Ballet Pointe Shoes and How to Control Your Professional Footwork

To prepare your ballet footwork for pointe shoes, concentrate on the single factor which will make up for perhaps not getting exactly the right fit with your first pair of toe shoes. It is not the ballet shoe ribbons or the toe padding that you use. It is not your teacher, or the type of dance floor at your ballet studio. It is something you own, and it cannot be taken from you. It is the strength in your tiny foot muscles.

The advantages of developing your intrinsic foot muscles (the ones that are in your feet and are not extensions of leg muscles) are:

* your calf and tibial (shin muscles) will not over work and hold extra tension because of weak foot muscles

* your Achilles tendon will not be prone to dance injuries due to tense calf muscles

* your reflexes will develop in your ballet footwork, giving the needed control and balance

* you will able to use the full depth and power of your demi plie

* you will be able to secure your weight properly on your feet, in the 'tripod' or middle of the heel/at the little toe metatarsal joint/at the big toe metatarsal joint

When you cannot get the exact fit in pointe shoes, compensations can be made with toe spacers, gel padding, heel grips, and sewing wide elastic across the vamp for extra support. These are many methods that dancers use to make their pointe shoes more comfortable.

However, you gain an extra advantage over the availability - or lack of - the specific ballet shoes that you want, when your feet are really strong.

Another wonderful quality you gain from developing the right ballet muscles in your feet is a more relaxed, elegant upper body, helping you attain the impression of effortlessness that every ballet dancer strives for.

When you get into a ballet partnering class (Pas de deux, French words for 'dance for two"), you rely less on your partner for control.

You will also have more of a cat-like quality simply walking in your pointe shoes, not to mention performing difficult classical dance movements requiring finer ballet footwork.

Doing ballet in pointe shoes is not difficult if you are prepared. You'll become the dancer you want to be with strong professional footwork.

Great Reading For Understudies....

http://balletbusiness.blogspot.com/2008/11/being-understudy.html

I just found this article on the blog "Ballet Business". It is good advice!

Ballet Shoes and the Perfect Pointe Muscles

Both young and adult ballet beginners wonder when they can dance in pointe shoes. The process of training foot muscles begins in your very first ballet class.

Learning accurate ballet technique from day one is your best way to get into pointe shoes faster. The Perfect Pointe Book is the best manual I know of to get the best ballet tips.

The proper use of foot muscles begins even before you pointe your foot. Here is a quick review:

Your street shoes! Do you wear supportive shoes generally? If you alternate between pointed toe high heels and flip-flops, you may decide to make a lifestyle change to help prepare your foot muscles for dancing ballet in pointe shoes.

High heels are usually pointed, angling in the big toe. This strains the soft tissues around the toe joint, and ultimately can lead to painful bunions.

High heels will usually throw your posture out of a neutral spine position - which means, that when neutral, all your natural spinal curves are in place, with no unnecessary tension compromising your neck/shoulder/spinal/hip joints.

With all those with neutral spinal position in high heels please raise their hands...you get the idea that this would be rare.

High heels throw your weight forward off the "tripod" platform of even distribution from the middle heel point, to the point at the big toe metatarsal joint and the little toe metatarsal joint, thus the tripod metaphor.

This will affect your posture and muscle tension required to go about life.

Flip-flops force the muscles in the sole of the foot (the exact muscles that ultimately allow you to control your positions and movements in point shoes) to clench, just to keep the shoes on!

You get used to this, but it is a contraction of the foot you would not normally need if you were wearing supportive shoes.

While foot massage, proper stretching, and other foot pampering can partly compensate for flip-flop wearing, would all those who wear flip-flops who daily massage and stretch their foot muscles please raise.....

Worn out oxfords and sneakers (for you men in ballet) will also compromise the daily use of your foot muscles. Your feet have to do what the shoes cannot.

In your first ballet class you will learn how to stand in first position. Here it will most likely be mentioned that your feet should be flat on the floor, foot muscles not clenched in any way. Thus you achieve the tripod weight distribution.

If your feet pronate (ankles/arches dropping inwards) or supinate (rolling outwards) hopefully your teacher will notice and address your posture - spine/hips/knees/ankles, and locate the source of the pronation.

Weak muscles will strengthen, and eventually you can remedy improper foot placement on the floor.

So you see, before you do your first demi plie as a young or adult ballet beginner, you can do a lot to improve your perfect pointe muscles .

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

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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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Sad To Lose The Ballet Greats

I was saddened to read about the passing away of Gerald Arpino and Ekaterina Maximova recently. I felt a huge empty spot in the ballet world. Links to these events are at topix.com.

How to Improve My Ballet is a Big Issue For Dance Recital Prep

If you study dance for more than ballet fitness, and recital preparation bumps the stress levels, there are different ways to make this rehearsal period easier. Classical dance, hip hop dancing, jazz dancing and much more is now included in contemporary dance school demands. Avoid dance injuries by preventing over training, especially now.

There are two main ways to get the most out of your rehearsal time and present the best of your ballet (or other dance) technique. Physical practice, naturally, and training your brain to rehearse by itself when you are resting.

Here are some tips to do your best in choreographic moves that are difficult for you:

*** check out the preparatory movement, like a demi plie, just before a difficult move. Are you losing turnout, posture or correct push-off (heel on the floor)?
*** does any particular muscle need strengthening for a new move? Instead of practicing it over and over, fatiguing your whole body, decide if you need a high intensity exercise with a weight perhaps, to isolate and build strength in one (or one group) of muscles. If so, you need only do this exercise once or twice a week to build that muscle up.
*** need more flexibility for a specific dance position? If so, do not over do it. Stretch whenever you are warmed up, for the position, without pain, and make sure you stretch a properly positioned muscle, and not the ligaments holding a joint. Ligaments just tear, they don't stretch. Hold any stretch position motionless, do not bounce or even pulse. You'll feel a release into a further stretch, bit by bit.
*** make time for some hot baths in Epsom Salts! Or Apple Cider Vinegar, which will pull wastes out of your muscles. Bathing is a lost art for many athletes.

Get some information on brain training. You can rehearse mentally and benefit physically. It's true, studies have been done. Also, get the brain training to manage stress and anxiety that seems to accompany competition for most performers. This in itself will improve your ballet and all your dancing.

And ultimately, send your self-critic self on a vacation. Accept all the praise you get, and enjoy your recital season!

Would-Be Adult Beginners in Ballet Classes Suffer From Needless Self Doubt

A quick survey of articles on the internet show that articles read by adult beginners in ballet outnumber those read by the (somewhat) more self-accepting younger ballerinas and men in ballet. Many older would-be dance students worry that they are too old to get anything out of taking ballet.

There seems to be a degree of self-consciousness in most adult ballet students that I hear from. However, the self-doubt is needless because it really does not matter, except to each individual, what the goals of studying classical dance are. Each to his own.

Some adult ballet beginners will attempt to train long and hard enough to dance in pointe shoes, yet many will not have that aim in mind.

Many want an exercise program that also lends to developing grace and elegance. As exercise, ballet provides high intensity workouts for the lower body, while also challenging the upper body muscles, in a lighter manner.

Properly taught and practiced, classical dance increases both muscles strength and stamina. Reflexes are improved, and if kept up through the senior years, ballet will help increase bone density, balance and muscle strength.

A strong heart and strong lungs' response in an emergency moment relies on muscle strength. The heart and lungs do not actually strengthen by prolonged low intensity exercise (such as walking and running) as previously thought. This is because the stronger the muscles are, the less the heart and lungs NEED to respond to a sudden burst of movement or intense muscle contractions.

I hope that adults who want to do ballet just go ahead. Whatever the flexibility and the resulting ballet positions, whatever the muscle type and the resulting ballet technique, the benefits are enormous and these adult exercisers are way ahead of the aging/degeneration progression.

Define for yourself what you want to get out of ballet classes, enjoy every minute of it, and throw away any needless self-doubts.

To support your ballet training, take advantage of the remarkable ballet education that is available at this ballet store.