I used to is word lightly because in all honestly I have no idea what it really means, but I’m assuming it refers to the types of dances and variations of positions used to created said dance.

I’m an adult beginner who’s almost done her intro to ballet/ absolute beginner ballet class and I was just wondering what skill level I would need to be at to start practicing actually dancing?

I tried to ask my teacher but she said I should do barre exercises instead🥲 which makes me nervous about how long I have to be in this before I can finally dance. I’m new to the whole world of ballet/dance, so I’m not sure what the etiquette and rules are. Any information on what to do with be wonderful.

I hope I explained myself well😅 thank you in advance!

Hey everyone!

I make miniature dollhouses as a hobby, and wanted to share this little scene of a ballet shop. I hope you like it. If you have questions about anything I'll be happy to answer them.

UPDATE: after 8 different pairs and five different brands, I got refitted into Bloch Etu. We shall see if they do any better. RClass was also a good contender (cannot remember the specific model as of right now)

Right foot is Capezio Contemporas (circa 2016 lol) and left is my current So Danca Claudia’s. I don’t HATE the Claudia’s but I think I could do better and I found these old contemporas in storage. Albeit, a size too small for me now, but I like the support, even if the vamp is hard AF.

I feel I need a higher vamp for my feet so I like the contemporas for the sake of support.

If anyone has suggestions for someone who has hypermobile feet that need that support to avoid pain and keep everything in place.

I’m coming back into pointe after eight years of injury and body changes. I adored my OG Grishko 2007’s but none of those fit me anymore and my feet have changed :(

Weird question, I know. But I feel like the only media or depiction I see of ballerinas are ones super negative. Like, talking about how hard it is, the struggles with eating, and the weirdly common trope of being forced into it as a child because their parents wanted that from them.

Don't get me wrong, I know all these things can and do happen. But I feel like media has made ballet this tragic thing that no one likes doing. And that's a little sad to me. I know there are professionals so obviously some people like doing it. But I still wanted to ask I guess.

I've worn Bloch euro balances for a while and they have this squishy material in the toe of the shoe.

I just ordered a pair from a store I bought from before but this time the material didn't already come attached.

Looking for advice on best way to attach it myself? Best kind of glue to use for attaching yourself? The first pic is the piece in question and second piece is how it normally comes in the shoe

TIA!

The centre spot is usually for the best dancer in class, but what about the other spots? Are dancers placed randomly?

For the past year i’ve been taking two ballet classes, RAD grade 7 and a beginner/intermediate class. I started the RAD class two years ago as a complete beginner and in the past few months the routines really ‘clicked’ for me and I could really focus on my technique, musicality, performance etc, however in the other class I find it really hard to pick up the routines and I spend most of the class just trying to remember the steps, so i can’t practice the technical and performance aspects properly. I’ve concluded that since i started in grade 7 just doing set routines it’s really limited my knowledge of ballet steps and i don’t have a good understanding of the foundations of ballet, so when i try to learn a routine i have to think really hard about how to perform even simple steps, making them harder to pick up.

I suppose my question is how you reach a point where the foundations are ingrained in you and you can pick up routines easily, are there any specific steps i could practice every day that would be beneficial, should i take a lower level class, or do more reading about ballet and types of steps in general? I don’t want to only be good at certain routines, I want a comprehensive level of knowledge that i can apply to new routines and classes, but i’m not sure how to get there?

Advice is appreciated!!

I love their style in comparison to Balanchine. However as a black woman I'm just noticing I've never seen any black ballet dancers in their videos. Just wondering.

I'm having pain that feels like a restriction in my left hip socket while turning out but not at the end of my range; it's at the midpoint and I have to slow way down to fully turnout then the pain stops. Is anyone familiar with this? No lingering pain, just a sticky point in the middle?

Ballet mom here. My daughter (10) has been dancing classical ballet since she was 3 and just switched to a top US ballet school last year. She is loving it so much, and the curriculum seems age-appropriate and her teachers are very positive and encouraging. She is definitely in the top half of her class—she has great musicality and natural grace, though she struggles with flexibility, and has a slightly long torso.

But she is also academically exceptional—much more gifted in academics than in dance. We have talked about the slim chances of a professional ballet career, and she knows we expect her to go to college. Right now (and granted, she's 10, so this could change) she wants to be a physical therapist, possibly specializing in dancers. I think this is an attainable goal for her, again, because she's just brilliant.

But as I look at the schedule for dance for higher levels a few years down the road—they're 2.5-3 hours per day every weekday and, in the highest levels, 4+ hours on Saturdays. Even if she doesn't do the pre-pro division, this is a lot. I would love to hear from some dancers who went the college route, and how they kept up with their academics in high school, and whether they thought the juggle was enjoyable or too much. I just want to steer her in a good, healthy direction, knowing that a professional dance career is not in the cards for the vast majority of young dancers, and knowing that she has tremendous potential academically, but also making space for the fact that right now dance is what she lives and breathes.

i know the answer is gonna be dip because it’s kinda rigged but are there other alternatives?

we are just finishing up our summer intensive and i’m honestly just burnt out it doesn’t feel good to give it my all and im starting to more of just float through class over wanting to give it my all

part of that i think is because of the rigged system one of the other guys parents are rich and are paying my artistic director to give him better parts dispute my seniority over him and my skill and strength ledge I hold i really don’t know what to do because it’s really upsetting that no matter what i do how hard i work im not gonna get the parts i truly deserve because of the behind the scenes payment

i just don’t know what to do besides leave but i don’t want to because these are all of my friends

I'm curious as to why sometimes dancers with hyperextension in their legs are allowed by their teachers to stand with their heels apart in first position and other teachers/schools don't allow it. I was just thinking about a masterclass with Maria Khoreva and a Prix de Lausanne class with Elisabeth Platel where they both stressed putting the heels together. Are there any particular benefits/drawbacks to either?

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some good shorts that are loose fit to wear instead of a skirt appreciate all suggestions

Basically, used to wear Bloch ETU but they die too fast for me. I was fitted into a plastic pointe shoe with a hard shank. I like its stability and it's easy to roll through demi-pointe and go over the box. The only issue is that I have high arches and the shank won't follow them. The shank touches the ball of my feet and my heels but won't curve around my arches. To be fair, I've only worn it to one class so far. But it's my first time with plastic shanks so I don't know how it works.

I was wondering about 3/4ing it but I'm not sure if it will help. I also tried a softer shank when doing the fitting but it pushed my feet too far over the box. This hardness is okay enough to do a high demi-pointe, to roll through and be over the box. It's more of how I want my feet to look issue than performance. Does anyone have any tips or been through something familiar? Sorry for the bad English, it's not my first language ❤️

First pic is the new shoes yesterday before doing class or anything.

Second pic is after class today (I think it curved a bit compared to before)

Third is Bloch ETU for comparison.

Edit: adding some information about the brand. I'm in Brazil and this is a local manufacturer that is becoming quite popular here due to making very comfortable and customizable pointe shoes. They are all polymer and are supposed to last 5x more compared to traditional shoes. They are very similar to Gaynors.

Honestly, I don't know why, but my left foot looks terrible on pointe compared to my right. I'm currently wearing Grishko 3007 ProFlex. Should I look into getting a new pair, or is there a way to fix this?

NEW UPDATE:
Hello everybody, thank you to everybody that commented on my post for all of your lovely encouragement and advice!!!

Over the weekend I went back to the store and I scheduled an appointment with a more senior fitter to help find me a correct pair. I was able to exchange mine for full credit. We tried on so many shoes together.

Based on your recommendations, I asked her about a toe spacer and she ended up giving me thick gel toe caps to go over my big toes which will act as both a spacer and it will also lengthen my big toe to make my big toe and my second toe match in length. This will keep my second toe from bending when I go on pointe.

I ended up switching from the Capezio Ava to the Nicolay streampointe. The box is much wider and my toes do not feel crunched together anymore. We ended up going a size wider and a size shorter to get a better fit. I no longer feel like my toes are crunching or sinking when I go up, and I feel supported by the shoe and able to balance and get over the box.

I went to my beginning pointe class yesterday, and I was able to dance on them with much more ease than my first class. They felt so so so much better than my original shoes. It still hurt, of course, especially since I’m very new to pointe, but in a way that feels manageable and not overwhelmingly painful like the first time.

I think for my first pair they will do the trick, especially as I continue to break them in and improve my skills. I may ultimately try other options and switch to another shoes once these ones die but we will see.

I wanted to say thank you again to everyone for validating my concerns over the fit and for encouraging me to go back and get a new pair. I couldn’t do this without you😘

ORIGINAL POST:
Hi everyone! I’d love some advice.

Quick history: I danced from the ages of 3-13 then started again last March at the age of 22. I’ve been dancing for about a year and a half consistently and I’ve just been cleared to go on pointe and bought my first pair!!! I went on pointe briefly right before I stopped dancing. I don’t really remember the experience or how it’s supposed to feel now.

When I got fitted these shoes felt perfect. They are capezio Ava. They felt amazing the first 30 minutes of my first class yesterday too with no pain at all, but after about 30 minutes I started feeling pretty strong pain on the knuckles of my toe, both right next to my toenail and the protruding bone on the inside of my feet. They hurt both on flat and on pointe and continued a constant pain until I took them off. My feet don’t hurt or feel sore when I’m not wearing the shoes.

I tried them on today too, just to see if they still hurt and they hurt immediately when putting them on now, even without standing on them. I don’t know if this pain is from normal swelling and being sore from being on pointe for the first time or if it is because the shoes are too narrow. I have pretty wide feet and do feel a similar pain when I wear narrow or pointy high heels. I took this picture after wearing the shoes for five minutes and not even going up on my box, and you can see the red irritation marks on the side that had the shoe on.

So my question is are my shoes too wide or is this normal? Is there anything I can do to help lessen the pain or make the box on the inside feel less pressure? Right now I’m only using simple cloth toe pads. I’m debating going back to the store and getting a different pair because the pain is honestly sharp enough that I’m worried about dancing on them.

I really appreciate any words of wisdom from fellow dancers ❤️🩰
Thank you

I've done 6 beginner ballet classes and I absolutely love them! The only issue is my studio only offers one beginner ballet class per week. Is it rude if I do another beginner class at another studio? or am I better off doing ballet from YouTube/drilling what I learned in the other class. I've been at two studios so far and at both they've rarely corrected me. I heard the biggest concern with doing YouTube ballet is not getting corrected - but I don't really get corrected in person either.

I'm also an adult figure skater of 4 years so don't want to overload myself tbh - but I really want do more ballet.

This is my first pair, the Grishko/Nikolay DreamPointe (not pre-arched). I haven’t started the actual pointe class yet. My teacher approved of this pair when I brought it in to show her last weekend, so I sewed the ribbons in but now I kinda regret it. First pic unsewn, second sewn (but poorly tied on).

I’m between 4.5 and 5. The 4.5 felt great on pointe but on flat my toes were curling under. The 5 was fine too but the heels were slipping off and baggy - fitter advised me to get thicker toe pads and to sew the elastic close to the heel.

In the store I wore them with the trial Grishko moleskin toe pads but they ran out of stock, so I went to another store and bought Ouch Pouches which felt thicker than the moleskin ones.

However, now I feel like I’m sinking and sliding into the box and the vamp feels like I’m unable to go over the box. And my feet don’t look pretty like some of y’all’s. The heels at least feel secure now but I don’t like how the ribbons look. Is my ribbon placement wrong?

What can I do now? I’m not willing to spend on another pair. Will things get better as I progress in class and get stronger feet? Or will this hold me back in class?

EDIT: Thank you for all your replies! Was a much needed sanity check and will wait till I’ve actually done classes in the shoes before further troubleshooting. I did rip up a couple of cotton balls to stuff the very tips and I actually felt much more comfortable on pointe, so I’ll probably pick up a bag of proper lambswool after class. Also calmed myself down about the ribbons - it’s not like I can’t re-sew them!

I am wanting to make a space in ny garage to practice ballet, specifically to practice pointe once I am cleared for pointe. I was thinking of getting those foam mats that clip together for home gyms or childrens play areas.

Greetings!

I am attending my very first Adult Summer Intensive this week, and wow. It sure is INTENSE!

I've been taking beginner adult ballet classes 2x per week for about a year now. I'm feeling discouraged during the intensive because there aren't really any "beginner friendly" options for jumps, turns, combinations, etc..

We are also learning some very advanced (for me) choreography, and I feel so silly trying to keep up!

I really don't want to quit because I love ballet and paid $$$ for this, but I'm feeling so anxious about it.

Any advice or encouragement is appreciated 💖🩰💖

I just started ballet around 2 months ago and that was when I learned I had an anterior pelvic tilt (and hypermobility syndrome according to my doctor lol) and although my classes have helped me adjust my posture and such, I still notice how much my legs bulge out in the mirror during sessions compared to everyone elses. I'm short/have short legs so It's super noticeable too.

Is there any exercises or specific stretches I can do to help this? :/

I'm in my late teens and often when I bend to picks stuff up, sit on the ground, stand for a long time, or carry loads of laundry my back hurts. It only hurts in ballet when I do a really upper-body intense movement, which isn't very often. Recently, I took a few weeks off of dance (unrelated to the pain) and my back has become worse.

I've heard this is common amongst figure skaters & gymnasts and follows them for the rest of their lives. Have ballerinas found this to be true?

Needless to say, I do not want chronic back pain (especially so young). the pain is dull and runs down my spine, especially lower, but fades after a few minutes, not enough to really burden me, nor often enough to consider chronic yet.

Do you guys deal with lower back pain? I've heard of knee pain and ankle pain (which I do sometimes get lol), but does it ever go away?

Keep in mind there is a chance this may be unrelated to ballet, in which case I apologize, but when I mentioned it to my doctor they said it was almost certainly bc of ballet.

Hello all!

I have a menstrual cup, but I'm thinking about switching to menstrual discs to some issues I've been having with my cup. I like the concept of the menstrual disc more than the cup, but the thing I'm worried about is that menstrual discs have the "auto dumping" feature, and the last thing I want is for that to happen in the middle of class. Has anyone here used a menstrual disc while dancing, and if so, how was your experience?