What is pre-pointe and why is it necessary?
Pre-pointe is fairly new to the ballet world. It is an extra step taken to better prepare dancers for their journey on to pointe.
At Hearts in Motion, we believe in the importance of safety above all before putting our dancers en pointe. Therefore, we have added pre pointe to our class schedule as a step to ensure a safe and fun journey to working en pointe.
Our pre-pointe classes are designed to target and strengthen specific parts of the body that are used throughout ponte work. These steps are necessary to ensure our dancers are ready, safe, strong and bust bad habits before they happen.
We start pre-pointe at the age of 10.5/11 and continue until the dancers are ready to be evaluated by a medical professional. At HMD, the earliest we allow dancers to commence pointe work is at the age of 12. We will not put a dancer en pointe before the age of 12 due to the health and safety of our dancers and their growing bodies.
Throughout pre-pointe we work the core, turnout, body alignment, ankle strength, leg strength and strength in the tiny muscles of the feet and more through a series of specially designed exercises put together by our ballet director and their teacher. Each month throughout the season your dancers will learn more challenging exercises to help them move forward and grow stronger.
Our ballet director or studio director will check in periodically to see how your dancers are growing and from there the decision is made as to who is ready for pointe work.
The end goal does not always have to be pointe work. Pre pointe is open to anyone looking to grow stronger as a dancer we encourage any and all to take a pre pointe class if they’re looking for more growth and strength!