Amateur dancers not getting the pointe

Tag : ballet shoe

The ballet establishment isn't pleased. "To be honest, I washorrified by what I saw," says Rachel Moore, executive director ofAmerican Ballet Theatre, in New York, one of the pillars of theAmerican ballet world. Dance professionals say these young dancersare setting themselves up for twisted ankles, broken bones andother injuries.
"If you look at those videos, there is no potential -- except toget hurt," says Kay Mazzo, co-chairman of faculty at the School ofAmerican Ballet, the official training academy of the New York CityBallet. "Ballet takes 10 years of training before you can doanything. ... You don't learn that by watching YouTube."
Dancing in pointe shoes can indeed be a danger for children whoaren't trained to get up on their toes without hurting themselves.Possible injuries include stress fractures, sprained ankles,tendinitis, damage to the growth plates in the feet, shinsplintsand bunions. Shoes that don't fit properly can permanently deformyoung feet.
Young dancers usually don't start putting on toe shoes until theage of 11 or 12. And even when children are ready for toe shoes,they often suffer through lessons with bloody, blistered toes. "Mytoes are always sore," says 12-year-old Maia Charanis, who dancesfour days a week with the Dancer's Studio/Backstage in Alpharetta,Ga.
The risks increase with the do-it-yourself approach. "The personwho teaches themselves how to dance en pointe has a fool for adance teacher," says William Hamilton, a New York orthopedicsurgeon specializing in ballet injuries.
Another verity is that there is no stopping girls who want to beballerinas.
Eleven-year-old Baylee Errante says she had been dreaming aboutwhat it would feel like to dance on the tips of her toes ever sincelast December when she saw "The Nutcracker." She begged her parentsto sign her up for lessons, but her dad said she needed to finishbasketball season first.
She typed onto Yahoo: "How to Make Pointe Shoes." Then, shejerry-built a pair with soles made of thin plywood, and the restconsisting of cutup socks, glue and cotton balls. Then she starteddancing, copying videos she had seen online. After school the nextday, she made her own video. She titled it "My Very First HandmadePointe Shoes" and posted it to YouTube.
When her father, Jason Errante, found out about the videos, he sayshe wasn't mad. But he is now going to make sure she gets lessons."Just seeing that initiative impressed me," he says.
Dance physiotherapist Lisa Howell, in Sydney, Australia, for thepast year has been posting videos to give young ballerinas who aretaking ballet lessons tips on improving their dancing. Her videosoffer tips for preventing blisters and for doing simplefoot-strengthening exercises.
Howell tells her viewers that her videos aren't meant to replacereal-world ballet lessons, but she isn't sure they're alwayslistening. She says far too many girls are posting unsafe videos ofpointe work, and she quickly singles out half a dozen "horrific"videos featuring girls "sickling" their feet (twisting theirankles), wearing unfit shoes and dancing without control. In April,she posted a video about the dangers of teaching oneself to danceen pointe.
Howell's warnings have divided young ballerinas. "I spoke to one ofmy friends to see what she thought," one viewer wrote, afterwatching Howell's warnings about the dangers of teaching oneself todance en pointe. "She taught herself to dance en pointe when shewas 13 and she is really good. Now I don't know what to do. Shethinks it is OK. but I know that you say that it is dangerous. Whatshould I do?"