BALLET KEEPS DANCERS ON THEIR TOES

Roni Hayden, foreground, and Erin Prince practice pointe ballet at the barre.

While many of their peers play softball, watch television and hang-out with friends, four Jackson girls spend much of their time learning an advanced form of dance.

More specifically, the girls are students of pointe ballet, the genre's most advanced level. Most of the girls have been involved in the strenuous but highly-graceful form since they were kindergarten age -- one dancer has been in ballet slippers since the age of 2.

While the four are students at different dance schools, they have in common a type of dance which not only allows them to make an artistic expression, but to become an integral part of their art.

The girls, Ronni Hayden, Jamie Seabaugh, Erin Prince, and Bridgette Birk have made a real commitment to their pursuit, practicing from six to eight hours each week in order to attain the body strength and grace needed to become good "pointe" ballet dancers.

Pointe, or sur les pointes (French for "on the toes"), is the dance level to which dancers progress after practicing for several years in the very basic rudiments of ballet.

Birk, now 12-years-old, began taking tap and jazz dance classes when she was only 3 and started ballet at age 6. The daughter of Sam and Brenda Birk of Jackson, Bridgitte has been practicing pointe for two years. Surprisingly, she feels the difficulty of the dance is what makes it so fun.

"It's challenging," she says. "You work yourself and you want to get better so part of the fun is accomplishing the steps."

Pointe is the dance style people most often associate with ballet. In this form, dancers execute graceful but difficult dance maneuvers while, for much of the time, performing with all of their weight on the tips of the toes of one foot.

An obviously laid-back Erin Prince says she enjoys pointe because it is a slow and graceful dance.

"It's more calm than tap or jazz," she laughed. "You're not jumping around all the time."

Most dancers who achieve this level, including the four Jackson girls, have been studying the form intensely for some time. They advance from basic ballet to pointe at the discretion of their instructor, who makes a determination based on the dancer's skill and physical development.

"The girls have to take at least four hours of ballet technique courses per week until their teacher feels that their shoulders, upper body, abdomen, ankles and other parts are strong enough," said JoAnn Ruess, owner of the Academy of Dance Arts, where Birk and Seabaugh study.

Once the dancers have been deemed strong enough to begin taking pointe instruction, they have to continue caring for their bodies to ensure that they remain healthy. Basic injuries like a broken leg or pulled tendons can have a lasting affect on the ability of a dancer. As a result, dancers must avoid many of the sports popular among children their own age.

"Once they start in pointe, they have really conditioned their bodies," said Gayemarie Tomlinson, owner of Royal Ballet in Cape Girardeau, where Hayden and Prince study. "I tell them that once they start in ballet and are serious and are taking six to eight hours of ballet, that they should avoid track, basketball, soccer and other sports like that.

"Those sports are played on hard surfaces which don't have the resiliency of the floor that we have here in the studio," she said, explaining that because the dancers' legs become accustomed to the studio floor, which will flex somewhat with the dancers' weight, playing sports on a hard surface can be damaging to their legs.

Completing the maneuvers on tip-toes requires that the dancers wear special slippers with a hardened toe. The students' pad their feet with cotton or cloth to make the shoes more comfortable during intricate maneuvers. Made primarily in France, pointe slippers can range from $30 to $50 a pair. A student who practices regularly can wear out a pair of the shoes in as little as two weeks.

Despite the sacrifices and the long hours of practice, the challenge and the fun keep the girls coming back and ready for more.

Seabaugh was introduced to dance by a cousin at the age of six. Now 14, she has been in pointe for about three years.

"It makes me feel good about myself," said Seabaugh. "It gives you good exercise and it's fun."

The 10-year-old Hayden also loves to dance but is equally excited about learning the French names of the various maneuvers -- the adagios, allegros, attitude devants and arabesque allongees.

"It's fun to learn the different language and the names for it and how to spell it," she said.