

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I had read your original post to mean that your dd studies with a Private teacher but is taking her exam at a local dance school (presumably as private teacher does not have enough candidates).  Its fairly common for schools/teachers to band together to put on an exam session.

 

If this is the case and its her private teacher who has prepared her for the exam then I wo0uld say that what she says should be what your dd does.

 

If, however I have read it wrongly and your dd has been prepared by the teacher of the local dance school then her shool, her candidate, her rules.

 

My dd took her IF at vocational school and wore flats.

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Dancing in soft blocks feels different to dancing in flats especially when the shoes are new. Maybe read a few of the posts on here about the care and feeding of soft blocks before deciding whether to buy some for your dd's IF exam. You don't have to have them for IF, but if you choose to do that I would buy them well in advance and make sure that your dd has got used to wearing them in class.

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Thank you for all the helpful comments. I will get her some soft pointes and see how she gets on. The private teacher does a different syllabus with her but occasionally goes through RAD stuff to help. I was under the impression that soft pointes were optional for the local dance school but recently found out that they're meant to be in them all the time! Hard to keep everyone happy - don't want to undermine her old dance school teacher, but want to do what's best for my daughter, too! 

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DD's teachers like vocational grade students to wear soft pointes for all classes from intermediate upwards because they have to be worn for the exams. Soft blocks are required for the terms leading up to an exam and are much preferred at all times so that students are used to balancing in them. 

 

They don't require IF students to wear them for classes or for their IF exams as their view is that while it would be helpful to get used to wearing them all the time, there is little point wearing them for an exam when they aren't required, as flats are so much easier to balance in (and make even ordinary feet look more arched than soft blocks would do) and are worn by almost every IF candidate (this information came from her examiner teacher). 

 

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Is she starting pointe work ( can't remember if that's in what used to be Elementary)? Because we started wearing old pointe shoes with the shank taken out - so just the box - as a way of gradually getting used to doing everything in pointe shoes. Of course, we did actual pointe work in pointe shoes!

 

Otherwise, I can never really see the point of soft blocks/demi pointe shoes. If you're working your feet, ankles and turn out properly and being taught well, with sufficient variety and challenge, then your feet and ankles will get strong!

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20 hours ago, Kate_N said:

Is she starting pointe work ( can't remember if that's in what used to be Elementary)? Because we started wearing old pointe shoes with the shank taken out - so just the box - as a way of gradually getting used to doing everything in pointe shoes. Of course, we did actual pointe work in pointe shoes!

 

Otherwise, I can never really see the point of soft blocks/demi pointe shoes. If you're working your feet, ankles and turn out properly and being taught well, with sufficient variety and challenge, then your feet and ankles will get strong!

A few decades ago (!!!) I think that most vocational students had to wear soft blocks. Whenever we could get away with it (warm ups before rehearsals/sorry my ribbons have fallen off my shoes and I didn't have time to sew them) we'd use our flatties because they make your feet look nicer and are generally much easier to work in. I honestly am interested about the reversal in the trend, as surely for students who want to prepare for a career in ballet would ideally be doing most classes with shoes closely related to those they would potentially be performing in. 

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22 hours ago, Kate_N said:

Is she starting pointe work ( can't remember if that's in what used to be Elementary)? Because we started wearing old pointe shoes with the shank taken out - so just the box - as a way of gradually getting used to doing everything in pointe shoes. Of course, we did actual pointe work in pointe shoes!

 

Otherwise, I can never really see the point of soft blocks/demi pointe shoes. If you're working your feet, ankles and turn out properly and being taught well, with sufficient variety and challenge, then your feet and ankles will get strong!

Yes, the IF includes pointe work. I'm guessing that they generally  wear flats for the rest of the IF exam as they tend to be quite young still, so need to build up foot strength..?

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The IF exam has just a few exercises en pointe its really nothing to worry about. You are right that most of the exam is in flats.

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I can confirm that soft blocks are optional for inter foundation, if you wear flats they still need ribbons, the pointe exercises are at the end & obviously you're given time to change into pointe shoes, you then do 2 barre pointe exercises, 1 in the centre & finally the reverence.

 

The exercises are

At the Barre

Rises in first x3, plie, transfer to side & close, x3 rises again, plie, transfer to side & close

 

Releve 5th, down, echappe releve 2nd, close to 5th, echappe releve 2nd, close to 5th, releve 5th, couru change feet, come down into 5th repeat

 

In centre

Start in 5th, releve 5th, down, echappe releve 2nd, close to 5th, echappe releve 2nd, close to 5th releve in 5th, lower & 3 classical walks, repeat.

 

All echappe to 2nd are with a change in both exercises, it's also worth noting that the uniform is actually optional & not points are awarded for correct uniform.

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