ABT National training curriculum and pointe work

[Sunnydance]

MY DD will turn 9 next week. She has been in a pre pro school since Jan. 2011 (Thanx to this forum for helping us make the switch) Up until Jan.2011 she had regular ballet classes at the local recreational school. age 4-8.

 

The owner/SO has completed her ABT certification thru Primary level 3. Since my daughter trained for 5 weeks this summer and she will be moving up a level and will be on pre pointe...this is all new to me. Up until this time I did not think that my daughter should be on pointe or even pre pointe until she was closer to 11 or 12.

Her new fall classes will be 2x 1.5 hours.

 

yes my daughter is tall and strong/athletic for her age. She is x lbs and 4'9". Her new level includes other students that are older- 4 -10 yr olds and 2- 12 yr olds.

 

They will only be on pre pointe at the barre for 10 or 15 min. of class. In regular ballet slippers the whole year.

 

My 1st question is- Is that o.k.? Am I being an alarmist? because everything I have read and taught myself this past year never once did I expect my 9 yr old to be pre pointe. The teacher is stating that ABT training guidelines has no problem with this age on pre pointe (if they are physically ready- the core and turn out and strength)

 

2nd questions- should I bring her to an ortho to have the xray to make sure her size 4 1/2 foot is ready for this?

Edited August 18, 2011 by dancemaven
Edited in keeping with BT4D policy not to include specific weights----dancemaven

[Victoria Leigh]

I would not worry about it this year, as they will not actually be on pointe. But, next year at this time she will just have turned 10. Then we could have a problem, if they are planning for that group to be on pointe. That is when I would have her checked, as even though she might be technically up with her group, she is younger and the bones may not be ready. I really feel that 10 is too young, but, there are always exceptions to everything. I put one child on pointe at 10, the only one I ever put up that early. But she was indeed exceptional, and has had a great career.

[stefanie]

I find it hard to believe that someone who has completed the ABT curriculum would be putting a 9 yr old on pointe. We just finished 2 weeks @ ABT young dancer. Dd was in aqua which is the second highest level she is 11 & just began pointe this year. A lot of her friends were placed in red the lowest level in which the age range was 9-11 & some of those kids were put on pointe at their home studios. There are no pointe classes offered for the lower levels at the young dancer workshop. In fact Mr. Devita spoke to the red level & told them they were too young to be on pointe & they were not ready.

[Mel Johnson]

Read the original post again. The student is 9, but is not projected to be on pointe in the coming year. She is scheduled for "pre-pointe" which is done in soft shoes and on demi-pointe. The deciding factor here is not merely the calendar, but more importantly, the physique, and a skeletal age of 11.5 in particular. This developmental age is derived from Celia Sparger's important book, Anatomy and Ballet, and is still good, although its data were gathered during the 1940s. We can't observe the student, so we can't conclude whether this addition to her training is premature or not.

[learningdance]

I find it hard to believe that someone who has completed the ABT curriculum would be putting a 9 yr old on pointe. We just finished 2 weeks @ ABT young dancer. Dd was in aqua which is the second highest level she is 11 & just began pointe this year. A lot of her friends were placed in red the lowest level in which the age range was 9-11 & some of those kids were put on pointe at their home studios. There are no pointe classes offered for the lower levels at the young dancer workshop. In fact Mr. Devita spoke to the red level & told them they were too young to be on pointe & they were not ready.

 

I completely agree with this and was also at YDSW. However, his opinion and the actual written materials in the ABT curriculum may vary. For example. if you actually read ABT's Healthy dancer book the age of starting pointe is really not clear. .. kind of "the teacher knows best."

[MelissaGA]

My daughter attends a school that uses the ABT Curriculum. She also began the "pre-pointe" level at 9. In my eyes, it means little aside from the fact that it is the level before pointework may be introduced. As is the case in any level in this curriculum, she spent 2 full years at this level until she was ready for the next. She began pointework at age 11.

 

She did wear "pre-pointe" shoes (aka soft blocks or demipointe shoes) for both of those years. No harm with those- they do not go up en pointe. For my child, the experience was quite valuable. She has a lower instep and lower arch than average and has had to work very hard to learn to use her feet and articulate her ankles well. Wearing the shoes really emphasized the appearance of what she was NOT doing. But, it was not the shoes that made the difference, they just made it obvious. It was the hardwork and daily use of the dynaband that made it all work eventually. I do not think these shoes are necessary, but they did help my dd.

 

Granted, the school was transitioning into the ABT Curriculum as this was going on, but it does not differ from the philosophies before they started using it. To this day, there are a few 9 yr olds in that class each year. Those 9 yr olds remain in that level the following year each time as 10 yr olds.

[MamatoMary]

I'm the parent of a 9-year-old who also just returned from YDSW. DD was in the red level and did ABT's pre-pointe classes. This level was all 9-year-olds from what I could tell, and even though some of them were supposedly on pointe at their home studios (one girl claimed to have started pointe at age 7 but that's a topic for another time), the children and their parents were repeatedly told that ABT follows an "age appropriate" curriculum and does not believe in putting kids that young on pointe. According to DD, they were told by Mr. De Vita that there is some variance in the age of OLDER (as in 11-12 year old) girls as to when they should start pointe. There were some very disgruntled children - and mothers.

 

As for the pre-pointe class itself this summer, the girls did everything in flat ballet slippers. During the demonstration, most of the work was done at the barre and consisted of a lot of plie-releves in first and fifth positions, some sautes at the barre and centre, and "marching" across the floor on high releve.

[Sunnydance]

Thank you for the informative responses.

I am not worried (anymore) about her pre pointe at 9 yrs old in ballet flats for this year.

 

and I will definitely bring her to the ortho for xrays if this summer they talk about her being on pointe at 10 yrs old in august 2012.