GlamorousGriz
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To Pointe or Not To Pointe - That is the Question...Actually, no, I just needed a good title.
Okay. We all know Christine is a member of the corps be ballet and it is from there that she is plucked out... she dances a bit iin Hannibal and that's all the ballet the does in the show... so does Christine need to be able to be a pointe dancer, or can she "fake" it? It takes years for someone to effectively learn pointe safely; on the other hand, it's not that much ballet. What's you view?
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NoOneMournsTheWicked
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Well, when I saw it Saturday, Christine wasn't on pointe. But it was her understudy, I don't know if regular Christine is. But I've heard of Christines that didn't do pointe.
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MrsJemimaMistoffelees
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Julie Hanson did en pointe, but not when she first joined the company. She learned while in the show as the alternate.
Most Christine's, from what I've read, don't.
Veel Liefs,
Jemima 
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RainyCrystal
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It depends on the actress. Unless they've had previous ballet experiences and the amount of training required, pointe work would be very dangerous.
~Sissi
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operafantomet
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Yes, it really depend on the actress.
When POTO opened in West End, I know for sure that both Sarah Brightman and Maria Kesselman (understudy) danced en pointe, and they also danced the whole routine in ""Hannibal". So Christine was very hard to single out. I'm not sure about Claire Moore (the alternate).
But I guess it's hard to find sopranos with wide range, strong acting abilities, with a certain look AND pointe experience. So most Christines do in fact wear normal ballet slippers and "fakes" it, and basically none do the whole dance routine anymore.
The ones I know have been dancing en pointe lately, are these: Rachel Barrell, Julie Hanson, Rebecca Pitcher and all Aussie Christines (from what several fans have told me) and most (or all?) Japanese Christines. And probably more. 
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JulieJordan
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| operafantomet wrote: | | The ones I know have been dancing en pointe lately, are these: Rachel Barrell, Julie Hanson, Rebecca Pitcher and all Aussie Christines (from what several fans have told me) and most (or all?) Japanese Christines. And probably more. |
You can add Jane Mark to that list. She dances beautifully  Apparently Celia Graham dances en pointe too, so for a while London had three pointe Christines.
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GlamorousGriz
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I don't remember seeing Celia on pointe the night I saw it... maybe she just didn't do it that night.
Well, if Christine doesn't have to dance en pointe, then there's hope for me still!
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Megan the Phantom Girlie
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I've heard that there are these fake pointe shoes worn by Christine in the Hannibal scene as well as Meg during Prima Donna. They look like pointes but aren't.
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NoOneMournsTheWicked
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I hope Christine doesn't have to do pointe. I can do most of the Hannibal ballet (what I remember of it, at least) already, off-pointe, and I have no dance training at all. Hopefully I'll get some by the time I'm the age to play Christine.
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happyguava
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Oooh, hoorah, I'm starting pointe next year!!
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Josefine
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On the question if Christine needs to be a good en pointe dancer: Nope I don't think so. Her ballet skills are really the least important of all the things you need to be able to do to play Christine well. I want a good singer and a good actress. If she can dance too, wonderful, but not important.
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SimplyElymas
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I feel it is necessary to mention that the chorus and the corps de ballet are seperate. ALW is responsible for the confusion thereof. So yes.
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