Expert: Dianne M. Buxton - 12/28/2007

Question
hi im 16 yrs and planning to do ballet lessons... am i too old for that? and i really wanna do the pointe... how long will it take me?...

Answer
Hi Khrisanne. You are not too old to start ballet. If you proceed to keep training for two or three years, and work up to 3 classes a week by year three, your teacher will then evaluate you for pointe work.

If you want to take a look at some material that will help you understand the detail and determination required to get that far, there is a wonderful book on pre-pointe training. As you learn ballet, and if you use these home routines, you will progress faster and  better. The link for this book is:
http://www.linkbrander.com/go/54727
It is written by a dance medicine specialist and it has photos, anatomical education about feet, turnout, safe stretching and more.

I wish you 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!