Most ballet exercises cover a lot of muscle groups, while exercises to prepare for pointe work, or foot work in general focus on the feet/ankles.
Here is a simple exercise you can use as a warm up before class that will activate your posture, leg muscles, and foot muscles. It will get your joints more flexible in a gentle way as you increase your circulation and alert your brain/body that class is about to start!
As an adult ballet student you may have been sitting at a desk all day, or confined more or less, in an office venue. Coming into an adult ballet class, usually at the end of the day, your body is ready to wind down, yet - here you are.
Prances is a wonderful warm up movement. Facing a mirror, you can set up your posture, checking that your legs are truly parallel, with knees over the toes, not turning in toward each other at all.
You can also check that your hips and shoulders are level. If not, be aware of tense areas in the body as you warm up. (And check at the end of class to see if you look more level).
So if you haven't learned prances, start by pressing up onto demi/three quarter pointe and then come down on one leg through a flat point, and then lower into demi plie. The other leg bends, and you can press over a little on that (now) working leg, to get a little more flexible in the ankle and toe joints.
Slowly transfer the weight onto both feet as you press up onto demi pointe. Check that your neck and shoulders are not working, and that your core muscles, or lowest abs, are controlling the neutral pelvic posture (pelvis tilted neither forward a little, or back).
Do 12-16 slow controlled prances, then take a little break. Now turn sideways to the mirror, repeat all, checking that your demi plie is going up and down a plumb line, not allowing your weight to press back at all at the depth of the plie.
This is a great yet simple warm up. You can add to it by doing a port de bras - bring the arms up from low fifth through fifth in front to high fifth and down through second position. This will warm up the back and shoulders. Breathe deeply and easily.
This little preparation to class addresses the basic foot movements for ballet - and every use of the foot is an exercise to prepare for pointe work, every single one.
Flexing and extending the ankle and arch properly, while controlling your posture, and getting a little flexibility through the toe joints (especially the big toe), is no small feat.
When you do eventually get into pointe shoes, you can do the same exercise as a preparation/warm up, holding onto the barre, and going up onto pointe and coming down through the foot, changing the weight, and pressing over your pointe a little if you need more flexibility.
If you have hyper-mobile ankle joints, you can practice holding it back a little, staying on your pointe shoe platform instead of pressing over.
I hope this will help you enjoy your adult ballet class even more!
If you want to go the extra mile, get this book to prepare for pointe shoes.
Showing posts with label ballet exercises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ballet exercises. Show all posts
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Pointe Shoes - Exercises to Prepare
Prepare For Pointe!
Every young ballet dancer wants to dance in pointe shoes.
And every ballet exercise, done properly, will prepare you to dance ballet in pointe shoes. Yet, there are special exercises you can add to your home practice that will prepare your foot muscles to do pointe work.
There is a special gentle way (or two) that you can get more flexible in the ankle joint, if you need that.
First, a simple exercise that you can do - toe swapping.
With feet flat on the floor, lift your big toe up and don't allow the other toes to follow, or even work at all.
Sometimes in the beginning, your toes all want to work at once, and it feels very strange to separate the big toe from the others. Hold the big toe up for 10-20 counts.
Then, put the big toe down, and lift the other four toes of each foot. Hold them up for 10-20 counts. You will feel muscles working that maybe you have never been aware of before.
Secondly - playing the piano with the toes. Just like it sounds.
Lift the toes, then place them down, one by one, starting with the big toe. Lift them up one by one, starting with the little toe. This takes practice to do properly.
The wonderful thing with these exercises is that you can do them while studying, watching tv, or reading.
For more flexibility in the ankle joint, first it is important to relax the muscles at the front of the calf, all the way down to the ankle.
This can be done with a tennis ball, or a "pinkie" sports ball.
Kneel down and sit back on your feet. Work the ball down the tibial (front of lower leg) muscles, pressing into tender spots that are holding tension.
Once you are down to the ankle area, there are two ways you can stretch the top of the ankle/foot area gently.
You can place the tennis ball under the top of the foot, above your toe joints (or you will stretch the toe joints, not the arch area).
Gently press down on the ball, just enough to feel a good stretchy feeling from above the ankle joint into the top of the foot. No force is needed.
This gentle stretch is simply to elongate and release tension in the muscles, giving you a little more point. Progress is gradual. Do not ever push into the stretch where you feel pain.
The other way to get a gentle (did I say GENTLE yet?) stretch is (still sitting in the same position) to lift the knee off the floor and hold it up.
You'll feel the same elongating but not forceful stretch over the top of the ankle/foot area. You can hold these stretches for 15- 30 seconds and slowly release.
Here's a video with more tips for pointe work!
That's just a start. Get your own copy of The Perfect Pointe Book, for exercises to prepare for pointe shoes.
Every young ballet dancer wants to dance in pointe shoes.
And every ballet exercise, done properly, will prepare you to dance ballet in pointe shoes. Yet, there are special exercises you can add to your home practice that will prepare your foot muscles to do pointe work.
There is a special gentle way (or two) that you can get more flexible in the ankle joint, if you need that.
First, a simple exercise that you can do - toe swapping.
With feet flat on the floor, lift your big toe up and don't allow the other toes to follow, or even work at all.
Sometimes in the beginning, your toes all want to work at once, and it feels very strange to separate the big toe from the others. Hold the big toe up for 10-20 counts.
Then, put the big toe down, and lift the other four toes of each foot. Hold them up for 10-20 counts. You will feel muscles working that maybe you have never been aware of before.
Secondly - playing the piano with the toes. Just like it sounds.
Lift the toes, then place them down, one by one, starting with the big toe. Lift them up one by one, starting with the little toe. This takes practice to do properly.
The wonderful thing with these exercises is that you can do them while studying, watching tv, or reading.
For more flexibility in the ankle joint, first it is important to relax the muscles at the front of the calf, all the way down to the ankle.
This can be done with a tennis ball, or a "pinkie" sports ball.
Kneel down and sit back on your feet. Work the ball down the tibial (front of lower leg) muscles, pressing into tender spots that are holding tension.
Once you are down to the ankle area, there are two ways you can stretch the top of the ankle/foot area gently.
You can place the tennis ball under the top of the foot, above your toe joints (or you will stretch the toe joints, not the arch area).
Gently press down on the ball, just enough to feel a good stretchy feeling from above the ankle joint into the top of the foot. No force is needed.
This gentle stretch is simply to elongate and release tension in the muscles, giving you a little more point. Progress is gradual. Do not ever push into the stretch where you feel pain.
The other way to get a gentle (did I say GENTLE yet?) stretch is (still sitting in the same position) to lift the knee off the floor and hold it up.
You'll feel the same elongating but not forceful stretch over the top of the ankle/foot area. You can hold these stretches for 15- 30 seconds and slowly release.
Here's a video with more tips for pointe work!
That's just a start. Get your own copy of The Perfect Pointe Book, for exercises to prepare for pointe shoes.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
So Many Pointe Shoes, Only Two Feet
Being able to dance ballet in pointe shoes is the result of years of careful practice. Young dance students in their first ballet class have visions of tutus and pink satin pointe shoes as they struggle with their first battment tendus, or ballet foot exercises.
While every ballet exercise is a workout involving posture, balance and turnout, every single pointing of the foot contributes to that day when the students go to the ballet store to seek exactly the right fit in pointe shoes. And when you get to the ballet store, so many pointe shoes!
Years before you get to the dance wear store to find the right pointe shoes, have you missed any opportunities to prepare?
You can prepare the best with The Perfect Pointe Book.
Every ballet class is a pre-pointe class, if you want to look at it that way. Every battement tendu, battement degage, every releve, every jump, is a pre-pointe exercise.
It's all about your use of your feet.
In a dance class, and between dance classes. From the way you stand on them, to the way you point them, to the way you support your foot muscles with posture, turnout and balance, involving your whole body.
It's also about the nutritional support you give them. And the rest and relaxation, perhaps using a pinkie ball or a foot roller to get rid of the residual tension after classes.
It's about your between-class-shoes, maybe not wearing the cute floppy type sandals, but wearing something more supportive. Glue some bling on your sneakers!
Okay, back to the ballet store to fit pointe shoes. Here you are with your two feet. Do you know your foot type?
Have you stood on a piece of paper and outlined the right and the left foot? It helps. Even a professional pointe shoe fitter will appreciate that.
Hopefully, you will find a good fit, the right brand, right style, etc., in your first few pairs. But ultimately, it's the strength of the foot muscles and the accuracy of your technique that will get you dancing in pointe shoes, as opposed to struggling with the exercises.
Whenever that is, do not be in a hurry. It's what you do BEFORE you wear pointe shoes that matters.
To get into pointe shoes faster, get The Perfect Pointe Book.
While every ballet exercise is a workout involving posture, balance and turnout, every single pointing of the foot contributes to that day when the students go to the ballet store to seek exactly the right fit in pointe shoes. And when you get to the ballet store, so many pointe shoes!
Years before you get to the dance wear store to find the right pointe shoes, have you missed any opportunities to prepare?
You can prepare the best with The Perfect Pointe Book.
Every ballet class is a pre-pointe class, if you want to look at it that way. Every battement tendu, battement degage, every releve, every jump, is a pre-pointe exercise.
It's all about your use of your feet.
In a dance class, and between dance classes. From the way you stand on them, to the way you point them, to the way you support your foot muscles with posture, turnout and balance, involving your whole body.
It's also about the nutritional support you give them. And the rest and relaxation, perhaps using a pinkie ball or a foot roller to get rid of the residual tension after classes.
It's about your between-class-shoes, maybe not wearing the cute floppy type sandals, but wearing something more supportive. Glue some bling on your sneakers!
Okay, back to the ballet store to fit pointe shoes. Here you are with your two feet. Do you know your foot type?
Have you stood on a piece of paper and outlined the right and the left foot? It helps. Even a professional pointe shoe fitter will appreciate that.
Hopefully, you will find a good fit, the right brand, right style, etc., in your first few pairs. But ultimately, it's the strength of the foot muscles and the accuracy of your technique that will get you dancing in pointe shoes, as opposed to struggling with the exercises.
Whenever that is, do not be in a hurry. It's what you do BEFORE you wear pointe shoes that matters.
To get into pointe shoes faster, get The Perfect Pointe Book.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Grand Battement - A Full Body Workout And Flexibility Workout
The grand battement supports posture, grand jete en tournant and in the splits, and grand allegro such as sissone. In sissone, both legs do a grand battement, the body travels, and the posture must be maintained.
The daily grand battement to the front, side and back is a flexibility workout.
Add the DVD "Flexibility Workout For Athletes" to your weekly training!
Every grand battement begins with a strong brush into the floor. This challenges the hip placement, the posture, and the feeling of lifting the leg from underneath.
The leg does not lift from underneath, that is just a mental trick of elongating the leg, keeping the working hip placed, and lifting the leg (from the top muscles) but without shortening and bunching the thigh muscles.
Every battement tendu and degage you have done determines the strength of your grand battement.
Your grand battement determines the strength and elegance of your grand allegro.
Even if you can sit in perfect splits, your grand jete will not achieve a split position if your legs cannot arrive at the peak of the movement at the same time, with your postural position as well. It's like everything freezes in position for a second, and with soft and elegant arms.
Grand jete en tournant requires the same strength - the first leg does a grand battement as you jump - you fouette in the air and battement the second leg at the top of the jump, not on the way down. The legs have to have a powerful and perfectly timed action.
Putting grand battement into center exercises is an effective challenge.
Having a classmate check your posture and placement will assure you that you are building strength correctly. Your weight should not get pulled off your supporting side. If it does, that is what will destabilize the take off into a jump. Parts of the body moving out of alignment above the pressure of the brushing foot and the heel into the floor in your demi plie, weaken the push off. I know I just said that twice, it is important.
Basic technique creates the right movement patterns for classical choreography. Grand battement builds strength for that. It is indeed a full body workout in your ballet exercises.
The daily grand battement to the front, side and back is a flexibility workout.
Add the DVD "Flexibility Workout For Athletes" to your weekly training!
Every grand battement begins with a strong brush into the floor. This challenges the hip placement, the posture, and the feeling of lifting the leg from underneath.
The leg does not lift from underneath, that is just a mental trick of elongating the leg, keeping the working hip placed, and lifting the leg (from the top muscles) but without shortening and bunching the thigh muscles.
Every battement tendu and degage you have done determines the strength of your grand battement.
Your grand battement determines the strength and elegance of your grand allegro.
Even if you can sit in perfect splits, your grand jete will not achieve a split position if your legs cannot arrive at the peak of the movement at the same time, with your postural position as well. It's like everything freezes in position for a second, and with soft and elegant arms.
Grand jete en tournant requires the same strength - the first leg does a grand battement as you jump - you fouette in the air and battement the second leg at the top of the jump, not on the way down. The legs have to have a powerful and perfectly timed action.
Putting grand battement into center exercises is an effective challenge.
Having a classmate check your posture and placement will assure you that you are building strength correctly. Your weight should not get pulled off your supporting side. If it does, that is what will destabilize the take off into a jump. Parts of the body moving out of alignment above the pressure of the brushing foot and the heel into the floor in your demi plie, weaken the push off. I know I just said that twice, it is important.
Basic technique creates the right movement patterns for classical choreography. Grand battement builds strength for that. It is indeed a full body workout in your ballet exercises.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Pointe Shoe Strength - The Multifunctional Degage
A lot of focus on footwork goes to pointe shoe strength daily routines. Here is an addendum to the multi-functional degage ballet exercise. In working the toes to give a sharp, strong quality to jumps, as well as to pointe work, you help build strength in the foot muscles, relieving the calf muscles of over-training and residual tension.
Here is an exercise you can add to daily routines in order to build foot strength.
I will assume that you've already done some playing piano with the toes, and toe swapping - picking up the big toes separately, and then the other four, separately. These exercises build strength and also fine tune your communication with all those tiny little foot muscles.
This exercise is to build strength in the toes. It is the movement that completes a battement degage, the final push off that the toes do. It is a little different here.
Do a battement tendu a la seconde, stopping when the arch is fully stretched but the toes are on the floor. Now relax your leg, feeling its weight. Then, using only the toe muscles, pop the foot off the floor. Let the leg fall back to the tendu position, toe joints relaxed, arch held. Relax the leg, feeling its weight, and again, using only the toes, pop the foot off the floor.
Then repeat 8-10 more times, rapid little degage from the 3/4 pointe position to the fully pointed degage position. Close, demi plie to relax.
Repeat with the other leg. This repetition of the final tiny sharp movement of the toes builds strength, builds muscle memory, and adds an extra quality to your releves and sautes.
An advanced version of this is doing a succession of sautes in first position, with no demi plie. Facing the barre, in first position, do a saute just by pointing both feet. You may not make it off the floor. It is just to get a feeling of the strength and power in the feet, independent of the calves and legs. This is NOT a daily routine, but something to do once a week or so and feel the build up of strength from doing other pre-pointe type exercises. You can actually develop the strength to do a few sautes, with no plie. Controlling coming down through the foot is important.
Always keep length in the toes, no curling them!
Use a rubber or golf ball to roll under the foot muscles and relax them, and include the under part of the toes. Relaxing those little muscles, and stretching them gently, will enhance the muscles tone.
Soaking your feet in warm water with epsom salts, or apple cider vinegar, or sea salt, or sliced ginger, and then icing them for a few minutes, is the icing on the cake for your foot muscles.
Muscle memory for relaxing is important too!
Get your own copy of the dancer's guide for pointe shoe strength in ballet exercises.
Here is an exercise you can add to daily routines in order to build foot strength.
I will assume that you've already done some playing piano with the toes, and toe swapping - picking up the big toes separately, and then the other four, separately. These exercises build strength and also fine tune your communication with all those tiny little foot muscles.
This exercise is to build strength in the toes. It is the movement that completes a battement degage, the final push off that the toes do. It is a little different here.
Do a battement tendu a la seconde, stopping when the arch is fully stretched but the toes are on the floor. Now relax your leg, feeling its weight. Then, using only the toe muscles, pop the foot off the floor. Let the leg fall back to the tendu position, toe joints relaxed, arch held. Relax the leg, feeling its weight, and again, using only the toes, pop the foot off the floor.
Then repeat 8-10 more times, rapid little degage from the 3/4 pointe position to the fully pointed degage position. Close, demi plie to relax.
Repeat with the other leg. This repetition of the final tiny sharp movement of the toes builds strength, builds muscle memory, and adds an extra quality to your releves and sautes.
An advanced version of this is doing a succession of sautes in first position, with no demi plie. Facing the barre, in first position, do a saute just by pointing both feet. You may not make it off the floor. It is just to get a feeling of the strength and power in the feet, independent of the calves and legs. This is NOT a daily routine, but something to do once a week or so and feel the build up of strength from doing other pre-pointe type exercises. You can actually develop the strength to do a few sautes, with no plie. Controlling coming down through the foot is important.
Always keep length in the toes, no curling them!
Use a rubber or golf ball to roll under the foot muscles and relax them, and include the under part of the toes. Relaxing those little muscles, and stretching them gently, will enhance the muscles tone.
Soaking your feet in warm water with epsom salts, or apple cider vinegar, or sea salt, or sliced ginger, and then icing them for a few minutes, is the icing on the cake for your foot muscles.
Muscle memory for relaxing is important too!
Get your own copy of the dancer's guide for pointe shoe strength in ballet exercises.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Ballet Exercises For Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes - and Between Class Shoes
You can click on this link to find out how to care for your feet while learning the best ballet exercises for pointe shoes.
What should a ballet dancer wear for daily foot support? Today there are attractive athletic shoes in all shapes widths, and colors. The expensive built-up sole types are not necessarily the best. The kind with the springs in the heel look like they would feel great if you are walking on cement all day, or on the hard stone halls of a high school. But they may not be the best for developing feet and legs. I have seen that even very young dancers think like career builders and will pay attention to professional issues like daily footwear.
Joyce Morgenroth says in her article from Arts & Sciences Newsletter Fall 1997 Vol. 18 No. 2
"In pointe shoes the vulgar, useful foot is gone. In its place is the illusion of an elongated leg and only a most tenuous connection to the ground."
The entire article has a lot of historical detail, is a great read, and is found here.
So how do we take care of our "vulgar, useful foot"? When I was a ballet student at The National Ballet School of Canada, we wore "vulgar and useful" shoes, by uniform mandate - oxfords! Ugh! Although I have to admit, when I tied mine on after a ballet class, my feet, ankles and calves really were supported and relaxed.
A special dancers guide for your best ballet exercises will support the health and development of the dancer's foot.
So back to modern athletic shoes, I read some passages from "Slow Burn" by Stu Mittleman. (I had ordered "Slow Burn" intending to get the book by Frederick Hahn and Eades & Eades. I received the Stu Mittleman book "by mistake" and then ordered the other one too.) They are both fantastic books. No mistakes.
Page 77, the chapter "Always Buy a Shoe Fit, Not a Shoe Size", is a long chapter with interesting stories and great information. Stu is a runner and the frame of his info is for runners. However, a dance student or professional dancer can glean some good advice from him. On page 84 he says :
"The most important considerations to make when it comes to the structure and function of your foot have to do with the following:
arch type
tilt pattern
foot strike"
Stu's details in shoe selection that follow that passage resemble the minutiae that dancers attend to in fitting ballet shoes and pointe shoes ("professional ballet shoes"). I suggest that dance students get the book from their local library and review this section, in consideration of the selection of the shoes they wear daily. Party shoes aside, I think you want to support the feet that are supporting you. All day.
Muscles relaxation is very important. In ballet classes, it is crucial to relax between exercises. In life, it is crucial to relax between classes. You can most likely find the best shoe for your arch type, tilt pattern, and foot strike .
Stu discusses the available athletic shoes for the tilt pattern. In ballet we say 'rolling ankles' 'dropped arches' or 'flat foot'. Simply meaning the inner ankles roll toward the floor, pronation, and the opposite, the outer ankles roll toward the floor, supination. Differently shaped sneakers will give needed support.
(The foot strike is less important for dancers, but very important for runners. )
Stu also discusses muscle testing. Chiropractors, kiniesiologists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, some nutritionists, many can muscle test. This includes for proper shoe support. If you have a practitioner that might do this for you, buy your shoes, and take them to your health care person, get the shoes muscle tested. If they are not supportive you can return them.
Be a pro right now and find out how to care for your feet when you execute the most challenging ballet exercises for pointe shoes.
What should a ballet dancer wear for daily foot support? Today there are attractive athletic shoes in all shapes widths, and colors. The expensive built-up sole types are not necessarily the best. The kind with the springs in the heel look like they would feel great if you are walking on cement all day, or on the hard stone halls of a high school. But they may not be the best for developing feet and legs. I have seen that even very young dancers think like career builders and will pay attention to professional issues like daily footwear.
Joyce Morgenroth says in her article from Arts & Sciences Newsletter Fall 1997 Vol. 18 No. 2
"In pointe shoes the vulgar, useful foot is gone. In its place is the illusion of an elongated leg and only a most tenuous connection to the ground."
The entire article has a lot of historical detail, is a great read, and is found here.
So how do we take care of our "vulgar, useful foot"? When I was a ballet student at The National Ballet School of Canada, we wore "vulgar and useful" shoes, by uniform mandate - oxfords! Ugh! Although I have to admit, when I tied mine on after a ballet class, my feet, ankles and calves really were supported and relaxed.
A special dancers guide for your best ballet exercises will support the health and development of the dancer's foot.
So back to modern athletic shoes, I read some passages from "Slow Burn" by Stu Mittleman. (I had ordered "Slow Burn" intending to get the book by Frederick Hahn and Eades & Eades. I received the Stu Mittleman book "by mistake" and then ordered the other one too.) They are both fantastic books. No mistakes.
Page 77, the chapter "Always Buy a Shoe Fit, Not a Shoe Size", is a long chapter with interesting stories and great information. Stu is a runner and the frame of his info is for runners. However, a dance student or professional dancer can glean some good advice from him. On page 84 he says :
"The most important considerations to make when it comes to the structure and function of your foot have to do with the following:
arch type
tilt pattern
foot strike"
Stu's details in shoe selection that follow that passage resemble the minutiae that dancers attend to in fitting ballet shoes and pointe shoes ("professional ballet shoes"). I suggest that dance students get the book from their local library and review this section, in consideration of the selection of the shoes they wear daily. Party shoes aside, I think you want to support the feet that are supporting you. All day.
Muscles relaxation is very important. In ballet classes, it is crucial to relax between exercises. In life, it is crucial to relax between classes. You can most likely find the best shoe for your arch type, tilt pattern, and foot strike .
Stu discusses the available athletic shoes for the tilt pattern. In ballet we say 'rolling ankles' 'dropped arches' or 'flat foot'. Simply meaning the inner ankles roll toward the floor, pronation, and the opposite, the outer ankles roll toward the floor, supination. Differently shaped sneakers will give needed support.
(The foot strike is less important for dancers, but very important for runners. )
Stu also discusses muscle testing. Chiropractors, kiniesiologists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, some nutritionists, many can muscle test. This includes for proper shoe support. If you have a practitioner that might do this for you, buy your shoes, and take them to your health care person, get the shoes muscle tested. If they are not supportive you can return them.
Be a pro right now and find out how to care for your feet when you execute the most challenging ballet exercises for pointe shoes.
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