Am I too old to learn how to dance En Pointe?

Question

I am 26 and never took any ballet classes. But I'm 5'6 and 128lbs. Working on getting back down to 110lbs, which is the weight I feel most comfortable at. Any ideas on how I can learn...and are my foot bones too hard to mold?

Answer 1

It's absolutely not to late! I started pointe at 18 and foot bones are about the same amount set at 18 and 26. When you learn pointe, the reason students have to wait until they are usually at least 12 because you WANT your foot bones set. You don't want malleable bones or you can and will do permanent damage to your feet. You never want to "mold" your foot bones. What needs to be molded are the tendons and muscles in your feet through stretching that you will learn in your ballet class (don't try this without some basic instruction or you could learn bad habits and possibly hurt yourself). Your height and weight are currently perfectly within a reasonable (good) bmi for learning ballet and pointe. You said you've never taken ballet though and you need to take ballet classes for awhile before you can do pointe. The average is between 1-3 years of ballet, depending on how hard you work. Though since the bones in your feet are set there is less of a danger to your feet so you may be able to start earlier (but without proper instruction there is still a serious risk). The way you should start working towards pointe is to do some research on good ballet schools in your area. Look for credentials like students going on to having professional careers and winning some competitions (but not a competition oriented school). The teachers should have college degrees in dance or dance education. Then you just need to start going to classes and go from there! Remember also that you shouldn't ever get pointe shoes without the permission of your teacher, as you could seriously hurt yourself. Good luck!

Answer 2

it does not matter how old you are i am a dancer and i dont care how old u r

Answer 3

Your age doesn't matter. You will have to take several years of ballet classes before you are ready for pointe, however. Be aware that once you start pointe, you will have to deal with cramps and charley horses ... but it's well worth it. :-)