Practice at home?

[Myers]

My DD takes 4 dance classes a week--about 8 hours ballet, 1 hr jazz and 45 min of pointe total.

Then she has about 2 hrs of rehearsal/week for Nutcracker coming up in the Fall.

 

What is the recommendation about additional practicing (stretching, working on feet) at home?

 

Is there a risk of overuse injury if more work is piled on top of these classes?

 

Of course I know that there should be no practicing of pointe at home.

 

Thanks for the input.

[Mel Johnson]

Don't worry about home practice. Trust the teacher. Working unsupervised can reinforce counterproductive practices and habits. A little demi-plié, a few tendus are probably safe, but let her save the rest for the classroom, where someone can keep an eye on what she's up to!

[Myers]

Thanks very much , Mr. Johnson--that makes a lot of sense-also, one less thing to nag her about!