Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 1/6/2008

Question
The past few years I danced in the winter/color guard at my high school. I know that I'm dancing ballet (chaines, chasses, tour-jetes, sautes, etc.) but it's not pointe, we do not dance with pointe shoes, we dance barefoot. I want to dance in college and I want to be able to talk to people and tell them what I dance but I don't want to have to say "I dance ballet but not pointe". To me when someone says ballet it automatically registers in my head as a pointe dancer. So what is it called that I dance? Thank you for your help!!

Answer
Hi Ashley. Ballet is ballet whether you use pointe shoes or not. Some people take ballet classes for years and do not do pointe work. It sounds like your choreographer at school used ballet as a basis for your routines.

If you are going into a college dance department with ballet, you might do a couple of years before doing pointe. Or no pointe work at all, depending on the program.

I think it's fine to tell people you've danced ballet, or balletic free-style choreography. I don't think you'd be misrepresenting yourself in any way. Some people call free-style dance 'lyrical dance'.

I hope that helps! All the best, Dianne

A brief follow up - I've recommended to almost everyone to read my articles and blog entries at http://www.theballetstore.com You have to create a user name to log in to see all the blog entries - your privacy is safe! I really apologize that I didn't tell you this - I'm not a technical person!