On Monday, June 30, 2014 3:18:45 AM UTC-5, Julie Bove wrote:
>
>
>
>
> She will never need pre-pointe shoes again so
> I will never had to deshank any.

I can hardly watch ballet because I know what it does to the
dancers' feet (I don't watch boxing at all anymore). Even
pencil thin girls who weigh very little end up with ****ed
up feet. Chubby girls have absolutely no business on pointe.

Ballet is girls being physically damaged for the entertainment
of wealthy folks. Put the words, "ballerina" and "prostitution"
into Google.
http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0...c7flo5_400.jpg

--Bryan

"Bryan-TGWWW" > wrote in message
...
> On Monday, June 30, 2014 3:18:45 AM UTC-5, Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> She will never need pre-pointe shoes again so
>> I will never had to deshank any.
>
> I can hardly watch ballet because I know what it does to the
> dancers' feet (I don't watch boxing at all anymore). Even
> pencil thin girls who weigh very little end up with ****ed
> up feet. Chubby girls have absolutely no business on pointe.
>
> Ballet is girls being physically damaged for the entertainment
> of wealthy folks. Put the words, "ballerina" and "prostitution"
> into Google.
> http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0...c7flo5_400.jpg
>
> --Bryan

Yes. I well know the history of ballet in France. And it doesn't have to
wreck your feet. I danced and I was en pointe. In my day we had a choice
of wool or rabbit's fur pads. These days they have all sorts of things they
can put not only in the shoes but on each individual toe.

Not everyone can go en pointe and weight isn't really one of the
considerations. Mainly they need good flexibility, good balance and very
strong feet and ankles. My daughter has toes that could be used as a
weapon. If she puts them on my skin...such as my thigh and clenched them
downward, I will get 5 little bruises there. Her toes are very strong!

Many girls want to go en pointe and that is often a goal for them. But when
they realize the amount of work that it takes to do it, the appeal wears
off.

It can take hours just to get fitted for the shoes. Then the shoes need to
be sewn in a specific fashion. Each teacher has their preferred method.
And the student is required to do her own sewing! And these days there is
not only the ribbons but also elastics. No elastics in my day. A pair of
pointe shoes might last 2-3 months if that. They're expensive and require a
new fitting each time, even if the feet have quit growing. Even minor
changes to the feet can affect how the shoes fit.

Pointe is a *very* big commitment and totally unnecessary to do in order to
be in ballet. Many ballerinas never even attempt to do it.

My daughter has decided to no longer go down that route. She was in
pre-point for three years, mainly because the studio kept switching ballet
teachers and they kept having different goals for the students. Actually
there is only one other student in her level that has been there for as long
as she has. Most of them seem to go off and do different things by the time
they reach their teens.

We just had recital and I would say that the biggest groups of students were
in the 2-5 age range and then again in the 6-8 age range. Followed closely
by age 9-13. After that? Far fewer students. It wasn't that way when we
first came to this studio. There were a lot of teens there. But now? I
think with this economy, many parents just can't afford to keep their kids
in dance at the upper levels. The shoes need to be of a higher quality and
are more expensive and the requirements of the students are more, meaning
taking more hours each week, even if they only take ballet. Plus the kids
have different interests.

She will be doing only ballet and pilates this summer and is hoping to be
able to take up tap again this fall. Unfortunately in this area, all of the
advanced tappers seem to have either lost interest or gone elsewhere. I had
no luck at getting her in at another studio. Either the classes were not
advanced enough for her or if they might have been (we never found out if
they were), they fell at the same time when she had a class at her studio.
Tap is really her favorite style of dance and something that she excelled
at. She was also very good at swing but that teacher is back in CA now.
And the studio had no luck at finding males who wanted to stick with it.
There were two in the class but they also played sports and dropped out
prior to recital.