Pointe Shoes With Your Feet In Charge

Which is in control of your dancing- your pointe shoes or your foot muscles?

Of course you want to get exactly the right fit. So say your ballet store only sold Freeds, for example. Lengths and widths are commonly available. Freeds are hard shoes.

They are wonderful for the higher arch, giving lots of support. They come in low and high vamps, good for short or long toes, so really they could be okay for everyone.

If you have a low arch and less flexible ankle joints, you need to break in your Freeds more. Same with Capezio's.

Gambas are lighter shoes, go easy on them. Probably the first couple of classes will break them in fine.

If your core muscles are weak, if you are still hyper-extending your knees, and if you haven't strengthened the sole of the foot muscles, then your pointe shoes will be in control.

If they don't fit perfectly (no shoe does, unless it's made for you), if you are wide at the metatarsal area, or forefront of the foot, and narrow at the heel, or vice versa, you will always have a little situation.

Fitting Pointe Shoes

Fit the pointe shoes for the larger foot. (You may do the opposite with leather soft shoes, because they will stretch to fit.) You can pad the shoe for the smaller foot a little more, rather than crunch the bigger foot and get bad blisters, bunions,  or an injury.

If you need wide pointe shoes for the metatarsal area, leaving the choice of pointe shoes too wide at the heels, then use a drug store brand heel grip or get a big bag of makeup wedgies and cut them to the exact size you need.

 Glue them into your shoes, or squeeze in where appropriate.

I'm not going to go through every nuance of a shoe fit. 

Ballerinas share how they prep their pointe shoes:

 

The Perfect Pointe Book tells you all those details.

Your foot muscles have to be strong enough to control the shoe.

Your posture has to be correct so that you can be on balance.

Learn more about that here -  How To Get Abs Exercises Right For Ballet

If you get a pair of shoes with a slight deviation or a spot on the top of the box that presses into your foot, work on it with your hands, or use extra padding.

Whether you stick a little foam, corn pad, or adhesive tape on your foot or on the shoe, it doesn't matter. Whatever works.

After two to three pairs of the pointe shoes that you can get still don't work out, you may have to try ordering a different brand on line. You are not going to waste a pair of shoes.

You will learn how to work on the feel of your pointe shoes to suit yourself.

You have to get your muscles in charge.

That's exercising every day, not doing bunches of releves or retires releves, but doing the basic sole of the foot exercises.

In other words, if you have a problem, look at your foot strength first, and your shoes second. Pick a pair a little too large rather than a little too short if you are in between. Too short, and too narrow, can lead to pain and injury.

The Perfect Pointe Book provides you with all the details for developing foot strength (and correct posture too!).


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

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Ballet Foot Positions-Use of the Theraband

There are many uses for the therabands, or stretchy bands, so I'll discuss a few here, focusing on the feet, toes and ankles. If you are already doing pointe work, these exercises will enhance your precision of technique, save your calf muscles from over-work, and increase your strength in ballet foot positions.

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(These exercises are illustrated further in The Perfect Pointe Book, with many others to prepare you for pointe shoes You can CLICK HERE to get your copy.)


If you are in a pre-pointe class, or organizing your own pre-pointe practice, you can learn four basic exercises to strengthen the sole of the foot muscles, and then do them with a stretchy band.

Feet and ankles must be strong enough before starting pointe work, for slow releves through the metatarsal area, and slow controlled lowering, without any sickle in or out of the ankle joint.

"Toe swapping" is done starting with the feet flat on the floor. Simply lift the big toes up, leaving the foot and the other toes flat.

Do not lean the foot toward the big toes, the sole of the foot should rest on the floor with no twisting. Place the big toes down, and lift the other four toes.

You may cramp, in which case stop and roll your foot over a tennis ball or pinkie ball, to relax the muscles.

Do this 10 times, a total of twenty lifts. Initially, you may find that your brain can't even find the muscles to do this precisely - but your brain-to-foot communication will improve.

When your movements are precise, you can add the stretchy band. Sitting down with your legs straight in front of you, flex the feet and place the stretchy band behind the toes.

"Playing the piano" with the toes is just like it sounds - lift all toes to start, and place the big toe, the next toe, the next and so forth. Do the reverse, lifting the little toe, the next, and so forth.

Relieve cramping if necessary, and do both movements 10 times each.

Once your movement is well-defined, add the stretchy band, sitting, feet and toes flexed, with the band behind the toes. Your toes will keep contact with the band, with more resistance when pressing against it.

If you use the band before your movement is exact, it will not do much good. Try it and you'll see why, nothing really happens.

For ankles, if you are wobbly going up and down in slow releves, in soft shoes, you are not strong enough to be in pointe shoes.

You must check your overall posture, use of the core muscles, turnout and how your feet rest on the floor when flat. Wobbling can be for many reasons. But, back to the ankles,

If you get corrections for sickling in where your weight goes towards the little toe: sitting, legs straight, loop the band around your right foot, at the metatarsal area.

Hold the band ends with your left hand. Pull the foot outward, and you will feel the muscles on the outside of the foot/ankle area working. Pull and hold for 10 seconds 10 times. Repeat other side.

If you go up onto demi pointe or pointe and your weight leans onto your big toe, you would loop the band and pull your foot inward, working the muscles on the inside of the foot/ankle area.

Another strengthening exercise is (sitting, legs straight out in front) to slowly stretch the feet, splaying the toes apart and stretching them long.(Meaning, DO NOT CURL YOUR TOES).

Here is an excellent video by Lisa Howell demonstrating lengthening of the toes, and with an extra tip for strengthening at the same time:

You can use the theraband around the metatarsal area for resistance, except for one instance.

If you have highly mobile ankle joints, repetitive pointing and compressing a pointed position can irritate the back of your ankles. You do not need that particular movement at all. You DO need to increase strength in the soles of the feet and to control slow rises with no loss of ankle control.

If you are a late starter or adult beginner in ballet, start these exercises now.

CLICK HERE to get The Perfect Pointe Book It shows you all the details.

Doing these exercises 5-6 days a week will diminish the gap between your understanding of ballet technique, and the strength needed to do it.

In your slow releves onto pointe, and back down, your ankle should not lean or change angle in any way.

If your big toe is much longer, you can use toe levelers in your pointe shoes.

If your second toe is longer, you need to fit the shoes so that it can straighten, using padding for your other toes.

Even with exactly the right fit in ballet pointe shoes, the shoes lend SUPPORT, your feet provide the CONTROL.

More About Ballet Feet

 

How to Prevent Foot Injuries in Ballet Shoes and 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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You Can't Stand Green Vegetables Yet You Want Strong Ballet Muscles

I know there are many talented ballet dance students and young people training to win in the different sports arenas who do not take nutrition seriously. Until they get injured, or until their recovery periods no longer suffice to recover in. Green vegetables are number one on their "can't stand" list.

A simplistic explanation of how green vegetables, especially cruciferous (broccoli, kale, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, being the most common) support exercise might be this.

The body works like a machine. The workings are motivated by thought, be it conscious, subconscious, deliberate, careless, positive, negative, precise or sloppy.

Once a motivating thought has occurred, several bio-electric mechanisms ensue.

Nerve endings do not actually engage with muscle fiber. However, they communicate by an electrical current and certain chemicals. Compare it to putting a plug in the wall. You have a plug, and you have a socket. When the connection is made, energy flows. Your action would be the electricity/chemical process.

In your muscles, one element has to be released for the connection to be made, and for a muscle contraction to occur. That element is calcium.

Due to excellent marketing, we think that our prime source of calcium is milk. That is not true. And if you are allergic to milk, lactose intolerant, or eat vegan, you get left behind right here, with milk as a source of calcium.

Sesame seeds are an excellent source of calcium. So are leafy green vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables. Steamed, baked, stir-fried, shredded, raw, fermented (as in sauerkraut), or eaten cold in salads, the "can't stand" part can be disguised with a little butter and lemon juice (if hot), or a delicious salad dressing if cold. Add some slivered almonds or crumbled walnuts to a hot or cold dish, and it's pretty yummy.

Some people get bloated and gassy after eating certain vegetables. This is not because of the vegetables. It is a lack of intestinal flora, or healthy bacteria, which are on your digestion team. You are simply under-staffed.

These little beings are part of the factory that produces certain chemicals from these vegetables and then transforms toxins created in the process to prompt a de-toxifying process and carry gunk out of your body. If you get a high content Acidophilus/Bifidus product, you will get more comfortable results from eating vegetables. Maybe not overnight, it is a gradual improvement process. It is slowed down by eating sugar.

Cleaning your intestines in any way is a detox. You may experience mild headaches, mild aches and pains (which your ballet and training aches and pains will probably override), or fatigue. The good news is, cruciferous vegetables also have a lot of fiber and help move out the debris in your intestines.

If you just cannot try to eat these wonderful green superfoods, make sure you get them in a whole food supplement along with some calcium too. You want to eat what is nature born. This will help you develop strong ballet and athlete's muscles.

How to Learn a Ballet Style Workout at Home

A concern many dance teachers share is the learn-ballet-online concept. Learning ballet from scratch without a teacher is simply not a realistic goal. In fact, the chance of avoiding a dance injury is almost nil. If you cannot get into a ballet class, there are many styles of full body workouts that fulfill the healthy requirements for building muscle, flexibility, and rejuvenating yourself.

I've looked at many ballet workouts that you can rent or buy on DVD. They are suitable for retired professionals or advanced students who know what they are doing. Although some come with ballet instruction for the basics like plies and tendus, it is a basically look and copy format. I do not see how anyone can get any good out of this.

Most people want to feel the elegance and grace of movement and that is why they choose ballet. Yet there is no such experience to be had struggling along with a routine that you don't understand.

The basic Pilates DVDs could be learned if a viewer studies every detail carefully. Pilates is wonderful for the elongating movements of the limbs, and careful strengthening of the core muscles. However, I still recommend classes to get you started, and more classes when you feel you can do a more advanced routine. When is that? Not when you get a little mentally bored with your routine, but when your body can do it easily and you need more challenge to your muscles.

At that point, it is best to go to a basic class, and tell the teacher you feel you are ready to do more, but that you want to make sure you are doing everything right before you move on.

The Classical Stretch DVDs are excellent for getting a good explanation of the exercises, and also getting the basic version suggested that you can do if you are not ready to do what you are looking at. The routines are developed with a balletic style and are also elongating. They combine ballet and Pilates and also draw from Tai Chi a little.

There is even a Classical Stretch DVD to help you improve your golf swing!

The how-to-learn-at-home scenario is a very individual thing. Depending on your background with exercise and ballet training, you can certainly find something. (if you have health issues or previous injuries, check with your health practitioner). Look at the reviews on the products you like, and start carefully. That will do the best for your muscles and help you avoid injuries.

You can look at many workout DVDs here with descriptions and reviews.

Chinese Dancer Opens Beijing Paralympics

Read this inspiring story of an earthquake victim in China, a teenage ballet student, and how she was rescued. Having a leg amputated did not stop her from pursuing her ballet dreams.

Ballet Foot Positions - How to Create More Flexibility in the Ankle Joint

 Ballet Foot Positions

For the less flexible ankle joint, safe stretching can be done daily to get you closer to the perfect ballet foot positions.

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Avoid pain and muscle strain by ignoring some of the drastic measures you will see dancers do.

Do not put your toes under the piano, for example, and pull your knees straighter. You are heading for injuries.

Couple of Quick Stories...

Many years ago an artist friend, Vone Deporter and I would do yoga together a couple of times a week in the National Ballet School, in the evenings. We would play some relaxing music and do our own flexibility exercises.

Over the weeks, I felt more flexible, slightly, and got good results, experienced less aches and pains, and overall tension.

I used yoga to stretch the ballet way - forcing every position and deep breathing to distract myself from the pain. I thought I was getting into much better positions.

Vone did her stretching exercises the gentle yoga way. She picked a few yoga positions and stretched comfortably with a stretchy feeling, but no pain.

A few weeks later her positions were drastically more flexible than mine. She had no workout routines, no warm up routines, she'd just show up and do it.

That does not seem fair! I thought I was working much harder. But that was the way I was trained. Take it to the limit.

In recent years much that has been written by dancer/dance medicine specialists who have a very different view on how dancers should treat their bodies.  

How to stretch the foot and ankle joints to improve the curve that is part of ballet fashion, is important.

I remember watching Swan lake with Vone. Karen Kain was performing. Vone leaned over and whispered "What's wrong with her feet?" Huh? What ballet student would not like to have those banana feet?

It's a matter of perspective!

So - what is safe stretching for the top of the arch curve, the instep?

Author Deborah Vogel describes how to relax and knead out muscle tension down the front of the calves to the ankle area, using a Spaulding ball. This is a small,dense, high bounce sports ball.

If you sit down with your feet folded under you, you can roll the ball under the top of your calf muscle, below the knee joint. You will feel some very tender spots where the muscle is especially tense.

If you lean into the ball on those spots, you will feel some release there. Don't push too hard, because you can do this every day, and gradually condition the muscle.

Working your way down the leg, you can knead and massage tension out of the muscles, which will allow more flexibility at the ankle joint.

Staying in this position (or stretching out for a few minutes if your feet are going to sleep) you can now slide your hand under one knee, and gently raise the lower leg up.

Make sure your ankle is in a straight line, not sickled in or out. You will feel a stretch along the arch curve. Hold the stretch, relax and repeat 10 times, each side, every day.

This is a gentle stretch that produces results. You can also put the Spaulding ball just lower on the foot than the tops of the metatarsal joints, and gently lean into it for an extra stretch.

None of this should produce pain.

Look at an x-ray of the human foot and the many tiny foot bones.

Here is a short video showing the bones and soft tissues of the human foot:

These bones and the soft tissues supporting them need to be treated gently in between your ballet classes. They are tough, but as you push them as far as they can go every day in the ballet studio, they deserve rest and care.

With these two exercises you can increase flexibility, avoid muscle sprain and foot injuries, and improve your look in pointe shoes.

For an excellent pointe shoe fitting guide, get your dancing daughter a copy of The Pointe Book.

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

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Ballet Pointe Shoes For the Lower Arch

 Can you improve your lower arch for dancing in pointe shoes?

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Many young would-be ballerinas are reaching for the top in their dreams, for the beautiful pink satin pointe shoes and Swan lake tutus. Then they get into ballet class, and eventually into pointe shoes and their feet just don't look quite right.

Did something go wrong?

No, but they just bumped into the wall of Fashion in ballet. And then they go on to learn......

.....that this is something they cannot change, at least not very much. The truth reveals itself - their feet will never, never, point like - well, like most dancers that you see in a professional ballet company.

Oh woe. And beyond woe. This is true heartbreak for the aspiring ballerina.

Young dancers are chosen for professional ballet school training largely on their physical attributes. The right skeleton and the right flexibility will get them through years of daily training.

Let's face it, high arches in the top curve of the foot are - Ballet Fashion.

This really, truly sucks. It is SO not fair. But, there is always hope.

Here's the thing. If you have those lower arches that do not curve on top of your foot - there are 2 things you must do:

1. Develop really strong feet with pre-pointe exercises so that you can do everything better than - everybody.

2. Find the exactly right fit and kind of pointe shoe that will support and show off your foot to its best advantage.

A place to start is with: Gamba pointe shoes, which are much softer than, say, Freeds. Try on every vamp height, and width that you can, in your local ballet store.

Try the Bloch Amelie pointe shoes which has a graded shank, for more subtle use of "going through the foot", a slightly V-shaped vamp, and gently curved insole.

But try every pointe shoe that you can. Let ballet fashion accommodate YOU.

Reaching for the top is the nature of artists. A foot muscle or two may have to be isolated and worked on.

Ballet toe shoes can present obstacles - or your path to fulfillment. Is it your sole or your 'soul of art' that will be ultimately judged? Do your best, and do not lose your inspiration to succeed.

For home instruction on preparing for pointe shoes, fitting pointe shoes, and fine tuning your basic ballet technique, get The Perfect Pointe Book.