Why are top female dancers often older than skaters?

[Landing~Lutzes]

While in rehearsal yesterday, I rehearsed a variation from Giselle that had a section of all "double jumps." This is what I was trying to explain in my previous post while trying to explain what a double jump would be in ballet. Starting at 0:11 is the double jumps sequence- a double refers to adding an extra beat of the feet in the jump, if that makes sense. I asked monsieur if females ever do jumps en l'air that involve multiple rotations in the air and he said that rarely occurs, and when it does, it is in contemporary pieces, not classical pieces.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qJpsd6GdEoQ&feature=plcp

[Query]

Just beautiful!

But your poor feet! As if skating wasn't enough.

P.S.
Have you folks seen the BBC reality TV show Breaking Pointe, about dancers in Ballet West (Salt Lake City)?

[sarahspins]

I wasn't aware that was a BBC show, it airs here on CW, which is owned by CBS... it is interesting, but I feel like the show's producers have created a lot of the "on air" drama - particularly the relationships between the dancers.

[Query]

I think BBC produces a lot of the best shows on American (USA) TV.

You are probably right about it being largely scripted. No way would they say most of those things about themselves or about their professional colleagues on TV if they were real. Presumably true of most reality TV.

Maybe it's a bit of a gray area - you aren't supposed to show fake TV game shows. This is sort of a game show - the central idea is that the head of the company wants to improve Ballet West's reputation, so that people who were good enough last year may not be this year, and people keep being kicked out of the company. At least the audience doesn't vote for who stays and who goes. (Then again, So You Think You Can Dance is popular and fun to watch, so maybe that isn't all bad.)

Maybe it's a clever way to augment Ballet West's funding.

It's hard for me to know whether they portray more injuries (e.g., to feet) on the show than is typical of professional ballet dancers. But Ballet West is a real company, according to Britannica, and as far as I can tell the names of the dancers are right. I don't know whether the actors are the real dancers.

[sarahspins]

When I say scripted I don't literally mean that it's written out and the dancers are handed parts to read, I mean that they cast is repeatedly put into scenarios where certain drama is expected to play out, and then there is some creative editing involved so that the producers get what they want out of it - they aren't simply letting everyday events play out on their own and just following them with cameras, there's a bit more added to it. 

Last season some of that was obvious by the interactions between Allison and Rex, this season it's Beckanne and Chase with their relationship and their resulting issues with Zach... there probably really isn't as much real life drama there, but the producers built it into something bigger for the sake of ratings.

That said I like the show, I just wish some parts of it didn't seem so fake or that they were subject to creative editing.