I Hope This Does Not Sound Purely Philosophical About Ballet Training

I recently heard from a mom who was concerned about her 12 year old daughter's dance training.

It seems like her daughter was ahead of her age group in a former ballet school. For some reason, her daughter had to change ballet schools.

Now her daughter is in a school that puts students in age appropriate classes, which is a surprise for this young dancer. Or nasty shock. She was expecting to start dancing in pointe shoes.

I had to encourage this loving mom to flip to the positive here; her daughter is 12, and she has plenty of time to progress in her new school. The time during which she feels "held back" is a time during which she can perfect her ballet technique, and then be even more prepared than she would have been, to dance in pointe shoes.

This is not an uncommon scenario. Perhaps if her daughter can somehow see that she actually has an advantage here, and is not being cheated in some way, then she can just continue to enjoy her dancing and excel in it.

Sometimes the "grade" or the "level" has to be relegated to the background, and the urge to dance and the love of it has to come forward. I hope this doesn't sound abstract or purely philosophical - but her daughter - or maybe YOUR daughter has TIME on her side. If she were 17, then my thoughts on this would be different.