Ok, I am 18, well, I will be on July 22nd.....and I just started ballet lessons last month. I have really fallen in love with ballet, and have my heart set on doing it professionally. I know that you all will probably tell me that it is too late for that, but I am going to try anyway. How many years does it take to get into pointe? And do any of you think that this determination and my hard work may be enough to fulfill my late dream?????

Brooke, there is just too much in your question. First of all, no one can tell anything about your possibilities unless they see you. And secondly, although how much you accomplish depends on your body, your quickness to pick things up, your musicality, etc., the truth is that it is most probably too late for you to be a professional ballet dancer. The truth is not easy to hear but that is the truth.

Dear Brooke, it's great that you have developed a passion for ballet and have your eyes turned to the Heavens. As you will see if you look through these pages, your enquiry is a recurring theme. Here is a recent related discussion:

http://forum.criticaldance.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=19;t=001381

<small>[ 12 July 2004, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Brooke i'm in a very similar position to you: i'm 18 and only recently fell in love with dance (although i haven't started learning yet but intend to when i start uni later in the year). despite what people may say, i believe that if you have the determination then you can become as good as you want to be, and with enough effort you may one day achieve the flexibility required for a ballet dancer and become a professional standard. i don't think age has much relevance (or at least i hope not, for both our sakes!), if you really want to achieve something then why shouldn't you? good luck!

Hello, Brooke!

I encourage you to go after your passion, and see how far you can go. Even if you do not meet your goal, your life will be greatly enriched by ballet and you will know that you gave it your all. No regrets! Given all that, you must be prepared to make sacrifices both financially and in the amount of time it takes to go to class. Also you must be aware that the pre-professional ballet world is geared toward and designed for teens. You may find a small company that you can dance with as an older adult (in dance terms!), but you must realize that you will probably never be hired by or get to the level of a major company.

I fell in love with ballet at 19 years old, a sophomore in college. I studied dance intensively for 3 years (I'm 22 now) and I got further than i think anyone ever expected me to. I was even able to attend a summer intensive, dancing with 14 year olds, at a respected company after my 2nd year of study. To get to this level, it took a *lot* of commitment. I danced and trained 9 hours a week at my peak on top of a full load of classes at school. If I ever hoped to get to a professional level, however, i would have to continue at this level for many more years! As i progressed, however, my goals changed. I no longer have apsirations of dancing professionally, but I will never regret putting my energy into studying dance. I learned a lot about the art and about myself in the process. I never forsee letting go of dance, however, and there are a lot of was that I can use my training in the future.

In my view, you have nothing to lose in giving it a shot, as long as you look at it realistically and rationally. Good luck!

I don't know whether you could ever dance professionally or not, being relatively young and inexperienced in the dance world, but I would like to add that even if you can't actually dance in a company, there are certainly other careers in dance out there, and I agree that whether you plan on dancing professionally or not, dance is an experience definitely worth having.

The amount of time it takes to get onto pointe depends on so many things - your natural turnout and potential for developing it, your technique and particulalry ability to maintain your turnout as you dance, your natural body type, your weight and how many classes a week you are able to commit to. Your teacher may be able to give you a closer answer, but probably they will say to wait and see how you progress. It isn't going to be less than a year in any circumstances, and 3-4 years is more common as you need a huge amount of strength to work on pointe and going "up" too early is only going to cause injuries which could cut out any chance of dancing even for pleasure.

There are very few ballet schools that are prepared to put adults en pointe for the first time, so find out if there is a school near you that will support this. Maybe they won't think of you as an adult if you are only just coming up 18, but it is worth checking in advance. If you are at all overweight then you won't be permitted to go en pointe until you lose the weight because of the extra strain it causes being on your toes.

Perhaps a good way forward to help you make intensive progress is to audition for professional companies' summer programmes whilst you still have age on your side (many programmes cut off at 16 and others expect 5 or more years of training for their older girls) and if they see potential they could give you a real push on. You don't say how many ballet classes you are having at the moment, but I don't know any schools that allow pointe classes for girls who take fewer than 3 classes a week and because of your advancing age (in ballet terms of course!) they may require even more commitment. This of course has a knock-on financial commitment of both classes and shoes. Pointe shoes are expensive and have a very short life and unless you are able to get into a company school that covers your shoes for you then you will need to be able to pay for constant replacements.

Anything is possible, there is always a miracle person who defies all the odds and does the seemingly impossible, but it does mean you need to be prepared to fight harder against the obstacles and be prepared to organise the rest of your life around ballet. The odds certainly aren't in your favour but I would never say never.

Brook,
I think it's great that you found something you love. First of all to dance on pointe really doesn't have much to do with age or years of dance. It has to do with if you have enough strenghth, the proper technique, and turnout. 2nd there are many dance companys out there the one for you may not be ABT of New York City Ballet, but don't let that discourage you from following your dream.

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