Why is a pre pointe assessment important?
Dancing in pointe shoes is exciting, beautiful and difficult. Pointe work can also be painful and damaging. To minimise injury and make pointe work comfortable, a pre-pointe assessment is vital.
What are the criteria for pointe readiness?
- Age: This varies between 12- 15 years of age. Some ballet schools encourage early pointe work, but it is important that the bones of the feet are mature and the growth plates in the bones are almost closed.
- Years of dance training and current frequency of classes: Ideally, the more years of training, the better, but training can be caught up on if ballet is commenced at an older age. What is important is at least two years of classical training and 2 classes of classical ballet per week as well as ballet conditioning classes.
- Ankle and foot flexibility: Flexibility, particularly pointe range is very important so that the dancer can get right up on the platform of the pointe shoe with a straight leg.
- Lower limb strength: Strong feet to lift up out of the pointe shoe, and core strength for center work are essential. Strength also makes a difference to the comfort of the pointe shoe.
- Control: Maintaining control of the lower limb and feet, as well as turnout, is necessary for pointe work. Control comes from both training and fitness.
- Skill acquisition: This is about how quickly a dancer can learn and apply corrections.