Right time to start pointe?

[Guest *Victoria*]

Hello,

 

I really want to do ballet as a career and go to some sort of ballet school but i know im not good enough. Its all i ever think about and i really want to do it.

I sent an E-mail to the British royal ballet school and they said that you have to be able to dance on a pointe. Do you think they mean a lot or little? (They said most girls are at or working towarsds intermediate level, what does this mean) But anyway, i havent even started pointe work yet and im already 15 ( 16 in may) Is it too late? i mean how long will it take for me to learn to dance on en pointe and to be good enough to audition?

do you think they accept people with no/little balet experiance?

 

thanks

 

Victoria.

[Guest Luv2DancePointe]

I really don't know much about becoming professional, but I didn't start Pointe until I was 15 either. How long have you been taking ballet? maybe you could start pointe soon. I think that if you work really hard, and take classes pretty often, then you could work at becoming professional, and succeed!!

Good luck to you!

You go girl!

[Victoria Leigh]

Victoria, this is really a Young Dancers topic, not a Pointe Shoe question, so I moved it over here.

 

Whether you can dance professionally or not is not something that can be determined here. Even if you started earlier we could not tell. It depends so much on your natural physical ability and facility for ballet, which demands a rather unusual body. Then it depends on your training, both quality and quantity. And of course on your own dedication and commitment and ability to work very very hard. Generally a dancer is trained for about 10 years, with most of those years being quite intensive training. Students who are taking two or three classes a week and just beginning pointe in their later teens are generally not on track for a professional career. But this does not mean that they should not study and become as good as they can. Nor does it mean that it is impossible. Someone with a most unusual physique and an amazing amount of talent just might make it even starting very late.

 

There are a lot of avenues to travel with ballet, and performing in a professional company is only one of them. So, even if you can't make a company, you might fall in love with another dance form, or with teaching, writing about dance, dance therapy, stage managing, lighting, costume designing, being a critic, etc., etc.

[balletowoman]

Just for info, I think that what is meant by the Royal Ballet requirement of intermediate ballet is the RAD intermediate exam. It does comprise pointes, but in the RAD syllabus is the second level in the vocational track. To have more of a feel for it, you could go to www.rad.org.uk and see in the 'examinations and presentation classes' document what is required for that exam. You will see what you should aim for to be at that level (or not if you choose that!)

[Guest *Victoria*]

thanks for the help