What are the side effects of becoming a ballet dancer?

oldegolde2004: What are the side effects of becoming a ballet dancer?
Hello,

I want to become a ballet dancer, but my mom says that a lot of ballet dancers have health problems during their old age. Is that true? She says that the nerves on the big toes get damaged. I tried to Google it to see if anything was true, but I can’t seem to find anything. Also, is it too late to start ballet lessons when you are in your late teens? What are some of the good ballet dancers/ballet companies out there? Is it expensive to become a ballet dancer? How many years does it take to master this art?
Thanks
Do ballet dance teachers make a lot of money?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Sonja
Stronger muscles. If you mean using toe shoes, it will really mess up your feet; remember your toes are jammed against a block of wood.

Answer by SheaA
well…ballet dancing really helps train your ore muscles. You get sore a lot when you first start ballet, but after that its better. you work almost every muscle in your body. The resluts are stronger and tighter muscles and often better posture. And no, it is not to late. You won’t beable to dance with a comapny, but you can become a ballet dancer. Find a studio that offers adult classes and begin from there. To master ballet can take many, many years. It takes about 3 or 4 years to get on pointe and then after thtat, mastering point. Good luck with everything. ballet is really good for you! And oh yes, dance classes can be a little on the expensive side, but there are so worth it in the end!

Answer by vinyl_mad
i danced for 10 years!! I started when I was 4!! Do study the art and it is an art you must sacrifice life as you know it now. You will, if you want to achieve anything need to submerge yourself completely. You will dance (point classes, bar, rehearsals, character, and many many more) at least 4 or 5 nights/days a week.

You need to watch what you eat, making sure that you keep your diet healthy so that you can remain strong. You wont be going out to bars or clubs, you wont be drinking, you will be dancing end of story,

When I was dancing my whole world revolved around my ballet company. My friends were dancers, my social life was around company and the only people I knew outside where the kids at school, but I never hung out with them because I was at class.

As for the side effects let me tell you that your mother is right. My feet and knees are damaged, my knees are “clicky” and my feet are deformed and ugly!! No open toed shoes for me!! My lower back is a little bit arthritic, but the pay off is that even though I haven’t danced in over 15 years (you can work out my age!) I still have great muscle tone and flexibility and fantastic posture.

Ballet teachers in my country are paid poorly unless they are directors of a company.

If you are will to make the sacrifice I say give it a try, but if you have had no previous training you will need to work incredibly hard to catch up to other girls your age, but if you have natural talent and dedication it can be done

I hope this helps

Good Luck

Answer by Yarr Yarrington
The health problem: Professional dancers do tend to have more problems with their legs, feet and ankles as they get older. Part of this is that toe work really does mess up your feet if you aren’t very careful and part of that is professionals are more likely to get injured and then to keep dancing on injuries. There’s definitely a dance through the pain mentality, and that really catches up to you, usually in the form of arthritis. Pointe can mess up your feet, but I don’t know anyone who’s had nerve damage. The average person who takes ballet isn’t likely to have these problems, because you aren’t going to be abusing your body to that degree. You are probably more likely to get some form of foot or ankle injury because of ballet than some random person off the street is.

Age: If you start in your late teens, you will only make it to the big time if you are exceptional (and I mean you have the inate potential to be one of the best dancers in the world and are willing to dedicate yourself 100% to spending several years doing nothing but living and breathing ballet). You might manage to make it to the corps in a smaller company, but even that’s unlikely. You’d have much better luck doing something on your own, like teaching, choreographing or managing a small company, or doing local level performances.

Companies: my favorites right now are ABT, NYC Ballet, the Hamburg Ballet, the Eifmann and the Kirov. The Bolshoi and the Joffrey are also big names out there.

Expense: it can be hugely expensive. When I was getting ready for auditions, I was paying upwards of $ 400/month just for classes. I was also taking classes 10-12 hours a week, plus going to school and spending 20 hours a week practicing. That’s time where I could have been making money working. A pair of toes shoes runs around $ 100 where I live (some pairs are way more, others way less and this might vary where you live) and my shoes tend to only last a month or two. Yours will probably last longer (I’m horrible to my toe shoes), but the average seems to be 4-6 months (across all levels). Leotards, tights, random dance accessories all add up. You can get discounts, deals and scholarships, but like all things that people follow because of passion, it’s not very cheap.

Mastery: anyone who claims to be a master ballet dancer is lying or deluded. I’ve talked with some people that I consider to be the greatest dancers in the world and they are constantly trying to improve. I don’t think that’s what you’re asking, so I’ll put it this way. Most serious ballet dancers start when they’re four or five and they are still learning to control their bodies and physical habits. When they are learning to move, they learn the ballet way. They spend hours every week training. Most of them focus on nothing but ballet for ten to fifteen years. Then, when they hit the 15-20 age range, they start auditioning for spots in companies and most of them find out that they are not good enough. Those who do get spots generally end up in the corps (the background dancers) and will never get to be soloists. At all levels there’s a pretty good risk of injury, and I speak from experience when I say it only takes one slightly off motion to end your career. If you’re lucky, it’ll happen when you’re in your 30’s; if you’re not, it could happen the day after you find out you’ve got a spot. If you’re starting in your late teens (or even the grand old age of 10), the chances of you becoming great are pretty much nil.

Money in teaching: you’re not going to get rich off of it. You do it because you love it, not because there’s a lot of money there, if you get my drift.

I’ve made this sound really bad, but this side of ballet isn’t very pretty. If you’re passionate about this, though, you’ll find a way to make it work for you, even if it means never being a principal dancer in a famous company. If you love ballet, then dance for that reason alone. Good luck!

Edit: I meant I went through shoes every week or two (and sometimes a pair a day), not every month. The 4-6 months is the average between people like me and people who make theirs last).