Auditions: Piercing

[sienacrazy]

Hello

 

Our DD is 15 years old and wants to get an upper ear cartilage piercing. She will be auditioning in the winter for SIs. Do you think this could be held against her? Do companies frown upon this. Should we tell her no. It is my understanding that she will not be able to remove it on the day of the audition.

 

Thanks

SC

[Victoria Leigh]

There are no general rules about ear piercing that I know of, and I would hazard a guess that directors of SI's are not going to be overly concerned with a stud in the ear, even though it is in an odd place. As long as it is something that can be removed for performances, the only reason I would worry about it is that I have heard it can be painful, and I just have to wonder about a 15 year old needing or even wanting to do this for any reason other than it is probably a fad among her peers at school. I would discourage it rather strongly myself, but, then I don't really care for excess piercings any more than I do tatoos. I have two piercings in each ear myself, but, definitely not one in the cartilege area.

[CDR]

I wouldn't like it - it could make the student appear problematic and lacking in discipline. I know that's probably not the case but I don't like any piercings other than 1 in each earlobe. If there was one place left and I was equally undecided between 2 students I would go for the one without the piercing, sorry!

[Doubleturn]

Several Vocational schools in UK state that ballet students may only have one piercing in the lobe of each ear.

[vrsfanatic]

Our students have varying sites of piercings in the ears. The rule remains, no more than one stud earring in each ear in class.

[Victoria Leigh]

Yes, one small stud earring for class is the general rule in most schools that I know of. In rethinking this, I would probably not want to see a student in an audition with more than that either. What they wear outside of class is their choice, but I do think I might be a bit put off by a cartilege stud. Therefore, if you allow her to do it, I would certainly make her wait until she can safely remove it for an audition. I would also check with her school and see how her regular teachers feel about it for their classes.

[balletmom311]

When DD was 16 she pierced her nose and wore a small flat diamond stud. For class she was fine but for the year end show she was asked to remove it. After the shows she could not get the stud back. So she waited until she graduated and got it peirced again, now she covers it with makeup for shows.

 

It is the only extra piercing she is interested in and thankfully has no interest in tattoos!

[Victoria Leigh]

I have just found out a bit more information on the cartilege piercings. They are not only more difficult and painful to do, they tend to get infected more often and require exceptional care. I would again say that I don't think a young teen should do this. It can be removed like regular ear piercings, once the initial time period has passed, but the people I talked to all said they would not do it again, and they would certainly not allow a teen to do it. One good friend had major trouble with hers for a year before it settled down, and she was an adult.

 

So, siennacrazy, I think that the general thinking here is all rather negative on this happening for your daughter at this time.

[sienacrazy]

Thank you all for your replys. I think this has been very helpful to gain some perspective on the pierceing issue. I think the easiest and less stressful path will be to print this thread to show DD. Thanks again!!!!

[magentamimi]

I went through quite the phase when I was a teenager, I had 13 holes in my ears, a belly button ring and a nose ring. I must say the cartilege piercing was painful after I got it pierced. I couldn't sleep on my ear, it was red for days and even now almost 6 years after I took the stud out it still hasn't healed all the way and sometimes get almost a little pimple over it (sorry if TMI). I would tell her to wait, do a ton of research in regards to ballet companies and also the after effects, I have little scars all over my ears from where the holes closed.

[Victoria Leigh]

That information was not too much, magentamimi, it was important. Thank you. First hand info is the best kind.

[Treefrog]

My DD's cartilage piercing got infected about 6 months after she had it done. Doc talked sternly about how they often get infected and can be hard to treat once infected, because there's so little blood flow to bring in infection-fighting cells and antibiotics. She made DD promise not to repierce it.

[calamitous]

My DD has more piercings than I would deem necessary but they have not presented a real problem. I wanted to add that DD found the cartilege piercings to be slow in healing (which if she had asked I would have told her). So the the timing of the piercings is rather important. The cartilege ones heal very slowly, so your DD needs at least 6 months of healing before she can take a stud out.

For some additional information - DD got an tatoo and belly button piercing the week she turned 18. Is fine in a college program but I am left wondering why. But they will do what they do.

[Victoria Leigh]

Maybe at 18, even if it doesn't make any sense, but not at 15. These are things that can present definite problems if they have chosen a career in ballet, so someone needs to put the brakes on somewhere. Who pays for it?

[kylara7]

Several friends of mine wear "magnetic" jewelry to simulate the look of piercing (for decoration's sake) without having to put holes in the ears/nose/etc. One person who does bellydance/Bollywood dance performances even wears magnetic bellybutton jewelry. It seems like an interesting alternative to playing with a look without committing to the hassle; might be a good suggestion for teens as a trial run. If you do an Internet search on "magnetic jewelry", there are plenty of sites that sell these items. Like most things, quality tends to correlate with price. The stronger magnets are more secure but cost a little more.