Dose It Cost to Get Measured for Point Shoes?

You do not usually have to pay to go for a fitting, keep that in mind. Where pointe shoes over the internet are concerned, I would say watch out, just because I have a friend who tried that and she got a really crappy used pair that was all broken down, and basically the person ripped her off. I agree, it's best to go to a store and get them to fit your shoes for you, that way at least you know you are the only one wearing them and they fit you correctly. Also, if you are not a dancer, (which Im assuming you are not from what you said) be EXTREMELY careful when you are going up. While pointe seems easy, it is actually VERY VERY difficult and if you dont have the correct size shoe, ouch pouch and dont know how to hold yourself up and stand properly, you could really hurt yourself. That's why at all the good studios and national ballet companies, they REQUIRE that you have done ballet for at least five years before you can go up on pointe.

1. What is a ballet academy like?

Most boarding ballet academies in the USA do not have their own academics. Many ballet students who board at schools like the School of American Ballet are either home schooled or take their academics as arranged by their academies. While the school accepts students at age 7 at SAB, boarding does not start until age 13. The majority of the world class ballet academies are affiliate feeder schools to major ballet companies. Many do not have residencies except for the upper level students in the USA. Such is the case with SFB school. Up until only a couple of years ago, the JKO school which is the feeder school for ABT located in NYC, had no residence programs but would find students families to board with. Academics were their own responsibility. They recently opened an affiliate residency school in North Carolina. One of the few top stand alone ballet academies (no affiliate company) in the USA is the Harid Conservatory in Florida. They have arrangements with a local high school as this ballet academy is for advanced students of high school age only. Residency programs in the USA generally do not start before age 13. If a student is accepted into a major ballet academy prior to that age which of often the case. a family would have to move to that area, Ballet academies wont take an untrained female student over age 10. This is true around the world with few exceptions. Students take anywhere from 20-30 hours of ballet technique classes a week year round and fit all their academics around that. They are required to graduate high school early in many cases, as apprenticeships start at age 16 for the ballet.They have to cram more into less time as they do get high school diplomas. They cannot take extracurriculars like normal high school students do and Gym is also not required. They still need to take all the core courses required to graduate. Ballet academies that are not affiliate feeder schools to major ballet companies (and there are only a very few with professional standing ) have performances once or twice a year. Schools that are feeder schools to major ballet companies have students dance children's parts with the professional ballet company. Not all get to do this. They spend most of their time perfecting their craft. Only in their final year is there a school showing where they are evaluated by the affiliate company as well as scouted for by other companies and then chosen to apprentice. If you have ever seen Centerstage (the first film) that is a good example of what the end showcase was all about at the end of the film. Other countries outside the USA support the arts much more. They do include academics right there in the ballet school. England, Canada and France are great examples of this with the Royal Ballet School, National Ballet of Canada and Paris Opera Ballet. Schools like The Mariinsky in Russia and the Bolshoi are meant for Russian National students only and they not only get their academics they get all of it for free including dance training and housing. On extremely rare occasions students outside the country are invited to study in Russia. This would be for students at an older age and from another major ballet academy. To give you an idea, only one American has trained with the Bolshoi and one other trained at the Mariinsky. Foreign students in Russia are usually sponsored by their country as the cost is very high. Schools like Paris Opera Ballet also has full education right at the school. They will not take any student over the age of 13 unless they have won international ballet competitions such as the kind held in Varna. If you do not get into that school when you are young chances are you wont get into that school at all. While no two schools are exactly alike, they all have certain things in common. They will all screen dancers for body, facility and musicality or you cannot train there. Students take multiple ballet technique classes daily, along with a weekly character and modern class as well. Most have pilates. They have an on staff nutritionist as well as a physical therapist. They do not have separate pointe classes or pre-pointe classes like recreational schools have. They start pointe work 15 minutes at the end of their classes when they have reached 12 or 13 depending on the school. By age 14 hey do all their classes en pointe. They have a Variations class where they work on repertory en pointe instead of just ballet technique. That is a girls class. Boys have their own class where they work on tours and jumps along with upper body training. They join together for Pas de Deux classes. Most academies stop training students by age 18 or 19. I would like to mention that there are boarding schools that offer ballet training along with modern dance that are not really ballet academies. That would be a school like idyllwild arts.

2. is ballet a sport to you?

Are dancers athletes? Yes. Is Dance a sport yes and no. Competition dance would be considered a sport. Ballet and concert dance like modern and contemporary dance are art forms. Grants for the Arts include Dance. It does not include baseball. So, the government thinks and classifies dance as an Art. The fact that the instrument for this art is your body not a paint does not make it a sport. Would you call an action film a sporting event? There often is real athleticism in some of the stunts that are performed in that as well. However, awards even for stunts are giving by the academy for Arts & Sciences not the academy of Sports and Sciences. The film is an artistic view of the director. Who is the artist behind dance? The choreographer is, and often they do not even appear in the dance . The dancers are the instruments the choreographer plays. Are dancers Athletes? Of course they are. However they are athletes performing an art not doing a sport. As far as competitive dance goes, that may be considered a sport in the same way figure skating is because it is not particularity artistic and it is judged like figure skating. The goal there is in doing "tricks" and how high you lift your leg or how many turns you can do. It is not really about how artistic those turns are and goes for flash over taste all the time. In a ballet, you rarely see a girl do more than 3 pirouettes. That does not mean she can not do 7 if she wanted to. It is not about the stunt it is about the art and that involves taste and the statement, mood and images the choreographer is trying to express. Art has an inner dialog of expression. Whether it is a painting by Monet or abstract Jackson Pollack that inner dialog is there. A classical ballet has an inner dialog much like the Monet and so does an abstract contemporary piece that is devoid of all emotion and just contains lines and movements like the Jackson Pollack. There is no inner dialog in sports. It is about the end result of winning and the technique needed on how to do that.

3. are there age limits to ballet?

you can start ballet lessons but you will never reach the level of performance your friends have. if you would have started earlier your body would have devellopped in a way to suit this sport. now it is close to its final shape and there will be things you wo not be able to do, especially if you want to 'keep school in focus'. You can try it for fun, but there are little chances to reach a top level