Ballet dancers help? Pointe dancers?!! please?

Question

do you have to pass grade 7 to be able to go en pointe in pre elementery??

i'm asking this becuase i was put straight into pre elementery this year without any other experiance of ballet, but allot of experiance in contempry and jazz. My teacher said i could handle it.

so do you?

Answer 1

Your teacher knows what she is doing - so trust her. Going en pointe is a big step in your dance 'career' and it is important that you have enough strength in your feet and your ankles to support your body weight and your teacher knows best when it comes to this. Dont be afraid to ask her if you think you are ready for pointe. In regards to your technique, jazz and contemporary kind of cross over into the ballet genre as you are still required to have nice posture, pointed feet, ect so it isnt too hard to do that. I started jazz before i started ballet and i found it quite easy to master a lot of ballet steps due to my jazz training and now i am training as a professional ballet dancer. Be prepared to work hard and to persist as ballet takes a lot of effort to perfect. Having good ballet skills will help you in becoming a better and stronger dancer. Good luck :)

Answer 2

Thats difficult to say because it depends on the dance, generally teachers don't recommend you starting pointe to young because it can sometimes be bad for your ankles and what not, but I would say if you have a lot of experience in jazz even though normally you take at least a year of ballet before you start pointe you should be fine. And also you're dance teacher has probably also thought of this but decided that you are strong enough of a dancer to go en pointe!

So good luck, and don't forget your ouch pouches!