Ballet Shoes - There's More To It That You Might Think

I was in London recently visiting my partner's brother and family; they have three children and two dogs

. One of the children is a four year old little girl who is mad about ballet and we went to watch her little class on a Wednesday afternoon. All of the mums escorted their little ones into the class and the teacher had everyone sit around in the circle and tell them a little about their days, all very cute.

So, once the mums had moved to the side of the room it was time for the ballet to start, they all walked around in a circle one way and then the next, then sat once again and chose a sash from the basket, as you can imagine this was greeted with great excitement and many of the girls and boys could hardly contain their excitement at having their own little sash to waft around. The class continued again with a lot of giggling and running and spinning around, hardly classical ballet as yet, but great fun nonetheless. I noticed that all the children had their own little ballet shoes on. I was interested in the importance of this and wondered if they hadn't had ballet shoes on would they have been allowed to participate?

It seems that it is very important for a young person's foot to be cared for and allowed to grow properly. Due to this, ballet shoes are lightweight and designed specifically for ballet dancing. Often made from soft leather, canvas or satin, they are very flexible and allow for a full range of movement of the child's foot in the ballet shoe itself. On the whole, most ballet shoes come in pink or white, but you can also get black and grey too. Traditionally, the women will wear the pink ballet shoes and the men the white ballet shoes. The idea is that they give the appearance of dancing barefoot.

In those younger than twelve years old it is best to wear ballet shoes to allow the muscles to grow and adjust as well as for the bones to ossify and strengthen. The next step on from the ballet shoe is the pointe shoe; this is as it sounds - designed to allow the dancer to perform pointe moves on their tip toes. It should be noted, however, that dancers are required to have at least three years experience before they are allowed to move up to pointe work, and for some this can be years longer. Going en pointe is something that is not undertaken until a dancer is completely ready.

So, back to London and the class rumbles on, a few tantrums and squabbles happen but nothing too serious and by the end of the class everyone has smiles on their face again and the kids are giggling with each other and eager to mess around after class. The teacher draws it to a close with a little twirling exercise and all the youngsters seem delighted. Then it's all over until next week when the fun and learning starts again.

by: Cedric Grosjean

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