Mummy When can I dance on my tippy toes?

So this is the age old question and I guess because we often see really young children dancing en pointe in our socials, it can be easy to think your child is lagging behind. It's so tempting to want to try things as soon as possible, however I urge you to listen to your child's ballet teacher and respect what they're telling you. They will probably tell you that she needs to wait until she's 11 at the very least, most likely 12 and that all dancers will have needed to be working on some pre-pointe exercises in advance of actually going up en pointe. Whilst I'm here I'd like to reassure you that if the suggestions I make are followed, it is quite possible to dance en pointe safely without damaging your child's feet. And the amount of pointe work done at the early levels is so minimal, that once strong enough, most young dancers can enjoy undertaking pointe work to some extent. You may have seen photos of bruised and battered feet on socials, however these are the feet of professional ballet dancers, usually just after a long rehearsal session where they've been dancing en pointe for the duration, which is inevitably going to take its toll on a dancer's feet. But that's a decision that an older dancer makes when she or he decides she's going to head down the route of a professional ballet dancer. In recreational dance, and even pre-professional training, the results are not as dramatic as this. There may be a little tenderness after their first pointe classes, but again we can prepare the skin to help minimise the risk of blisters and other issues. There are also silicone pads that can be used to minimise the issues encountered by having toes of varying lengths too. Anyway, back to the video. Here I discuss mostly the reasons why it's important to be patient and to listen to your dance teacher with regards to going en pointe.