All my advanced girls have pointe shoes now and are learning VERY quickly. They have been given HARD dances (by me of course because I KNEW/KNOW they can do it!) and they do it. Sometimes there is a bit of grumbling.. but they do it.
They are also VERY sassy. I mean... oh my goodness. My male-friend-whom-I-am-very-fond-of got to meet one on Saturday. He flat out said, "She emirates sass." And she does.
Even though I have two classes, I tend to call the older girls "my girls" and my younger class, "my dears." I am not sure why but it is just what happened.
Anyways, my girls now get their leg AT LEAST to 90. They are learning to let go and just dance with everything in them. (While keeping technique). They also know that they can dance fast. Really fast. When we do a slow dance, they are gonna find THAT challenging. I love all my girls and all my dears. (Even the wild little ones who need to give me some of their energy!). This is definitely my dream job. So glad God blessed me with this and that I didn't make it as a cheerleader.
(Update: When I say get their leg to 90. I mean make a 90 degree angle between their two legs. So their leg should be about waist level.)