My daughter is 11 and her ballet teacher told her that her feet are now suitable for pointework. She loves ballet but as she has other ambitions of her own, she haven't really thought of continue professional ballet dancing as a career.

Should she try pointe if she isn't likely to have a ballet career? Some people told me that pointe is the worst part in ballet, in terms of pain and injury, even though it looks beautiful and is the prime part of ballet. This is true from what I've seen on the websites. They said that if a dancer isn't going for a dance career, pointe might never be necessary.

So should she go for it? All I've seen and heard are negatives for pointe. Sounds like every time they dance on tiptoes, they are in pain.

Please advise