Dancers are excited to start pointe work.
★ It’s exciting!
★ Quintessentially balletic
★ Signals a bona fide ballerina!
However, there are risks associated with pointe work and with starting pointe too early.
The International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) suggests that dancers should only start pointe training:
✔ Above the age of 12
✔ If they are flexible and strong enough
✔ If they have taken multiple pre-vocational ballet classes per week for a number of years
With so many boxes to check, parents are left scratching their heads wondering when is a safe time to start.
Some schools and dancers want to rush this process. I have seen many large irreversible bunions in dancers as young as fifteen who started pointe before they were ready..
Pre-Pointe ballet classes are a useful addition to technique training to prepare a dancer’s technique for pointe, but how do you know if you dancer is strong enough to safely start on pointe?
WELCOME TO POINTE PRELUDE
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ABOUT THE COURSE
Pointe Prelude is the ideal solution to ensure dancers are safe and ready to start pointe-work, or for dancers recently on pointe who wish to progress stronger pointe-work. Dancers will work through a series of pointe-readiness tests and strengthen each aspect of safe and strong pointe-work.
🩰 Strengthen feet
🩰 Strengthen whole body alignment
🩰 Improve balance
🩰 Improve coordination
Some schools offer pointe training for boys as well as girls, and this course caters to everyone.
HOW DOES THE COURSE WORK?
Dancers have many requirements for easy and effective training:
✔ Expert guidance
✔ Short classes
✔ Cost-effective
✔ At a convenient time
✔ In a convenient location
✔ Not requiring lots of their parents time to accompany them
✔ Low travel cost
The Ballet Physio has combined his one-to-one specialist expertise, the cost-effectiveness of a class, and the convenience of an online and on-demand platform to bring you the best of all worlds. No need to sacrifice personal input. No need to waste hours on a train, let alone the expensive train tickets. No need to worry about your busy schedule. We’ve made it easy.
On-Demand Weekly Online Conditioning Classes
This is one for the parents of young dancers as well as the dancers themselves. Dancers follow along at their own pace – the course is designed for one class per week, supported by daily practices (see below). If you have time to practise every day – great! You only have time for every second day? No problem! Dancers take the class at home, without the need for parents to accompany them by car or train, to then sit around for an hour, before taking them back home..
Your pace, your place, in your own time.
Even better, the exercises have been devised based on scientific research and shaped by Luke’s years of experience preparing young dancers to successfully audition into top schools like the Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst, Tring, LVBS etc, and by his experience rehabilitating injured dancers back to full health. The basic structure is a weekly 30-45 minute instructional exercise class with detailed descriptions, inspiring music, and dancer demonstrations of the exercises. Following along is fun, easy, and effective, and there is a quiz question or two to answer at the end of each class to consolidate learning.
On-Demand Daily Online Practice Videos
Dancers stay motivated using these short approximately 10-minute videos to follow-along and practise their exercises for that week, in between the Conditioning Classes. Repetition is important for developing skill, strength, and endurance, however practising quietly on your own is difficult to sustain for a youngster. This feature of the course makes the repetition easy, and dancers enjoy feeling the progress. Even better – parents can leave them to it and know they’ll finish the list!
One-To-One Check-Ins
Many online courses just leave you to it. How do you know if you’ve done the exercises correctly? Our on-demand classes have been developed over years of seeing which cues are most effective online, but we don’t just hope for the best. We make sure! By adding four periodic check ins to the course, either online or via video review to suit your needs, we make sure dancers get the most out of the exercises.
By combining a pre-recorded series of exercises refined over years of working with pre-vocational dancers, coupled with daily practice sessions, and supported by one-to-one check ins, dancers tap into the support of an experienced specialist ballet physiotherapist in a cost-effective and time-efficient way.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
As a new course launch bonus, there is a £50 discount available until the end of December 2024, for a total fee of £215.
Most of the exercises don’t use any equipment. Some classes will use a theraband, yoga block, small (partially deflated) pilates ball, and a low chair/stool. A yoga mat will make the floor exercises more comfortable on a hard surface. You will need a device on which to access your portal through our website to access the classes, and to either record your check in videos or to connect to Luke over zoom for your check ins.
Pointe Prelude is designed for dancers, both girls and boys, who are getting ready to start their pointe work journey. It is designed for dancers aged 10 years and older, who have been taking multiple ballet classes each week for at least two years. The age recommendation is due to the recommended starting age, and to enable the dancer to follow along with exercises on screen with the required level of detail.
Pointe Prelude tests to ensure a dancer’s strength and physical capacity is pointe-ready. It is up to the dancer’s ballet teacher to determine whether their technique and level of focus in class is at the required level also. When the teacher says you’re ready to start pointe, and you’ve completed the Pointe Prelude course, then you can be confident of starting on pointe with safety and strength.
