Ballet Pointe Shoes- How to Prepare

by Jayla
(Tennesse, USA)

Ballet Pointe Shoes- How to Prepare

Hi, Odette! I'm fourteen years old and I've been doing ballet for about nine months. I really want to go on pointe as soon as possible and I was wondering if you had any tips for working on my technique?
Currently, I can only take class once a week, which I know isn't much, but I'm working very hard at home. I've really been working on strengthening for pointe, but I'm afraid that I'm going to be strong enough for pointe, but not technically ready.
Also, what do you think about private lessons? I've been looking into it because I feel like there's so many girls at my studio that my technique is getting overlooked. Of course, I would still take regular classes along with the private lessons.
I just want to do everything I can by myself. I know that you can't depend other people to get better, it takes a lot of hard work, and I'm willing to do that. I would love your help! Thanks!

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Reply by Odette
To:- Ballet Pointe Shoes- How to Prepare


Remember, just like I did before I went en pointe, ballet students MUST take responsibility for their own strengthening prior to beginning pointe work.
Australian dancer, Lisa Howell has made a video which explains how pre-point strengthening works.
Don't leave it to your teacher!
You can watch this pre-pointe video
yourself here (just wait for the page to load up then the video is on the top right of the page).

Hello,
Thank you for your delightful message, I can hear that you are determined to improve and work hard which is very encouraging. I'm more than happy to guide you and help you progress.

You are still fairly new to ballet having only studying it for nine months, so don't be too hard on yourself to achieving things quickly. Ballet does need time to build up strength and consistency, you have to be patient to see results.

For your technique, it will be focusing on your individual corrections and pinpointing any weaknesses that can best improve your ability. Therefore, private lessons are a very good idea. It will give the chance for the teacher to focus on you and look at what you personally need to work on in order to progress.

Every dancer has different things to work on, for example, I always had quite loose muscles as a dancer and I was flexible in my body. I was very fluid and lyrical, but I had to focus on keeping the attack and building the strength in my muscles. My goal was to be more powerful and physical in my dancing.

So, if you can understand what you need to do yourself will quicken up your technique to improve. You can set yourself a goal to work towards and what you would like to improve. Keep a book of corrections and thoughts, so you can keep on track. Try to be specific with what you want to achieve and not too much at once, then you know it will be achieveable if you keep focused on it.

Keep in touch!

Best wishes,
Odette