When are they ready to go on pointe?

[Ruby Foo]

Totally depressing and horrifying.

The lack of  slow, gentle, layering of technique replaced with force and  brazen pushing, produces something vulgar, lacking in depth and strength and detail. In my opinion, this can never be replaced later, no matter that this particular dancer has a career in ballet now.

 

The inappropriateness of dancing roles without the understanding or maturity to do them credit makes a mockery of ballet.

 

 

[SplitSoul]

She is certainly a very talented dancer.

 

I do hope she is genuinely OK and not dancing with injuries which will ultimately affect her day to day mobility for the rest of her life.

 

I agree the pairing of a child with a man is totally off. I know all ballet is make believe and you have to suspend reality (like Odette is not a real swan), but this is a step too far. A man with a girl is too far removed from any reality I wish to consider. I can't plug the gap.

 

There are some Kitri videos of Lada on YouTube at a very young age, which also feel off to me. The role of a seductress should just not be performed by a child.

[Harriet]

12 is the earliest I would put anyone on pointe. 13 to be on the safe side.

When I was at Elmhurst, Yr 7 of the Extended Associate Program, I was supposed to be on pointe at Intermediate level. I wasn't, however, and no one seemed to care. There was no pointework in year 7.

[Dance*is*life]

I don't like children dancing roles like this either, but  this was definitely a school performance (the court ladies are very excited little girls)  and looking more closely, I think the prince is more likely a teenage student than an adult man.  My 14 year old grandson is taller than his Dad, who is not a shortie by any means.  Still there is a look of immaturity about him which belies his height!

Edited February 6, 2023 by Dance*is*life

[Mummy twinkle toes]

He is 16 there. They started dancing together when she was 8 and he was 14. A gap in age but looking at their videos it doesn’t look like they had lots of boys.

[Tango Dancer]

On 25/01/2023 at 23:04, Peanut68 said:

Yep…. Me too. Utterly wrong…. Frankly I think it’s child abuse IMHO.

And as for later clip performing Odette/Odilr aged 10 partnered by a mature male…. Skin crawling. Nothing against precocious talent & there are always teachers/parents & young kids eager to be way advanced beyond years in many fields…. But when you add the element of the story to these it’s really paedophilic to have a young child in a full performance role…& can’t help but think, isn’t telling the story in a believable way the main point of a ballet like Swan Lake? 

 

Yes, that's just not right.  I don't think it's right for children to be partnered by mature men and some of the roles are unsuitable for children to be dancing.  I like seeing the children in the party scenes in Nutcracker but I definitely think they shouldn't be at 10 dancing adult roles with grown men.  It just makes my skin crawl as well.  

[Mummy twinkle toes]

11 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

 

Yes, that's just not right.  I don't think it's right for children to be partnered by mature men and some of the roles are unsuitable for children to be dancing.  I like seeing the children in the party scenes in Nutcracker but I definitely think they shouldn't be at 10 dancing adult roles with grown men.  It just makes my skin crawl as well.  

He wasn’t a grown man. He is 16 and they danced since they were 8 and 14

[Tango Dancer]

1 minute ago, Mummy twinkle toes said:

He wasn’t a grown man. He is 16 and they danced since they were 8 and 14

 

I still don't feel good with that.  He's too old and she's too young.  It just feels wrong to me personally.    

[Beezie]

Dance is very full of things that register as wrong.  Queue the competition feeds with 5year olds in full makeup, hair pieces and false lashes.  Unfortunately, not the first and not the last.