Online pointe class recommendations

[MissEmily]

Hello everyone,

 

Does anyone know of any online ballet classes focussing on pointework which take place on:

Monday evenings

Tuesday early evenings (Zoë Epstein’s is sadly too late)

Thursday late evenings

Friday early evenings?

 

Thank you!

[Kate_N]

I think Christina Mittelmaier does a live/online class on Tuesdays? Also Isabella Mayes/Ballet with Isabella? Or Franziska Rosenweg? (I see them all advertising via Instagram).

[Mum of unicorn dancer]

I think Sarah Toner has one on Fridays. 

[MissEmily]

Thank you for the recommendations! I’m going to try Franziska Rosenweig’s class this Thursday. The timing is perfect so fingers crossed!

[Peanut68]

Dare I voice a concern about the sudden explosion it seems of online pointe lessons? I especially recoil in horror seeing advertisements for beginner pointe online 😱

I really do think pointe requires very close hands on working with a teacher;- right from the initial assessment of ready/strong enough/age appropriate/committed etc to advise on pointe shoe buying & checking the fit & elastic/ribbon placement before even a lesson. And zoom - especially if a larger class can never let the teacher see how a dancer is placing their body weight or the angle of standing on the ‘block’ etc or if sickling or things that can cause unnecessary pain or worse, serious injury. I appreciate for an experienced dancer who has had years of studio training then this can be more safely practised. But again, floor surface could seriously hinder safe pointe work….I dare say disclaimers relieve the teachers or providers from any risk of blame for injury etc but honestly I do worry that one false move could seriously injure a less experienced dancer. In person is way more likely to pick up any areas of concern & to make each dancer work to their own ability & pace & give exercises to strengthen as needed - all maybe needing individual tweaks. 
No substitute for ‘hands on’ IMHO

[Ballet Power]

Sarah Toner offers a great pointe class on a Friday 

[Kate_N]

@Peanut68 you’re right that for most pointe beginners, hands on and live is essential.  There are some horror stories of classes and demonstrations on YouTube! You wouldn’t want any child or adult beginner in pointe work to study only online. 
 

But I think @MissEmilyis quite an experienced dancer? And the teachers I mentioned are highly experienced and ethical.  And there is always the possibility of attending their classes in person as well.

[Dance*is*life]

On 02/01/2023 at 01:59, Peanut68 said:

Dare I voice a concern about the sudden explosion it seems of online pointe lessons? I especially recoil in horror seeing advertisements for beginner pointe online 😱

I really do think pointe requires very close hands on working with a teacher;- right from the initial assessment of ready/strong enough/age appropriate/committed etc to advise on pointe shoe buying & checking the fit & elastic/ribbon placement before even a lesson. And zoom - especially if a larger class can never let the teacher see how a dancer is placing their body weight or the angle of standing on the ‘block’ etc or if sickling or things that can cause unnecessary pain or worse, serious injury. I appreciate for an experienced dancer who has had years of studio training then this can be more safely practised. But again, floor surface could seriously hinder safe pointe work….I dare say disclaimers relieve the teachers or providers from any risk of blame for injury etc but honestly I do worry that one false move could seriously injure a less experienced dancer. In person is way more likely to pick up any areas of concern & to make each dancer work to their own ability & pace & give exercises to strengthen as needed - all maybe needing individual tweaks. 
No substitute for ‘hands on’ IMHO

I do so agree with you!   Having struggled to teach my own students on Zoom,  I know the problems well.  The beginner pointe class somehow learnt how to tie the ribbons and how to get up on pointe properly and amazingly are doing really well, having been back in the studio for 18 months.  The older students didn't even attempt to do pointe out of the studio and quite honestly looking at the spaces they were working in I wouldn't have dared to try and teach them.  

[balletfanatic]

I stopped attending lessons with a teacher who allowed anyone who wanted to dance the whole lesson in pointe shoes right from the barre work..it was clear to me that some shouldn't have been on pointe at all and certainly not without warming up properly 

[Michelle_Richer]

Just to balance things up, I must say I’m extremely grateful to being taught beginner pointe on-line, at least it did get me started.

 

Many years prior to that I had a couple of stints with teachers for no more than a month at each, these were basically a fill in of time for the teachers concerned and needless to say I didn’t progress very far.

 

Much later in October 2017 I had organised for my Artistic Director of The Alive Ballet Company studios within the Royal Ballet School Covent Garden for a 12 week course on Monday evenings for Ballet Class General Level / Intermediate 7.00 - 8.15 which ensured a more than adequate warm-up for the Beginners / Improvers Pointe Class at 8.15 – 9.00, our teacher for that was Daisy Gilder.

 

Although I had booked and paid for the course, in the meantime I had sustained an injury jumping off my own studio wall while it was being built, sadly I never got the chance to do that course which would have probably got me started with the basics.

 

In the meantime I approached my rep coach that I had been with for around 6 years about coaching me on pointe and she refused, she didn’t take adults en pointe, however Just before we broke up, due to the loss of her studio and she ceased teaching, she did at least give me a month or two of pre-point training.

 

I also asked my Cecchetti Advanced 2 teacher about starting pointe, again she declined for the same reason.

 

About two and a half years ago I was fortunate enough to see a beginner pointe class being advertised, it was to start in a few days time, so I booked it. I wasn't sure if it started with pre-pointe exercises in ballet flats or not. I was thinking about asking when another dancer asked the question. What I vaguely recall if you had pointe shoes you were to start with them, so I did.

As time has gone along I know one or two girls have started in ballet flats.

 

Just before COVID one , I found a new rep coach, at our initial meeting to discuss what I was looking for, I remember telling her I would not be asking her to teach me pointe. However as time went on, I would tell her how I was getting on with my on-line pointe class and she seamed to take an interest.

 

About 18months ago due to COVID we had got behind with rep , plus there was uncertainty about the availability of our usual ballet school in Scotland to perform our annual showcase. So I posed the question as to if she would be comfortable in coaching me en-pointe, to my surprise she said yes.

 

One point, although not specifically stated in this thread, I feel comes from the posting is , one should not be doing pointe unless supervised. For me that misses an important part of learning and that is the need to practice, most certainly it is expected from my on-line pointe teacher and is under pinned with the videos from that weeks pointe class, both with the “Speaker view” of the close up of teachers demonstrations, and the “Gallery View” of the teacher and all the participants.

 

On-Line classes: Has the advantage that no time is lost putting on your pointe shoes prior to class, furthermore one has time to be fully warmed up at home prior to the class, and for that matter to run through last weeks class as I sometimes do. Video recording are also there to help with anything that wasn't clear during the class. My on-line class numbers are always quite small ranging from 2 to about 6 dancers, so we all get feedback.

 

One-to-one Pointe Coaching:

The focus of this class for me is somewhat different, once my teacher is happy with an exercise facing the barre, she will adapt it so I’m at right angles to the barre with only one hand for support. Its turned out to be a brilliant way for me to transition to centre work of a similar movement.

 

As there is limited class time due to setting up and popping on my pointe shoes and toe protector and the need to finish on time before the next class start. We have jointly altered the structure of our class and for us it works.

 

Our warm-up at the barre is quite short with a track and no more than one repeat, for prances combined with plies and parallel rises.

 

Then its the new more taxing centre work, we have chosen to do this first, as its better to get the technique and feel for the movement before one starts to tire . If one is tired then instinct kicks in to try and protect the body and often works against you and diminishes your self belief. Once you have grasped and got the feel of the movement in your body, and the confidence you can repeat it a number of times, then you can start to build endurance.

 

At the end of class we return to the barre, this time for endurance.

When we initially started, we had 4 separate movements, Attitude done on each supporting leg and the same in arabesque, I would perform all that during a one and a half minute music track.

 

As I became stronger I would perform each movement for a whole track length, but changing direction every 16 counts. It was done continuously through all 4 movement totalling 6 minutes.

My teacher has even made it more challenging by lifting my gesturing leg at the beginning of the last 16counts of the track and I have to hold it to the end. That is a tough one at the end of class.

 

 

So please don’t knock on-line pointe classes for beginners, we all have to start somewhere, some of us are big girls now, and will make a success of it.