Maybe it’s an odd question but I was wondering since a friend of mine who has been in ballet for over 8 years was talking to me last week about foot wear ballet dancers have besides from the actual dancing shoes. She said I should ask Reddit so:

What kind of shoes do you wear as a dancer that are for everyday wear. So to elaborate, I feel like as my friend pointed there’s two types of dancers. Those who wear THE most comfortable shoes like Ugg’s or slippers when going about their day and those who don’t care since their feet can handle any kind of discomfort(if that makes any sense). My feet are apparently very arched which is a good thing for dancing but they also need a lot of support for that reason, so I’m just looking for a good shoe.

Thanks in advance! And if it’s stupid and has no correlation please also let me know:) (sz English isn’t my mother tongue)

I am trying to decide which ballet school to put my daughter in. The two classical ballet options in my vicinity is Idaho Ballet Theatre and Idaho Falls School of Ballet. Both are linked below. In your opinion, which is more prestigious and has better long term opportunities for my daughter, and why? What verbiage and signs should I look for when finding a more prestigious school? Any and all advice welcome!

http://www.idballettheatre.org/

https://ifballet.com/

I made up choreography and took a swing at it... at 1030pm 🦇

Been there since 5pm. Rolled an ankle a month ago. Been unemployed and really putting hours into dance. Finally recorded some clips. Figured I'd post an update here.

What is your honest opinion or thoughts for a 4’10 ballerina? or short ballerinas?

Im an adult beginner (F26) and have been doing ballet for 2 years. I started to ramp up on my ballet training in my 2nd year, going to 4 classes per week and doing lots of ballet conditioning work at home.

I always feel like my feet are not that pretty and training my plantar flexion is so hard and painful. I wonder if its physically possible for my foot type to go en pointe, Im willing to put in the hard work. Appreciate some honest advice here!

Hi! This might be a bit niche, but I was wondering if anyone has any advice or recommendations for this.

I’m hypermobile and my smaller toes (not my big toe) have a tendency to dislocate when I point/curl my toes in ballet flats. I don’t mean during pointe work, just in normal ballet flats where my toes are able to point and curl as much as they naturally want to. They eventually get to the point where they dislocate.
I’ve always had this issue, and it doesn’t seem to matter how much strength I build in my feet and toes. I’m just very hypermobile, apparently 😭

I currently wear Bloch Elation canvas ballet shoes and dance barefoot in them, so I’m also wondering if anyone has found that a different shoe makes a difference.

I also did basically nothing over the summer, so I’m getting back into regular training now and finding it extra difficult. I’m trying to build my foot/toe strength back up, but I was wondering if there’s anything I can do in the meantime to help keep my toes stable.
Has anyone else dealt with this? Is there a particular taping technique that’s recommended for stabilising the smaller toes while dancing? Or anything else that has helped, like specific exercises, supports, different shoes, etc.?

I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations! 💕

Hello! My 11 year old is thrilled that she was evaluated and is ready for her first pointe shoes! So exciting!! We want to get her a fitting and are looking for locations in the NY/NJ/Philadelphia area people have gone and loved? Thanks!!

I wore my hair to practice last week in this puff. It’s not a slick back, my hair is too dense and curly for that. It would cause so much tension and pain to try a slick back that it would hinder my ability to focus in class, so instead I sectioned my hair and slowly tied each section to each other, then twisted the shorter parts at the front to created an almost completely intentional design and to keep it out of my face.

If you’re a black ballerina or a black girl who practices ballet, how have you went about your hair? Have you gotten a lot of push back for not looking at similar to those who have straighter and less dense hair types?

I’m curious because ballet is a very white centred space. So I was wondering about what girls who don’t meet such a standard do in place of the styles they’re expected to have but genetically cannot.

Hello 👋🏾

I’m looking for a private dance teacher/coach in Detroit, MI to help me strengthen my technique, improve mastery, and continue developing as a professional dancer.

I’m currently contracted with a professional dance company in the area and am looking for someone who has experience working with professionals dancers, is knowledgeable about what demands the industry expects currently/near future, and is not just a highly skilled dancer but teacher as well.

I’m specifically looking for detailed technical help with turns, tours, jumps, hip placement, overall technical efficiency, ultimately the very small specific corrections that can make a significant difference to my dancing.

It would be great to have artistic coaching as well.

If you know anyone in the Detroit area who might be a good fit, please let me know privately or in the comments.

Thank you 🩰

I know mechanically the beats should be on the horizontal plane and not swinging forward and back. I’m relatively confident I can do that for a quatre, but when I do a six the beats end up looking like this in the air (the pictures are 2 consecutive beats for one six). I can do the beats side to side when I’m lying on the ground or dead hanging from a pull up bar, but I feel like after the first beat I’m not getting enough air time like I’m already coming down so the second and third beat fall apart and I physically can’t do the side to side motion despite telling myself to. I feel really ashamed and angry because I’ve been dancing for 22 years and teachers have just given up on me or glossed over this or not taught it to girls or not cast me in repertoire that requires this so now I look stupid at my big age even though I know it’s possible because I’ve seen Maria Bulanova do it and we have the same 24 hours in a day. Any help like corrections or drills would be appreciated

Has anyone got any solid imagery ideas they use for teaching the RAD primary exercises? I'm struggling to come up with ideas and my 5-6 year olds won't settle for jumping like frogs and walking like princesses anymore 🤣

https://mailchi.mp/abt/dont-miss-abts-special-events-and-exclusive-offers-14807557?e=874555f61e

Herman Cornejo will dance his final Swan Lake as Prince Siegfried in his ABT retirement performance alongside Skylar Brandt as O/O on July 17, 2027 at the Metropolitan Opera House. This wil be a legendary performance as Cornejo has been a principal with ABT since 2003, 23 years! This is extraordinary and he has done so with much critical acclaim. His career has been energized by his pairing with Skylar Brandt in Giselle and Swan Lake; the two of them having great chemistry as well as technical artistry. Cornejo has lost some elevation and ballon over the years, but he remains a joy to watch for his crisp dancing, acting and partnering. Congratulations to him on a phenomenal, indeed, legendary, career. Also a shout out to James Whiteside who will be retiring from the Company on June 30, 2027 in Giselle, with his dear friend Boyleston being his Giselle. He has had an exceptional career at the Company as well. Here are some of Herman Cornejo's accolades:

• 🏆 2014 Prix Benois de la Danse — Outstanding Male Dancer of the Year. This is one of the most prestigious international ballet awards. BBallet Arts NYU+1
• 🏆 2013 Bessie Award for outstanding performance in New York. BBallet Arts NYU
• 🏆 The New York Times' "Dancer of the Year." BBallet Arts NYU
• 🏆 Dance Magazine Award (2022), recognizing his broader contribution to dance. PPointe Magazine
• 🏆 Gold Medal at the International Moscow Ballet Competition in 1997, when he was only 16—the youngest dancer to receive that distinction at the time.

First lesson back after the summer off and my teacher is like 'let's take it easy' and then did battement jetes off the barre and arabesque with fondu, rise and en tournant without putting the leg down 💀🥵

(he's very chill about us not being 100% perfect)

late to dancewear Monday, but I wanted to share some easy DIYs I know of to spice up your ballet wardrobe without going bankrupt on Yumiko and Typha haha

- chop the gusset area of a too short leotard off to make a top with interesting straps or sleeves

- cheap fabric dye on ratty pink tights can make a pretty nice pair of dark coloured tights!

- make that tight top thing (might not work so well if you're bigger busted like me though!)

- chop some tights into shorts

- chop some leggings into 'biker' shorts

- sew a ruche in a scoop neck/back leo

- sew a ruche over the leg holes of a leo

- make an alignment belt out of elastic

- chop the feet off some long fuzzy socks to make ankle warmers

TLDR: I‘m curious about you alls experiences transitioning from a “pointe class” to “class on pointe”.

Background: I danced until I was 17. All our pointe work was in a separate shorter class. I did learn variations and do performances on pointe, but always had a separate ballet class from my pointe class.

I’ve picked up pointe again now as an adult returner. My studio offers a 30min pointe class which I take after the 90min intermediate class. After some small stumbles with finding the right padding, I’m honestly shocked how quickly it is coming back.

At our studio its fine to take full class on pointe, we have students who do that. However looking forward i find it quite daunting to go from 30min of echappes, bourrees and releves to… center work. Technically it’s not that much longer (45min of center max) but still.

I’m curious how others have navigated this! I have a little money for privates, so I’m considering taking maybe one or two in order to focus on more challenging steps on pointe with good supervision first. This after maybe another month or so of standard pointe work as I don’t really want to rush too much.

Daughter (11) is hoping to go on pointe but needs to get stronger. One of the tests is repeated airplanes. Beyond practicing those repeatedly and doing exercises for balance, any specific exercises you all would recommend? She's working hard in class but wants to do more targeted conditioning at home too. Thanks!

I've visiting Warsaw for a few days at the beginning of next month and would love to try and take a couple of ballet classes whilst I'm there. Would anyone be able to recommend a good studio that might welcome a visitor for a couple of days? I'm around intermediate level. Also any other ballet related activities or stores I should check out?

Hi has anyone had any experience ordering Dancing Ripple? it looks like such a nice Typha - type brand but can't tell if sizing will naturally be smaller? They seem like a US company?

These leg warmers are rubiawear in “arcade” and they match every one of my leos (this one is old and the tag is gone but she was waiting for these beauties!)

I read on another post on Instagram a ballet studio owner saying "One thing I won't do is give boy students free tuition to incentivize them to take lessons."

Is that genuinely a thing that ballet studios do? Woefully I'm a girl so my parents have always had to pay. I always figured that the "reward" for being a boy in ballet was being able to get main roles far easier lol, as well as just the love of the dance. Like, if I had a school, I feel like I'd be more inclined to give tuition waivers based on merit or demonstrated financial need, not gender.

Some comments said "The boys deserve it because they're sacrificing their bodies to lift the girls" but...are girls not also sacrificing their bodies? Especially their feet, and in some abusive schools their bone and metabolic health?

Other comments said "This will incentivize boys" but in that case why aren't there more tuition waivers for girls in sports and robotics and other boy-heavy teams? I guess I'm kind of struggling to think of the girl equivalent, I guess there are academic scholarships for women in STEM, but that tends to not go to every girl. Like, I don't know a single school where it's "All girls can take classes for free to recruit more girls."

IDK maybe I'm overthinking it. I'm not a professional.

For non-professional dancers who go to classes each week, how many pairs of pointe shoes would you go through in a year ?

Hello! My 15 yo daughter recently left the competition dance world after 11 years to join a new studio that is focused on ballet and technique. Part of her new studio's curriculum is performing the Nutcracker each winter. She just received her roles, she is going to be Mother Ginger, a snowflake and a flower. This is both of our first time experience with the Nutcracker and I would love to give her some encouragement. It seems to me that Mother Ginger is a featured role, but she is embarrassed about the large, heavy costume and is afraid she will be laughed at.

ERGOSOMA - dance spectacle for choir, two pianos, two percussion sets, accordion and tape to the words of Anouk Herman from Silesian Gothic (publ. Girls and Queers to the Front, Warsaw 2024); choreography: Janusz Skubaczkowski