Pro Potential

[Guest devion101]

Hey everyone,

I know that I'm going to sound kind of corny, but I have to ask this.

I'm fifteen years old and I'm an intermediate dancer. I really, really want to become a professional ballet dancer more than anything else. My dream is to join either ABT (my ultimate dream), Royal Winnipeg Ballet, California Ballet, or Eugene Ballet. Anyway, I have been studying ballet for about four years, and have been on pointe for one year. Although I'm not as advanced as people my age in, say, PNBS or SAB, my teacher have told me that with enough training I have pro potential. I was wondering, since I started a little late, , is there still a chance I could make it as a pro? I plan on auditioning for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's student division next month, just for the record. Also, would the fact that i wear GMs hold me back at all? Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Dev

[Mel Johnson]

And why not? As long as you get the best possible training available to you, there's no reason why you can't be a professional dancer. Eleven isn't that late a start, and the shoes you wear are only an incidental, although I prefer GMs on more experienced dancers.

[Guest ballet_barbie72]

Becoming a pro is also my dream, but in the past few months I've been seriously doubting my chances. For one thing, I live out in the middle of no where! My dance school is really small, and I don't get many oportunities comparred to those dancers who live in the city. For another thing, my feet are terrible, and getting worse. But I'm going to try not to give up hope, and I hope you don't either! If you have only been dancing for 4 years and your teachers are saying that about you, then you must be pretty specail.

All the best,

Love Erin xoxo

[Guest Firebird3000]

Ballet Barbie, how do you mean your feet are getting worse? Are they more blistered or are you getting a less arched foot?

[Guest devion101]

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for your encouragement! Ballet Barbie, sometimes the smallest studios provide the best training because the setting is more intimate. I understand your concern though. I attend a small studio too. The limited opportunities can really make you worry... Anyway, take all the classes you can, and try to attend SI, they work wonders!

 

Mr. Johnson, I was wondering if you could help me out. I have trouble with turns en pointe. My jumps are great, but the turns are a real sore spot. Do you have any tips that could help me out? Also, I'm a little concerned about my classes. I take four classes a week, but they're a little mixed... I take all the ballet classes offered at my studio, except beginning ballet and pre-ballet. There aren't any pointe classes offered yet, that will come later when my teachers assess how many students are on pointe (they're getting a lot of new students), so I've been taking a lot of classes on pointe instead of on flat. I'm worried, though, because I would love to be taking a consistent batch of intermediate/advanced classes, but my studio doesn't work out that way! Should I cut my losses and audition for PNBS? I have no problem with auditioning, but my pirouettes need serious help. I'm serious, they are really bad... How can I get pro training without making a fool of myself? Thanks so much!

Cheers,

Dev

[Mel Johnson]

I had to take a couple minutes to think about an answer for you. The thing about turns on pointe is not to try to kill them, just balance and turn. Students generally knock themselves off pointe trying to turn, when it's really quite gentle. I'd say that if you have an opportunity to get to PNBS, do so without hesitation! Just make sure you take a preparation for the pirouette, and not a windup!

[Guest devion101]

Thank you so much! The whole 'windup' and your tips about not hurling myself around have really helped!

Merci beaucoup,

Dev

[Mel Johnson]

I thought that might be happening! Good for you. As time goes on, and you do them better and better, you'll realize that it's really a pretty simple step, and then YOU'LL be the one saying to the younger one, "do it, don't kill it!"

[Guest JRSDANCER87]

For some reason, I find turns easier on pointe. I'm not sure why though. We learned our company's "flowers" from Nutcracker to do in a performance this Saturday and we learned it on pointe first, then realized that the tempo with choreography was way too difficult, and put it on flat and I had an even more hard time doing the choreography. It consists of a lot of pencil turns, and pirouettes into other turns, and they each get one count and it gets really fast, and I feel like I can't turn that quickly in slippers. I am more controlled in slippers of course, my placement is not always where it needs to be in pointe shoes because it's a bit of a different feeling, however I think it's easier to turn on the box than it is to turn in slippers, especially in quick things like what we are doing right now.

[Mel Johnson]

There's a lot less friction on pointe than there is on demi-pointe, and what in tunket is a pencil turn???

[DancingDuck]

I need to try that no hurling idea.. I've had trouble with my pirouettes en pointe also.

 

See I think what I've been doing that I shouldnt do I going up en pointe and then trying to turn with my arms winding up... My ankles are much stronger then they used to be (Thanks to my releve excersises but I think I have a worry idea in the back of my head of falling... which is keeping me from getting up fully.

Edited September 6, 2003 by DancingDuck

[Victoria Leigh]

A worry or concern about something causes hesitation, and that causes your body weight to go back. This will mess up pirouettes every time. When you can learn to love pirouettes, enjoy pirouettes, and realize that if you fall it's no big deal, just get up, smile and do it again, then you will start to make pirouettes. Nothing on pointe, or anything else for that matter, works when you go into it from a moment of hesitation or fear. It's far better to over attack than to hold back!

[Guest ilive2danz]

Ballet barbie, i feel the same way! You not giving up hope made my day! Except for with my feet I've given up hope.

Also, why are GM preferred for more advanced dancers?

[Guest devion101]

I think GMs work best for more advanced dancers because they are soooo radically different from other pointe shoes. I wear GMs myself, but when I was a beginner, I could barely work in them. For one, the traditional shoes let you feel the floor better and get a better sense of balance. GMs have a kind of bizarre balance, so you have to have already developed an equilibrium before you can really work in them. Second, GMs, contrary to popular belief, can actually be harder to work in than traditional shoes! A beginner can feel her relationship to the floor and her posture more effectively in traditional shoes than she can in GMs. So, it's better to have a general idea of how to work on pointe and developed foot strength before you try GMs. I have very strong feet and medium arches, and these shoes fit me just perfectly. I also run through shoes like water (Freed Studio IIs lasted a week!), so GMs are a nice answer.

[Mel Johnson]

Ladies, we are drifting from the original topic. It can make information harder to find if we're talking about pointe shoes on a thread called "Pro potential".