Ex-Dancer

Courtesy of- Haley Pham

Considering the Youtuber young Woman has been out of dance for a bit it sounds like she did pretty well and Pointe at that. Pointe is one of the most difficult physical art forms if not the most strenuous, that is why ballet dancers are thought of and really are the strongest dancers if not athletes. Pointe is NOT an easy art form at all. Pointe dancers ankles have sensations as though the ankle is indeed ablaze especially if been out or beginning. If you don’t do quality training consistently you will lose the ability, mobility, and strength. A great deal of dancers since COVID have been encountering that challenge. Professionals and Instructors will grant tips that if you were a professional or pre-professional dancer and have totally been a couch potato for however long it could take a good 6 months to a year of daily training to return to your former self given age issues haven’t kicked in. When I went back this summer full time because of an injury and being out partially due to COVID I had to begin at the Intermediate in a Professional Company training level setting. And I was trained Pre-Professionally and Professionally which the positive of that is it doesn’t take those who have been long to recover and regain the level of athleticism needed to perform. That’s not uncommon. In fact most former dancers etc have to begin at Intermediate or even Beginner to retrain the muscles properly so as not to tear a muscle, limb, or break a bone. Like any activity you have to pace yourself and build from that. If dancers have continued training/conditioning minutely or moderately even it can take 6 weeks to a couple of months to regain strength upon adequate training 3 to 4 times a week but the longer a dancer is out the longer the recovery time can be. Age can be a factor of course, diet, etc as there aren’t a whole lot of dancers that are entirely the same as they were at 16, 18, or even 21. Good on this young Woman for being confident enough to put herself out there AND never having done Pointe work. The art form of dance is a grind, it’s expensive to train, shoes, etc and on top of that dancers don’t make a great deal of money not so unlike most artists.