The question comes up, " When can my child go on pointe?" Sometimes difficult to answer. "Is there a child beginner pointe shoe?" Is there such a shoe? Yes and No. There are toe shoe manufacturers that do not make pointe shoes for children under a certain shoe size. Then there are some who do. The ballet teacher who knows her student will say when she should go on pointe. These questions are asked by parents who do not know much about ballet, the training that goes into ballet, how many classes should the child take per week, when should she go on pointe. Take this into consideration. When the child starts ballet at age 7 or 8 by the time she is 11 or 12 year old, she would have had about 480 ballet classes during a 4 year period. This is based on 48 weeks per year, if this were at all possible. If by chance she is sick, holidays, vacation time, unforeseen circumstances crop up, she will have missed more classes during that time. All classes missed are very hard to make up and catch up, with other students in the classroom, especially since it involves physical strength and a very good "body-movement-memory". While she is growing in stature, hopefully not putting on too much weight before reaching age 11 or 12, she MAY be starting pointe work in her ballet school. (You will find interesting information on nutrition for ballet dancers at www.ballet-feetfirst.com/Pointeshoe-Nutrition.html ) I say she MAY be starting on pointe only when her ballet teacher evaluates the progress of her training. Her ballet teacher will decide when she is to go on pointe and not before 4 years of good , consistent ballet training. Ballet teachers have their own guidelines of which some can be given here; the child's physical strength, her height, body weight and the strength of her feet, toes, arch. Oh yes, the desire to dance and become a ballerina. For questions you would like to ask please go to http://www.ballet-feetfirst.com/pointe-shoes.html fill out the form and we will be glad to answer them. |
