The Perfect Pointe Book – By Lisa Howell

“The Perfect Pointe Book” is a fantastic resource for dancers of all ages. It is designed to guide you through all of the stages required for pointe work, to make sure you have a safe and fun progression onto pointe!

This invaluable resource was written by a Physiotherapist (Physical Therapist) with over 10 years of experience in treating dancers and preparing them for pointe work.

It is designed to combine classical technique training with physiotherapy techniques to fine tune and accelerate your preparation for pointe work!, this book is worth its weight in gold!

The book teaches you four special exercise programs targeted for technical accuracy and strength.

• the flexibility of your feet and ankles

• the strength of your little foot muscles 

• your ballet turnout 

• your core control

Lisa Howell the author says:

"After over 10 years of working intensively with dancers as a therapist and constantly seeing the same weaknesses resulting in the same problems en pointe, I simply had to find a way to teach students how to get it right from the beginning. The problem is, if you start off with bad technique, it is VERY hard to UNLEARN this later on."

And:

"I wanted to make learning about the body as fun, and as easy, as possible. All of the exercises have lots of photos so that you can see exactly how to do them..."

The198 page book shows you how to "test yourself at the start of each of the 4 stages, and then learn a program of special exercises that really focus on waking up all of the important muscles. After doing all the exercises for two weeks, you can retest yourself, and if you can do them all perfectly, you can move onto the next stage."


This years old book continues to be a highly valued ballet dancer's guide for adult ballet class, getting the right ballet pointe shoes, and for teachers too.

https://amzn.to/36YTBNr

Back To Ballet With An Adult Ballet Class

Who wants to get back to ballet class?

Depending on how many years it has been since you have done ballet, or any kind of dance related exercise, I always say go for it.

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You may have to call several local studios to find an adult ballet class that is right for you.

You may worry about the dance wear dress codes and if you will want to comply.

If you are overweight, or have lost your flexibility, you probably feel very self conscious.

In an adult ballet class - you're not alone!

Most dance academies that offer adult ballet class level work will offer a one-class-pay for a new dancer, and after that you will be asked to pay by the month.

There are usually other types of class packaging that are further discounted, depending on the amount of classes purchased.

Will You Get Injured In An Adult Ballet Class?

There is always a possibility of injury, with ballet and most sports too, if you are out of shape. But bear in mind that every single ballet barre exercise is designed to train your muscles so that you prevent dance injuries.

The basic ballet posture, for example, is a natural posture. It may not feel or look that way, since most people slouch and are slowly injuring themselves just by that bad habit.

Standing up straight is not an exaggerated military posture, but maintains the natural spinal curves, placement of the shoulders under the ears, and is completed with a relaxed and curved neck.

Ballet turnout is the main technique that prevents knee injuries. The feet should not be forced out more than the knees can match the rotation.

You may never get into the performance standard fifth position - toes to heels - and yet over time you can still gain elegance and control from attending adult ballet classes.

You will achieve your artistic fulfillment with careful, patient hard work. You will feel the exhilaration of the air borne leaps and spinning pirouettes all the more, having the confidence that you can land from jumps safely.

You will reach your ballet position after turning, well grounded, without the room spinning on without you.

Control And Perfectionism

Ballet classes truly give an ongoing sense of control and mastery, through repetition, and slow increase of strength. Yet, the affliction of perfectionism is a dead end for any dancer, especially a self critical individual who perhaps feels disadvantaged in an adult ballet class.

If there is any quest in your mind/heart for a perfect kind of control and a harsh way to discipline yourself, you will be the dancer to most likely injure her/himself in class.

I caution about this because, a drive to be perfect usually entails over-working, not resting enough in between classes, and maybe not eating enough to achieve any muscle building.

I don't mean muscle shape or bulk, but just strength, and a normal recovery.

Dancing ballet, you can always get better, so there is no perfect.

The real control comes with practice, developing better foot control (use The Perfect Pointe Book for extra practise), and knowing how to do ballet stretches and relaxation techniques correctly.

I hope you DO get back to ballet, and find an adult ballet class that you love.

Excerpt from "Train Your Brain: A Teen's Guide to Well Being"

Today Deborah Vogel wrote:

"Another Dancing Smart newsletter has been posted.

This one is on improving focus and I have included
an excerpt from Train Your Brain: A Teen's Guide
to Well Being."

Go to Deborah's site The Body Series and click on the blog button in the top menu.

You can learn ways to train yourself to focus away from negative emotions, tension and anxiety. Positive emotions will enhance all your work in ballet and dance training. Positive emotions strengthen your immune system.

Learn how to enjoy - relish! - ballet class, school, and all the inherent challenges life brings. When you know how, you can change your life direction. You do not have to wait until you are "grown up".

Avoid Being Too Stiff For Ballet With Simple Resistance Stretching

A while ago when I wrote an article about office space workouts I was astounded at the high number of times it was read. I was aware that many recreational adult ballet dancers sit on a chair all day, or do some other repetitive or physically confining work. If you cannot sit on a physio ball, as I've suggested before, there are ways of getting more flexible with daily resistance stretching, sitting at your desk.

With recent discoveries about how to get more flexible by understanding the connective tissue in the body, called fascia, the most simple of exercises can be appreciated in a new way.

Understanding resistance stretching and doing just a little every day will improve adult ballet, and any sports or fitness activities.

Many working people like us experience neck pain and stiffness every day. Sitting in front of a computer screen, perhaps in a detrimental ergonomic design, (working with supports for back, elbow and wrists at the wrong angles) will build tension in the neck.

Lacking a good office chair, low back pain and stiffness can progress from periodic to chronic.

Having your feet too far from the floor affects your posture also, adding to neck and low back strain.

This is all worse, and creates anxiety if you are feeling this tension increase all day, while planning to go to your adult ballet class in the evening after work, or some other sports/fitness activity.

Stretching with resistance is the ultimate yet simple way of staying more flexible. For example: you intend to stretch the right side neck muscles. You reach over your head with your left hand, and pull your head to the left. Resistance is pushing back into your hand with your head. If you have never stretched like this, it sounds strange.

However, it feels wonderful!

If you had five minutes in the morning and another five in the afternoon, you could do daily stretches at work and gain on getting more flexible. Then, when you got into ballet class, you'd feel a lot different!

Failing to do any kind of stretches daily regardless of your other activities is not good for you. However, learning a simple yet effective routine will start to reverse your decrease in flexibility.

Is it too late for you to get more flexible?

I don't know, and maybe you feel that increasing your flexibility would be difficult. If you learn properly and work gently, you will make progress.

I have found this Essentrics DVD for good stretching exercises to be an easy to learn at home program.

Ballet and Sports Jumping Injuries Can Be Prevented With Ballet Turnout

Most sports or ballet jumping injuries result in ankle sprains or knee injuries. Ballet well taught, will prevent injuries through the proper use of turnout and placement to support posture and changes of direction. In sports, athletes are coached to keep their knees lined up under their hip joints, but in the guidelines I found, there is no mention of how the feet are aligned, or placed on the floor or ground.

The ankle joint is a hinge joint, and is actually three joints. Your two 'shin bones', the tibia and fibula join to the the talus, the foot bone, and also to the heel bone.

This allows for flexing and stretching your foot, for keeping the foot flat on the floor while the leg angles, and also for ankle rotations.

In ballet, and many sports, the strength of the intrinsic foot muscles - the muscles exclusively in your feet, is the buffer against strains in the calf muscles. The calf and leg muscles have to work harder to control the ankle if the foot muscles are underdeveloped. However, the calf and leg muscles cannot control the ankle and foot movements as well as strong foot muscles can.

Foot control is best, locally, in the feet. Athletes have the challenge of uneven ground to deal with as well.

To dancers working in pointe shoes, the sole of the shoe presents uneven ground. Some professional dancers file down the edges of the leather sole so that it is more flush to the floor. But unlike a new pointe student, they have the strength in their intrinsic foot muscles to make up for the pointe ballet beginners' need for better balance. In other words, I do not recommend shaving the sole of the toe shoes for pointe beginners - it is better to work on achieving new strength and balance in standing in pointe shoes.

Occasionally, also, the talus bone is damaged from a jumping injury. The ankle may be sprained, and the talus bone can suffer a compression fracture, easily, on the corner areas. This can go undetected.

Dancers have ballet turnout to control stresses on knee and ankle joints. They also have the foot muscles to buffer landings. Athletes have training routines also. But all of us must rely on our ability to concentrate, and build strength for muscle control to avoid jumping injuries.

Get your copy of the best dancers guide on how to prevent ballet jumping injuries.

Higher SAT Scores From Ballet Class and Pointe Shoes?

In a southern California newspaper, a report by Chris Moran says " The College Board annually releases a report showing that the more arts and music courses students take, the higher their SAT scores are. Sweetwater Union High School District's survey of its own students five years ago found that students enrolled in visual and performing arts classes had higher grade-point averages than those who were not. The correlation is an admittedly chicken-and-egg argument over whether the arts make students smarter or smarter students pursue the arts. "

A recent article in New Science Daily presents the following:

"Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?"

#8 in a series of points made is:

"Learning to dance by effective observation is closely related to learning by physical practice, both in the level of achievement and also the neural substrates that support the organization of complex actions. Effective observational learning may transfer to other cognitive skills."

MARY BELLE MCCORKLE and SHIRLEY KISER wrote in the Tucson Citizen, "How the arts make kids smarter.
Students' scores improve in the three R's when they're exposed to music, dance and the theater".

Betty Oliphant, former Principal of The National Ballet School of Canada insisted on high academic standards, because she grew up in London in the earlier 2oth Century where dancers were considered dumb. Personally I don't think you can learn the classics if you are dumb.

What is dumb anyway? Shyness, less-confident, dyslexic, under-nourished? Maybe not interested in the usual social issues and dramas?

If it were not for the internet I would not know that scientists find this subject interesting. Artists know that they are not less smart than scientists. They also know that the money needed to run all these multi-university studies could run a small ballet company for a season or two.

Scientists and artists alike need patrons - and competition is fierce. Patrons need artists and scientists, and vice versa - so it's a chicken or the egg situation - and it makes an interesting holisitc picture for us all to function in.

But if your parents worry that your grades will drop if you spend too much time in pointe shoes or the ballet class - just mention the higher SAT scores!