Adult Ballet Class Exercises - All Prepare You For Pointe Shoes

If you are in an adult ballet class as a beginner or a returning dancer, every exercise you do will prepare you for getting into pointe shoes, if that is your goal.

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 Every ballet barre exercise, whether focused on the feet or not, will get you ready for pointe shoes.

The men in ballet can benefit from this viewpoint, as special foot exercises for pointe strengthen, and refine control. This will increase technical accuracy in allegro (jumps) and help prevent dance injuries.

Starting with your demi and grand plies, your use of:

• Correct ballet turnout

• Core muscles

• Ease of the upper back use

• Elegance of head and arm movements

These factors all mean a great deal about everything else you will do in dance class.

If you can do this simple (but not easy!) warm up exercise correctly, to YOUR best ability, you will probably be able to do the entire ballet class with the same control.

Someday, if not today.

The battements tendus and battements degages, or foot warm up exercises, begin to develop your control and strength in the sole of the foot.

While these exercises also make the lower legs stronger, if your calves or shins get stiff and sore, you need to use the feet more, and the lower leg muscles less.

Stretch the calves in between exercises with a demi plie or a lunge stretch.

It is good to turn in and allow the rotator muscles to relax in between barre exercises as well.

You actually start preparing for pointe work right from Day One. Everything you do in class will possibly be done later in toe shoes.

Any misalignment of posture or weakness in ballet positions, will be magnified when you are on full pointe.

If your ballet studio offers pre-pointe classes, ask if you can view one. You will see special foot exercises being taught, not ballet moves, but just isolated routines to refine and strengthen the use of the feet.

If you do not see anything like this, it may not be the best kind of pre-pointe class to take.

Aside from your dance classes, if you would like to gain on the normal time needed to develop a fine classical technique, you can learn the special exercises that target the muscles in the soles of the feet.

A few minutes a day is all that is needed. I recommend that you take a look at The Perfect Pointe Book,  fine dancer's guide for preparing you to dance in pointe shoes.

The Technical Cornerstone To Getting Into Pointe Shoes

Is there a technical cornerstone that builds strength toward getting into pointe shoes? If a student of classical ballet has a reasonably suitable physique, a reputable ballet school, and access to at least two classes per week, what might be the key to advancing faster?

If your ballet teacher outlined a customized instruction list for every student in their ballet academy to use for technical priorities, each list would include the basic technical cornerstones of:

***the postural plumb line (involving mechanics) and the exact degree of tension to maintain it (introducing qualities)

***the holding of one's turnout in both position and movement (involving mechanics)

***the shifting of tensions in the demi plie and grand plie while maintaining the postural plumb line and turnout

These three basic aspects of classical ballet technique could be called technical cornerstones. They introduce the mechanics and introduce the qualities that will determine all of your barre work, your center work, and one day - your pointe work!

Being able to exert more effort or tension quickly and then revert to a lesser tension in a beat, requires practice, prediction and musicality. Again, mechanics and quality. For example, more exertion is required in the core muscles for faster tendus than slow, for faster degages than slow. And, faster shifts of tension. All applies to dancing in pointe shoes.

Musicality makes it easier. You are more like a boat going with the current rather than against it.

If you can notice where in the barre work you feel an awkwardness in the shifts of exertion, that is where you need to build strength as a key to YOUR advancing. When I say exertion I do not mean strain or struggle. I mean an increased effort to put into a movement but where you already have enough strength to do it.

I really hope this makes sense because if you can feel this in your work, you will always know exactly what the key to your advancing is. If you are in a large class and don't get a lot of corrections, or personalized corrections, you can figure out a lot for yourself.

Awkward transitions in ballet exercises usually call for increased strength in your core muscles. This includes turnout, in the case of classical ballet.

Study the very basics and you'll understand the ruling factors - what is your technical cornerstone strength, and the key to your advancing in classical ballet.

Get an amazing dancer's guide with hours of instruction and video to get YOU ready for getting into pointe shoes.

Ballet Is Difficult - Prevent Dance Injuries For Advancing Or Getting Into Pointe Shoes

It is no secret that ballet is difficult. Years of ballet class training are carefully planned so that you can prevent injuries and get optimum results. If you do not understand something in your ballet classes, communicating is necessary.

Never be afraid of asking your teacher if you feel like you need some better defined direction in your ballet class. Different ballet moves are more or less difficult for different students. Teachers love to know that their students want to work harder or smarter, and are committing more than a recreational presence in their ballet studio.

Ballet IS difficult. Its technical demands override what other athletes consider proper muscle recovery time. Its fashion demands override sensible eating habits to a huge magnitude.

Fortunately both these issues are more widely addressed in most dance schools at this time.

The basic technique and quality aspects of classical technique are designed to build strength and prevent dance injuries.

Understanding the particular short comings of your physique and personality (everybody has some) will help you advance better, maybe faster, and more safely.

Feeling impatient to get into pointe shoes, or into a more advanced boys' class is a good thing. Do your best to study some anatomy, some cross-training like Pilates or weight training, in order to practice sensibly.

Doing foot exercises, core strengthening exercises, or upper body weight training (pas de deux prep) are things you can add to your home practice. Balance this by choosing days where you have no class, or lighter classes, to exercise outside of the ballet academy.

The finer details of cross-training, pre-pointe work at home, self-assessing your weak points, and understanding how dance injuries happen, are all available thanks to superbly-credentialed dance medicine writers.

Optimum health for dancers is available with the help of chiropractic, physiotherapy, a fresh/whole food diet, and medical diagnostics when you need them.

Experienced teachers know that the more mature and sensible students often go farther in ballet than the uniquely physically and spiritually gifted, sadly. But happily, there are the mystically endowed talents that also have, or develop (thanks to good people in their life) a streak of common sense. This helps a great deal with stress management from the competition for jobs and status in the ballet world.

In the pool of the more, or less , gifted ballet dance students, those who are not afraid of asking for individual guidance do better. And if you cannot get it - change dance studios.

You have accepted and feel wonderfully challenged that ballet is difficult. You can learn how to prevent dance injuries - even if your teachers don't know.

Get the right dancer's guide so you can learn to assess your strength for getting into pointe shoes - even if your teachers don't know. (adult beginners included!). There is nothing to stop you from learning more.