Anyone have a son who takes pointe?

[Moxie]

My 12 yr old would like to take pointe. He asked his men's teacher who encouraged him (he was on pointe himself) For the most part I've heard it will be good for him. Perhaps a minority of teachers do not? We need to approach the intro to pointe teacher but in general she hasn't tolerated boys well. Yikes!

Any advice is appreciated, thanks

[slhogan]

My 14 year old takes a one hour pointe class twice a week but he does the movements on releve rather than pointe and then partners the girls.

 

Occasionally, the teacher will have the boys strap on a pair of pointe shoes (if they can find a pair that fit them), and they will do some barre work in them. She usually does this to show them that they need to strengthen their ankles and to help them understand the girl's needs better. The boys and girls think this is a lot of fun,but it doesn't happen often (perhaps three times in 2 years).

[Moxie]

My son too has taken pointe class in flats for years but wants to actually go on pointe. I told him we could get him black shoes but he likes the pink. He was a little hesitant about attitudes towards him in the past (he's wanted to take pointe for years) but I think he's feeling pretty secure in himself. His main worry was the cost of the shoes!

[dancemaven]

Oops! someone other than a Parent of a male dancer wandered in and a post had to be removed.

 

Moderator's hat on:

 

Moxie, there have been a number of threads regarding pointe for males over the years. Perhaps a search through the Mens' Forum might yield some results for you. (Just remember, you may read, but not post, there. If there is something there that sparks a question from you or a comment, please post it in a Forum open to you. ).

 

Edited November 4, 2012 by dancemaven
updated post

[Hans]

From a technical perspective, I don't see the point. At age 12 he is old enough to begin working on some of the larger jumps that are required of male dancers, so it seems to me that his time would be better spent on that than on a skill he is unlikely to use in the future.

[Albini]

Does his teacher have expereince teaching boys en pointe? The physicality would differ in the way the muscles mass is developed and distributed IMO. The current pointe curriculum seems to be based on female development. I would want to ensure that there was a level of expereince teaching men/boys before I allowed this to be something I considered.

 

We do have an older (30ish) male teacher who began pointe this past 2 years, only at the barre and only for short periods of time.

[Moxie]

That is part of my concern. Wanting to make sure it's physically appropriate for him. Boys developing differently etc. I didn't dance so it's all new to me!

Overall, it seems like men are more comfortable with boys taking pointe than women are.

I asked my son which he wanted more pointe shoes or a cell phone. He said pointe shoes. I really thought he'd go for the phone!

[GTLS Designs]

What I am wondering is - what is your son's long term goal in wearing pointe shoes?

 

If dancing on pointe is a matter of building strength, then I see not problem in him taking the pointe class on pointe - though, strength building can happen while on flat in a pointe class.

 

If dancing on pointe would mean possibly joining Trockadero or Grand Diva, learning pointe right now isn't particularly necessary. Most guys who audition for the company have a limited background of pointe work... a lot of them found pointe shoes later in their life (usually as a professional). Some of the guys (including myself) didn't get their first pair of pointe shoes until they were already in the company - there was a lot of learning on the job! At that time I was already an experienced professional, so the pointe work was just an extension of my regular ballet technique.

 

I tend to agree with Hans. A 12 year old boy is about to start major men's technique & partnering. The likelihood of your son getting a job in Trockadero and/or Grand Diva is in the low percentile. The percentage is much higher for a "traditional" ballet company, where men do not dance on pointe. If your son wants to dance professionally, he needs to be competitive within the market of other well trained male dancers.... Pointe work should just be an aside to his regular training (even Trockadero is about men who have strong men's technique & partnering skills, and who can also do pointe work).

[Moxie]

He's just always wanted to go en pointe. I say he left the womb dancing. He gave up recess in kindergarten to go to dance club.

 

His technique teacher said who knows where his path will take him. She feels if it's a desire and not harmful why not. She suggested perhaps taking private with one of the advanced students and he could see if it held his interest. The whole "grass is greener"......

 

I'm thinking the pointe teacher will be overwhelmed with a large class. He's 2 years past the beginning pointe class in technique. I'm thinking the advanced student idea may be a good one. His men's teacher took pointe and was encouraging when he asked.

 

I'm really appreciative of the responses so far!

[Tylersmom]

My son will put on a pair of pointe shoes and warm up with the girls. He has a better appreciation for the foot-pain agony and difficulty they go through to learn it and it's also helped him understand his core and center better.

Will be dance Trockadero? Most likely not. But his teacher does allow him and the girls to reverse roles when dancing to see what the other is feeling/going through.

[Victoria Leigh]

Researcher2info, I had to remove your post for two reasons: 1) this is a Parents of boys forum and limited only to those who are parents of boys and the Moderators; 2) we do not allow links to other ballet discussion sites.

 

You are welcome on Ballet Talk for Dancers, but I will have to ask you to please read our Rules and Policies and other "Pinned" topics that explain how we work here. We are a very different type of board than most other dance boards.

[ColinsMom]

My son took pointe for two years (ages 12-14). I think he realy just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. He is the only male dancer his age at our studio, so he wasn't missing out on men's technique or partnering classes (we don't have them) so I think it was a good time for him to try it. Of course, now he's a size 14 street shoe so he couldn't continue even if he wanted to!!