Costumes For Boys In Ballet - Creativity Wanted!

Nina Amir has written a very relevant post about costumes for boys in ballet at her blog My Son Can Dance.

This is indeed an area that can benefit from creativity! I've been in conflicts with directors quite a few times over boys'/mens costumes. I've seen arguments about whether boys/men should shave their armpits or not. Or shave off a moustache because of one piece of choreography...I've seen people resign over it.

It is not easy!

Power Training Video For Men In Ballet

Here's an excellent power training/weights/kettlebell video taken at The National Ballet of Canada, with trainer Josh Hewitt.

Josh introduces an overview of the basics of training for power. He recommends this type of training as useful for men in ballet and shows how it helps explosive movements and partner work.

His demo includes:

-dynamic warmup
-importance of training for power
-exercise progressions for power movements
-triple extension
-kettlebell training
-other power movements such as plyo pushups and jump squats

These training exercises are meant for advanced/professional dancers and they should not be practiced without instruction and supervision.

Men In Ballet Working in Pointe Shoes

 Men In Ballet Working in Pointe Shoes

Many men in ballet talk about dancing in pointe shoes and whether it is appropriate or even possible.

Pointe shoes are made in men's sizes for the few classical ballets where pointe shoes for a male character are used.

More importantly, developing foot muscles for ballet using pre-pointe exercises is an excellent idea for men in ballet classes.

Here is a video of a male ballet dancer who does work on pointe, with the Royal Ballet. See what he has to say:

For male adult beginners in ballet classes, there are many challenges.

Often strength in the large muscle groups is not one of them, especially if the men have been practicing high intensity interval training or weight resistance training.

However, the particular exercises for the intrinsic foot muscles do not show up often, even in ballet classes. You can read more about those here.

Here is where information about feet in general is needed for all dance students, and especially for men in adult ballet.  

Knowledge of foot muscles will prevent strain/sprain of the lower leg muscles and tendons, protecting the Achilles area. I wrote about that topic HERE.

Developing awareness and strength in the foot muscles will prevent cramping and soreness in the feet.

If men in adult ballet classes wish to eventually get into pointe shoes to exercise and hone their footwork, they also need to know about foot types, and proper stretching of the ankle joint.

Also, correct basic ballet technique - weight distribution on the feet, posture, turnout, and ballet positions, need to be understood completely. This education will give an adult dance student a better experience as well as faster progress.

Ballet is an excellent form of exercise. It compares to high intensity training. Ballet exercises are short, designed to challenge and completely load the muscles during the barre work.

A well designed barre workout rests some muscle groups while engaging others, alternating, so as to warm up the whole body evenly.

For serious recreational ballet students, more is not necessarily better. Muscles need to recover properly, and several classes a week do not add strength.

It would be better for an adult male ballet enthusiast to do an upper body training workout rather than another ballet class.

If such a student feels unoccupied during off days - rent ballet movies, or ballet classes on DVD and study them while doing some gentle stretching on your floor.

Also do your pre-pointe foot exercises while watching your favorite ballerinas and their partners perform the amazing feats of classical repertoires.

This trains your brain to assimilate the movement finesse it perceives, even when you are not active physically.

I think it is a great idea for men in ballet to eventually exercise in pointe shoes. It is not a necessity, yet you can be among the men in pointe shoes (the real ones)!

More On Men In Ballet

 Men In Ballet - How To Get The Most Out Of Your Foot's Demi Pointe - And Then Your Pointe Shoes

D. Buxton is a writing partner with Vone Deporter, of The Sedona Series, about a surfer girl in pointe shoes.

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Develop the Perfect Foot Muscles For Pointe Shoes

Is there a perfect foot for ballet - or can any foot function perfectly if the ballet dancer has the correct understanding of how to use their foot muscles in pointe shoes?

Even men in ballet want to work in pointe shoes to develop the fine foot muscles that will enhance balance and virtuoso allegro.

Strengthening and stretching the hyper-mobile (very flexible motion) body/feet and hypo-mobile (tighter motion) body/feet requires accurate ballet movements.

All would-be ballerinas and plenty of men in ballet want to get into pointe shoes, and, faster.

Preventing injuries such as sprained ankles, more typical of the hyper or extra mobile ankle and foot joints, and Achilles tendon injuries, more typical of the feet and ankles with less flexible movement, is not difficult if you learn correct basic ballet technique.

Ballet students, and particularly boys in ballet, who have tighter ankle and foot joints and flatter-shaped foot bones, can partially solve this disadvantage by learning how to massage their lower legs and feet.

The constant strain to get that ballet line in the foot arch leads to excess tension in the calves and feet.

source.

 Using a small sports ball or a golf ball, and rolling it under the arches with gentle pressure, eases the tension out of the muscles. You can also use a ball with nubs for extra stimulation of the circulation.

Calf muscles can be massaged the same way. Sitting on the floor, the ball can be eased from behind the knee, down the calf muscles to the ankle area.

Check that you get the extra tension towards the outside of the calf, and the inside area.

Your shins, or tibial muscles, can be tense as well.

Kneeling on the floor, ease and press your sports ball (a golf ball will not work for this one) from just below the knee, down the front of the calf to the ankle, leaning into it to get the tension to release.

After this, you may find a significant degree of increased mobility in the ankle joint, and a better line.

Hypo-mobile students are usually less likely to sprain ankles en pointe, but can be predisposed to Achilles Tendon issues, due to how hard they have to work the feet.

A wonderful stretch for the calves is: standing on a book, a stair step, or a rolled up towel, rise up and then lower onto one foot, stretching past the level point, so the heels are lower.

Alternating slowly and carefully, you'll feel a deep stretch.

Ballet students with the flexible high arch are lucky in that the ballet ideal has somehow become the large, domed instep over the top of the foot.

However, much more strength and control is required to utilize this range of motion, and prevent injury.

If you have this kind of mobility, one way to begin assessing your strength and control is to see if you can do 20 consecutive slow rises with no sickling out of the foot. That is the least control you need.

There are more advanced exercises for controlling the flexible ankle and stretching a tight ankle joint. Learning these will help prevent sprained ankles.

The Perfect Pointe Book provides with you with many self-testing methods and charted strengthening exercises so you can develop perfect foot muscles.

Men In Ballet - How To Get The Most Out Of Your Foot's Demi Pointe - And Then Your Pointe Shoes

 Men In Ballet

I am going to cover a few of the finer details in strengthening, stretching, and maintaining your foot mechanics, and health.

You want to get the most out of the joints and muscles that you have in your foot for your demi pointe.

Some men in ballet choose to work in pointe shoes and I recommend The Perfect Pointe Book for boys/men too.

(That link goes to Amazon. If a purchase is made, this blog will receive a small advertising fee. Your price remains the same.)

I'm not referring to demi-pointe shoes in the title above, but your own demi pointe, your foot.

Whether male or female, I recommend that you view some drawing or x-ray of an ankle joint, and the foot bones. It is good to know what is under your skin.

If your ankle joint is flexible enough for you to point a straight line, or more, you can probably get up onto demi pointe so that your toes are a ninety degree angle to your instep.

To get or increase this ninety degree angle, first you can work on the big toe joint.

There is a muscle going under the big toe that can be gently massaged and stretched. Just working this joint can get you a gain on the angle you need to be fully on demi pointe, and therefore able to complete the postural plumb line of the body.

That means getting the metatarsal joints under your ankle joint, regardless of how the arch in between shows up curve-wise.

To maximize the ankle joint flexibility, consider the tension that builds up in the tibial, or shin muscles, practicing ballet, that could detract from your ankle joint flexibility. This tension can be released, daily, with the help of a soft rubber ball. (That link in the ball will take you to Amazon too.)

• kneel, then sit back on your feet, making sure there is no inward sickle. 

• roll the rubber ball just below the knee joint, into the top of the shin muscle. 

• lean on it, easing down the leg. 

• press into the tender spots until you feel some tension release. 

Don't lean too heavily on it, it is just to get a release of the tension.

Get all the way down to the ankle joint. 

You have now resolved some of the work-related tension and can do a stretch for the top of the ankle/foot area.

Place the ball under the foot above the metatarsal joints (and you can do more than one spot here), between the big toe and second toe, and you'll feel a wonderful stretch.

You can move the ball a little more in between the second and third metatarsal area, only if it does not cause the foot to sickle.

And stretch again, gently holding the stretch for 10 seconds at first. You can increase the hold time, but not to the point of pain.

Then start on the other leg. I have Deborah Vogel to thank for that rubber ball use and foot stretch.

Using a rubber ball or a golf ball on the sole of the foot releases tension in those muscles. Roll it and push gently. You don't want to exert too much pressure on the foot joints, just feel for tension release. Do this daily, or after every class.

Soaking your feet in warm water and Epsom Salts or mineral salt (sea salt) and then icing tired and aching foot muscles is a treatment your feet deserve.

Especially if you plan to dance classical ballet in pointe shoes, attend to these few daily routines. They are not pampering, but needed care for all women and men in ballet.

Get a copy of the comprehensive resource on pointe shoes, pre-pointe exercises - The Perfect Pointe Book.

More On Men In Ballet Posts

Men In Ballet Working In Pointe Shoes 

Here is a video, part of a series, with a trained male dancer sharing his experience.

Technique For Pointe Work - Including For Men In Ballet

There are several famous male ballet dancers who have practiced classical ballet in pointe shoes. Some required it in their roles - for example, for the donkey Bottom in A Midsummers Night's Dream. Some choreographers have put on pointe shoes in order to empathize with their ballerinas. And many men in ballet want to take advantage of the opportunity to stretch their ankles and build strength.

I know many dance teachers would love to see some boys/men in ballet take pointe classes. Men in ballet actually can get exactly the right fit in pointe shoes, or let's say most can.

Why would men want to put on pointe shoes and do those cruel-looking exercises?

Some men in ballet might have the ambition of getting into Les Trocs (Les Ballets Trockaderos du Monte Carlo, all men, many ballerina roles). Pointe work is an absolute necessity.

The majority of men in ballet do not have the mobile ankles that typically females have. A high curve, or ANY curve on the top of the ankle and instep is a plus, to meet the ballet fashion.

Female dance students quickly learn how to use pointe shoes to stretch the top of the ankle and instep, if they need more flexibility in the ankles. In second position, rise onto pointe, and plie, allowing the weight to go over the platform of the pointe shoe. If the ankle is not flexible, the weight of the body, supported by the pointe shoe, gives it a fabulous stretch.

And to build strength, if ankle flexibility is sufficient, rise onto pointe, and plie but stay on the platform of the shoe. This requires restraining the ankle joint and holding it exactly where you want it. For ballerinas, this is a requirement for control in general, and a necessity for the repetitive tiny hops on pointe found in classical ballet choreography.

While there are perfectly good exercises to strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the feet without using pointe shoes, basic exercises on pointe are excellent for strengthening the feet. I recommend strengthening the feet before going onto pointe, but keep it up once you have started pointe classes. A simple exercise like rising onto pointe, slowly pressing down to demi pointe (as opposed to dropping down) and then pressing back up onto full pointe, will build strength. Adding repetitions as you can, you will develop strength and control.

Getting back to men in ballet - you will need to learn all about foot and toe types, and all the tips and tricks of toe leveling, toe spacers, and toe padding. Avoid dancing in pain! You are surrounded by experts - all the girls you study with!

I think many boys and men in ballet need to hear it from their teachers - that this would be a good idea! Not for the lucky men with the hyper-mobile arches, necessarily. Even for them, however, it would introduce an understanding of what ballerinas need, to check out the delicate balance that men learn to support, as a partner.

If you are among the men in ballet and already learning technique for pointe work - good for you!

Go here for more information on excelling at pointe work and all the relevant technique details that you need.

To Dance or Not to Dance In Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes

 To dance is never a mistake.

I get asked a lot, "do you think I should pursue ballet professionally?" And my immediate thought is, "If you can live without dance, do so, if you cannot, then dance."

"Ballerina" by Vone Deporter

 I say that because ballet is a subculture. That is not a bad thing, but like opera, music, and other art forms, training is intense and competition is fierce. That may be the attraction for some.

Ballet attracts perfectionists, obsessed and oddly dysfunctional people, but also attracts incredibly gifted performers and brilliant broad-spectrum artists who excel at dance and related arts such as choreography, music and stage design.

Professional ballet has a small job market. Ideally you would start training at the age of 9, and be ready to perform in a company by 18. You would have been in about 8-10 classes per week, with some modern dance training as well.

Starting later, along with physical limitations, is the challenge for the majority. And yet, when I taught at university, I saw students go on to become leaders in the dance world.

Although, not in ballet, but in the modern dance arena, which emphasizes creativity somewhat more than the perfect technique and physique. I think the maturity of training at that age helps too, and I have seen a greater number of survivors from that venue.

Talented children with highly sensitive nervous systems have more problems with the competition. If they are studying away from home, they lack their family support. This can be very stressful for children. However, the demands of the training and the joy of learning what they love sometimes balances the stress beautifully.

To be extremely positive, let's just say all roads lead to our success. I have seen "failed" dancers develop into excellent musicians, brilliant actors, and choreographers with exceptional vision.

I once had a student who backed out of a performance in his first semester of training, due to sheer stage fright. He became a well-known innovator in the Canadian dance scene. The first time I saw a short piece of choreography of his in a small workshop setting, I knew where he was headed.

A world-famous prima ballerina was let go from a major dance school because of an eating disorder. She was immediately picked up and hand-held by a competing school. She just needed more personal support.

A well-known Canadian musician/conductor was once a struggling ballet student. He played piano at the school in order to pay for his classes. He wasn't a bad dancer, but started his professional training late.

The school's top pianist spotted his talent and supported his development as an accompanist. We were roommates for a while. Our third roommate was a flautist. Ahhh... well, anyway... good musical memories.

 I remember my heart soaring as Steve played the fourth act from Swan Lake from the Russian leather-bound score his mentor Babs MacDonald had given him, on a piano in our tiny apartment. He was born to dance in his soul, and became an excellent musician and conductor.

So if you are led to dance, dance! You never know where it will take you.

To dance is never a mistake.