Ballet shoes and pointe shoes and getting exactly the right fit.
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Contents at a Glance
- Get exactly the right fit in ballet shoes and pointe shoes
- Ballet Pointe Shoes and How to Control Your Professional Footwork
- Ballet Shoes and the Perfect Pointe Muscles
Get exactly the right fit in ballet shoes and pointe shoes
Ballet Technique Ballet Positions Ballet Movements
Ballet Pointe Shoes and How to Control Your Professional Footwork
To prepare for doing ballet in pointe shoes, concentrate on the one thing that is going to compensate for maybe not getting exactly the right fit on your first fitting. It is not the way you sew the pointe shoe ribbons or the toe padding that you use.
It is not how good a teacher you have or the quality of the floor you dance on. Luckily, it is something you have power over, and no one can take it away 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 be over working and holding extra tension because of weak foot muscles
*** your Achilles tendon will not be prone to injury due to tense calf muscles
*** your reflexes will developed in your footwork, giving the needed control and balance
*** you will able to use the full depth of your demi plie
*** you will be able to secure your weight properly on your feet, in the 'tripod' of 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, sewing wide elastic across the vamp for extra support. There are also many tricks that dancers develop to make their pointe shoes more comfortable.
However, you gain an extra advantage over the availability of the specific ballet shoes that you want, when your feet are really strong.
Another wonderful quality you gain from control and muscle strength in your feet is an 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 difficult ballet movements requiring finer professional footwork.
Doing ballet in pointe shoes is not difficult if you are prepared. You'll also prevent dance injuries.
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 be over working and holding extra tension because of weak foot muscles
*** your Achilles tendon will not be prone to injury due to tense calf muscles
*** your reflexes will developed in your footwork, giving the needed control and balance
*** you will able to use the full depth of your demi plie
*** you will be able to secure your weight properly on your feet, in the 'tripod' of 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, sewing wide elastic across the vamp for extra support. There are also many tricks that dancers develop to make their pointe shoes more comfortable.
However, you gain an extra advantage over the availability of the specific ballet shoes that you want, when your feet are really strong.
Another wonderful quality you gain from control and muscle strength in your feet is an 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 difficult ballet movements requiring finer professional footwork.
Doing ballet in pointe shoes is not difficult if you are prepared. You'll also prevent dance injuries.
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. Following are a few tips for ballet training.
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 support your work in ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
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 support your work in ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
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!
Doomed With My Body Type in the Dance World
Ballet students in general have two strikes against them when they start ballet. I have heard so many in the ballet world say "I am doomed with my body type". Some are correct. With the wrong proportions and genetically bulked up muscles, only a few awesome talents break the ballet body barrier. The second strike is that dancers are their own worst critic, regardless of genetic luck.
Anyone who has seen a few classical ballets, or modern ballets with dancers in white spandex unitards, has figured out what the favored ballet body type is:
*Small head***long neck***shortened torso***long, thin, lean (but slightly muscular)legs*
This is a matter of genetics plus training, and it is important for the dancer to have enough strength to control motion. In non-ballet fields, these proportions are not normal and may even be considered detrimental.
*Turnout of the leg from the hip joint. This would depend whether the natural angle of the thigh bone in the hip is angled outward or inward. Also, increasing the flexibility of the surrounding soft tissues must begin before the age of seven to significantly enhance the degree of turnout. However, serious full time ballet training should NOT start at age seven. Well designed weekly classes with no rush on advancing from simple exercises (for instance the early Cecchetti or R.A.D. grades) is as complicated as training should get.
*Slight knee hyperextension has become a pleasing line in ballet. The slight backward curve of the leg enhances the look of the arch curve outward (yet undermines the function of balance). A dancer with hyperextended knees must be taught to hold them straight, that's one more of the zillion things to think about throughout a dance class. This ideally would be mastered before getting into pointe shoes.
*Bowleggedness is favored for the ballet dancer for both practical and visual reasons. External tibial torsion (outward rotation of the lower leg) is favorable in that it can increase turnout look of the feet.
* Adequate mobility of the ankle and foot so that the body can be stacked up from a demi pointe or full pointe position. A less flexible ankle especially would have the dancer's weight slightly back. Hypermobile feet are the fashionable shape, a highly domed arch. This is something you are born with, or not. However, ankle flexibility can be increased with gentle stretching, over time. The hypermobile foot is not the best functional foot for ballet. Until it is strengthened sufficiently, pointe shoes will break quickly and the dancer will not have good control.
Some talented dancers with lesser-favored proportions and muscle shapes rise in the ranks to become soloists and character performers in classical dance companies. Hard work, a winning personality and acting ability all help contribute to the success of a dancer like this.
Yet body type has nothing to do with the love of dance or performing talent. If a dance student realizes that she/he is struggling to accommodate ballet positions, let them keep struggling. And also investigate other styles of dance where success is more likely. Also look into whether or not fulfillment may be gained better acting.
Hitting the ballet body barrier never has to be a negative. It may propel a young person toward a different area of performing. And this person will have gained dance technique, discipline, ability to work hard, and they will be no longer doomed with their body type in the dance world.
If you feel that you are struggling in ballet class, take advantage of the amazing dance education available from ballet class experts.
Anyone who has seen a few classical ballets, or modern ballets with dancers in white spandex unitards, has figured out what the favored ballet body type is:
*Small head***long neck***shortened torso***long, thin, lean (but slightly muscular)legs*
This is a matter of genetics plus training, and it is important for the dancer to have enough strength to control motion. In non-ballet fields, these proportions are not normal and may even be considered detrimental.
*Turnout of the leg from the hip joint. This would depend whether the natural angle of the thigh bone in the hip is angled outward or inward. Also, increasing the flexibility of the surrounding soft tissues must begin before the age of seven to significantly enhance the degree of turnout. However, serious full time ballet training should NOT start at age seven. Well designed weekly classes with no rush on advancing from simple exercises (for instance the early Cecchetti or R.A.D. grades) is as complicated as training should get.
*Slight knee hyperextension has become a pleasing line in ballet. The slight backward curve of the leg enhances the look of the arch curve outward (yet undermines the function of balance). A dancer with hyperextended knees must be taught to hold them straight, that's one more of the zillion things to think about throughout a dance class. This ideally would be mastered before getting into pointe shoes.
*Bowleggedness is favored for the ballet dancer for both practical and visual reasons. External tibial torsion (outward rotation of the lower leg) is favorable in that it can increase turnout look of the feet.
* Adequate mobility of the ankle and foot so that the body can be stacked up from a demi pointe or full pointe position. A less flexible ankle especially would have the dancer's weight slightly back. Hypermobile feet are the fashionable shape, a highly domed arch. This is something you are born with, or not. However, ankle flexibility can be increased with gentle stretching, over time. The hypermobile foot is not the best functional foot for ballet. Until it is strengthened sufficiently, pointe shoes will break quickly and the dancer will not have good control.
Some talented dancers with lesser-favored proportions and muscle shapes rise in the ranks to become soloists and character performers in classical dance companies. Hard work, a winning personality and acting ability all help contribute to the success of a dancer like this.
Yet body type has nothing to do with the love of dance or performing talent. If a dance student realizes that she/he is struggling to accommodate ballet positions, let them keep struggling. And also investigate other styles of dance where success is more likely. Also look into whether or not fulfillment may be gained better acting.
Hitting the ballet body barrier never has to be a negative. It may propel a young person toward a different area of performing. And this person will have gained dance technique, discipline, ability to work hard, and they will be no longer doomed with their body type in the dance world.
If you feel that you are struggling in ballet class, take advantage of the amazing dance education available from ballet class experts.
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?
Every ballet class is a pre-pointe class, if you want to look at it that way. Every battment tendu, battment 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 focus accurately on pre-pointe practice routines, get all you need from 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?
Every ballet class is a pre-pointe class, if you want to look at it that way. Every battment tendu, battment 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 focus accurately on pre-pointe practice routines, get all you need from The Perfect Pointe Book.
Taking Advantage of the Brain Body Connection in Ballet/Sports/Fitness Training
Classical technique takes strong, long, lean muscles and a healthy brain. Ballet/sports/fitness goals are demanding and time consuming yet can be life's inspiration even on a recreational level.
Understanding and using a natural posture of the spine in any style of dance classes actually supports healthy brain function, which in turn governs many chemical messenger processes that result in body strength and elegance and the enjoyment dancers and fitness buffs seek.
While dance techniques use a lengthening of the spine, it is never meant for the natural curves to straighten. The back of the neck curving inward, the upper back curving back outward, the small of the back curving inward and the sacrum curving outward again, are all minor but necessary shapes.
Dancers and other athletes focus on eating a good diet. They want stronger muscles as they develop advanced technical movements, strive to get into pointe shoes or aim for excellence in sports. Partnering in all styles of dance demands another level of technique and coordination, spatial awareness and sensitivity. What do the natural spinal curves and spinal (muscle, bone, nerve, discs) have to do with this?
The spinal canal is like the information highway of your body/brain connection. CSF (cerebro-spinal fluid) is pumped to the brain, carrying the necessary nutrients for effective functions. These brain functions cause physical, intellectual and emotional wellness to the degree that your nutrition is good, and to the degree that the CSF reaches the brain.
This pumping action is initiated by the movement of the sacrum (the lowest portion of the spine) and the cervical spine (neck). So free, easy movement of the low back and neck allow nutrients to get to your brain.
If this canal is dammed up with spinal compression due to muscle spasms, the spine being forced straight or even into a reversed curve (which happens most commonly in the neck), then what is needed in the brain may get there in vastly diminished amounts. Muscles that never relax enough will decrease in movement, and the pumping effect of the sacrum and neck will be less.
The chronic diminishment of oxygen and nutrients to the brain can lead to disease and degeneration, physically, intellectually and emotionally (or socially, if you prefer). An extreme example is an incident underwater where the brain is deprived of oxygen too long, leading to serious damage.
Many people, as well as athletes, have undetected spinal imbalance and misalignments (subluxations), as they engage in their everyday activities. Gradually, this CSF pumping mechanism decreases.
When nutrients do not reach the brain in the proper quantity and quality, the brain can atrophy, or shrink and lose function, even as young as 25 years old.
Another factor in brain health is the proper function of communication signals that take place within the spinal column, specifically in the brain stem and spinal cord. Overexertion involving poor placement of the spine would affect the signaling to secrete important glandular chemical hormones, which govern our organs and how well they function. These hormones and chemicals also govern our moods, our perceptions and our expectations of the future.
The spinal nerves going to our organs can get compressed, or "pinched", affecting heart, lung, stomach, liver, adrenal, and many more functions. And, in turn, the body would fail to process and metabolize the nutrition that it is fed. This is an ongoing degenerating cyclical process.
Proper understanding and execution of ballet/sports/fitness form, along with good rest and recovery, relaxation and stretching, (safe, motionless positions), enhances the brain/body connection. The fit get fitter and the unfit get weaker.
It is easy to get an evaluation by a chiropractor for proper spinal alignment and correction of spinal posture. Better to have before a semester of training starts, or before class and rehearsal schedules intensify before ballet exams or performances. Why wait till something goes wrong with your precious brain/body connection.
Take advantage of The Ballet Store with its huge collection of ballet books, DVDs and functional anatomy material for ballet dancers.
While dance techniques use a lengthening of the spine, it is never meant for the natural curves to straighten. The back of the neck curving inward, the upper back curving back outward, the small of the back curving inward and the sacrum curving outward again, are all minor but necessary shapes.
Dancers and other athletes focus on eating a good diet. They want stronger muscles as they develop advanced technical movements, strive to get into pointe shoes or aim for excellence in sports. Partnering in all styles of dance demands another level of technique and coordination, spatial awareness and sensitivity. What do the natural spinal curves and spinal (muscle, bone, nerve, discs) have to do with this?
The spinal canal is like the information highway of your body/brain connection. CSF (cerebro-spinal fluid) is pumped to the brain, carrying the necessary nutrients for effective functions. These brain functions cause physical, intellectual and emotional wellness to the degree that your nutrition is good, and to the degree that the CSF reaches the brain.
This pumping action is initiated by the movement of the sacrum (the lowest portion of the spine) and the cervical spine (neck). So free, easy movement of the low back and neck allow nutrients to get to your brain.
If this canal is dammed up with spinal compression due to muscle spasms, the spine being forced straight or even into a reversed curve (which happens most commonly in the neck), then what is needed in the brain may get there in vastly diminished amounts. Muscles that never relax enough will decrease in movement, and the pumping effect of the sacrum and neck will be less.
The chronic diminishment of oxygen and nutrients to the brain can lead to disease and degeneration, physically, intellectually and emotionally (or socially, if you prefer). An extreme example is an incident underwater where the brain is deprived of oxygen too long, leading to serious damage.
Many people, as well as athletes, have undetected spinal imbalance and misalignments (subluxations), as they engage in their everyday activities. Gradually, this CSF pumping mechanism decreases.
When nutrients do not reach the brain in the proper quantity and quality, the brain can atrophy, or shrink and lose function, even as young as 25 years old.
Another factor in brain health is the proper function of communication signals that take place within the spinal column, specifically in the brain stem and spinal cord. Overexertion involving poor placement of the spine would affect the signaling to secrete important glandular chemical hormones, which govern our organs and how well they function. These hormones and chemicals also govern our moods, our perceptions and our expectations of the future.
The spinal nerves going to our organs can get compressed, or "pinched", affecting heart, lung, stomach, liver, adrenal, and many more functions. And, in turn, the body would fail to process and metabolize the nutrition that it is fed. This is an ongoing degenerating cyclical process.
Proper understanding and execution of ballet/sports/fitness form, along with good rest and recovery, relaxation and stretching, (safe, motionless positions), enhances the brain/body connection. The fit get fitter and the unfit get weaker.
It is easy to get an evaluation by a chiropractor for proper spinal alignment and correction of spinal posture. Better to have before a semester of training starts, or before class and rehearsal schedules intensify before ballet exams or performances. Why wait till something goes wrong with your precious brain/body connection.
Take advantage of The Ballet Store with its huge collection of ballet books, DVDs and functional anatomy material for ballet dancers.
Breaking Tiny Foot Bones and Getting Back Into Pointe Shoes
Ballet dancers and other athletes can develop shallow cracks, or stress fractures in their tiny foot bones. Inaccurate training, a suddenly increased practice schedule, badly fitting pointe shoes, or a change in flooring can cause this type of dance or sp
These injuries must be treated properly if you want to be getting back into pointe shoes as soon as possible.
The bones that commonly break from stress are in the forefoot, the section that extends from your toes to the middle of your foot. These tiny cracks do not extend through the bone, like most other types of fractures. They are typically stable, meaning no shift in bone alignment is caused. Nor do they displace bones so that the bone ends no longer line up.
Stress fractures often look like dark bruises. If the bone hasn't twisted and broken your skin, you might not suspect anything more than a bruising. This is referred to as a closed fracture.
The little toe, or fifth metatarsal seems to be an especially vulnerable area. Loss of control in pointe shoes such as a sharp fall off pointe with the weight twisting over to the outer edge of the foot (sickling in) may tear the tendon that attaches to this bone which results in a small piece of the bone pulling away.
A Jones fracture is a fairly serious injury. It occurs near the base of the little toe bone and interferes with the blood supply to the bone. This injury may even require surgery to heal correctly.
Pain, swelling, and often, discoloration, are the usual symptoms of a fracture in the foot. You may still be able to walk, but this usually increases the pain. If the pain and swelling do not significantly decrease in two or three days, or if the pain with walking doesn't stop, you should assume something is wrong.
See a doctor! Don't wait to get a diagnosis and treatment. You want to avoid developing chronic foot pain and arthritis. This could eventually distort the way you walk. Your body will always figure out how to compensate for a painful or weak area, but not in a way that will support ballet dancing or athletic training. The solution will become another problem.
Use an ice pack to reduce the pain and swelling, and put your foot up and rest. Wrap your ice pack so it doesn't touch your skin. Ice frequently, but not more than twenty minutes at a time.
Your doctor, chiropractor or physiotherapist is going to see you through rehabilitation. Even though you may feel extremely anxious about getting back into pointe shoes, be patient with your tiny foot bones and learn how to prevent further injury.
The bones that commonly break from stress are in the forefoot, the section that extends from your toes to the middle of your foot. These tiny cracks do not extend through the bone, like most other types of fractures. They are typically stable, meaning no shift in bone alignment is caused. Nor do they displace bones so that the bone ends no longer line up.
Stress fractures often look like dark bruises. If the bone hasn't twisted and broken your skin, you might not suspect anything more than a bruising. This is referred to as a closed fracture.
The little toe, or fifth metatarsal seems to be an especially vulnerable area. Loss of control in pointe shoes such as a sharp fall off pointe with the weight twisting over to the outer edge of the foot (sickling in) may tear the tendon that attaches to this bone which results in a small piece of the bone pulling away.
A Jones fracture is a fairly serious injury. It occurs near the base of the little toe bone and interferes with the blood supply to the bone. This injury may even require surgery to heal correctly.
Pain, swelling, and often, discoloration, are the usual symptoms of a fracture in the foot. You may still be able to walk, but this usually increases the pain. If the pain and swelling do not significantly decrease in two or three days, or if the pain with walking doesn't stop, you should assume something is wrong.
See a doctor! Don't wait to get a diagnosis and treatment. You want to avoid developing chronic foot pain and arthritis. This could eventually distort the way you walk. Your body will always figure out how to compensate for a painful or weak area, but not in a way that will support ballet dancing or athletic training. The solution will become another problem.
Use an ice pack to reduce the pain and swelling, and put your foot up and rest. Wrap your ice pack so it doesn't touch your skin. Ice frequently, but not more than twenty minutes at a time.
Your doctor, chiropractor or physiotherapist is going to see you through rehabilitation. Even though you may feel extremely anxious about getting back into pointe shoes, be patient with your tiny foot bones and learn how to prevent further injury.
How to Tell What Makes You Fat
If you are a ballet dancer, or thinking of becoming a ballerina or a man in ballet, or any other style of dancer, you have probably thought about what can make you fat. This one thought is an occupational hazard in the realm of ballet.
So how do you tell what makes you fat?
The idea that eating fats will make you fat is a basic mistake. For most people, excess insulin makes them fat and not the fat itself. Where does excess insulin come from? At what age are you susceptible to be cursed with excess insulin?
Whether you are ten years old or an adult, you need to understand what the glycemic index is. It's not too difficult a thing to learn. You eat carbohydrates, meaning starches such as bread, crackers, rice, corn and potatoes. These foods release sugars into our system and keep our bodies going. Processed carbohydrates, like cereal from boxes, flour products, candy bars, power bars, digest as sugars that get dumped into your bloodstream fairly quickly. In fact, the higher a food resides on the glycemic index, the faster it will release its sugars. In order to regulate your insulin levels, make sure that you are eating foods from the lower end of the glycemic. This pretty well eliminates fast foods and junk foods.
Complex carbohydrates such as multi-grain sprouted breads, beans and legumes, as examples, are foods that are not processed. They are left alone to be eaten as nature made them. They are full of vitamins and minerals and digest with the sugars releasing more slowly into your system. This requires less insulin to regulate the sugar levels in your blood.
When you eat processed carbohydrates that transform quickly into sugars, more insulin is needed to regulate your blood sugar. Eventually your body gets used to the high insulin levels, and ignores the insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Once you advance into this stage of metabolism, it is much easier to gain weight, and much harder to lose weight.
A couple of decades ago, this was considered a middle-aged condition, or an elderly condition, leading to Adult Onset Diabetes. Not any more!
Notice the word fat has nothing to do with any of this!
You may have heard someone lamenting "I have slow metabolism, so I cannot stay thin!". This is a result of eating the wrong sugars, not from eating fat. White sugar used to be the no-no. Now it is high fructose corn syrup, which overwhelms our bodies and makes us crave more carbs. Even worse, the calorie-free artificial sweeteners also make us crave carbs!
Is this some kind of trap?
Let's get back to fats, which are present in fresh, unprocessed, real foods made by nature. Meats, fish, vegetables, nuts, seeds, dairy products, eggs, and oils. FATS!
"Essential fatty acids, in a ratio of two (omega 3) to one (omega 6) and at levels of about twelve to fifteen percent of total caloric intake, increase the rate of metabolic reaction in the body. This increased rate burns more fat into carbon dioxide, water and energy (heat), which results in fat burn-off and a loss of excess weight." - Udo Erasmus, author of "Fats That Heal Fats That Kill".
You mean you can eat food that "results in fat burn-off and a loss of excess weight"? That is what this, and other doctors such as Al Sears, state. Dr Atkins of the Atkins Diet fame spread the same information.
For ballet and other dancers who need a high energy supply, regeneration of muscle mass on a daily basis, and endurance for performances, it is good to know how to tell what makes you fat, and what makes you strong. Stay well!
The idea that eating fats will make you fat is a basic mistake. For most people, excess insulin makes them fat and not the fat itself. Where does excess insulin come from? At what age are you susceptible to be cursed with excess insulin?
Whether you are ten years old or an adult, you need to understand what the glycemic index is. It's not too difficult a thing to learn. You eat carbohydrates, meaning starches such as bread, crackers, rice, corn and potatoes. These foods release sugars into our system and keep our bodies going. Processed carbohydrates, like cereal from boxes, flour products, candy bars, power bars, digest as sugars that get dumped into your bloodstream fairly quickly. In fact, the higher a food resides on the glycemic index, the faster it will release its sugars. In order to regulate your insulin levels, make sure that you are eating foods from the lower end of the glycemic. This pretty well eliminates fast foods and junk foods.
Complex carbohydrates such as multi-grain sprouted breads, beans and legumes, as examples, are foods that are not processed. They are left alone to be eaten as nature made them. They are full of vitamins and minerals and digest with the sugars releasing more slowly into your system. This requires less insulin to regulate the sugar levels in your blood.
When you eat processed carbohydrates that transform quickly into sugars, more insulin is needed to regulate your blood sugar. Eventually your body gets used to the high insulin levels, and ignores the insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Once you advance into this stage of metabolism, it is much easier to gain weight, and much harder to lose weight.
A couple of decades ago, this was considered a middle-aged condition, or an elderly condition, leading to Adult Onset Diabetes. Not any more!
Notice the word fat has nothing to do with any of this!
You may have heard someone lamenting "I have slow metabolism, so I cannot stay thin!". This is a result of eating the wrong sugars, not from eating fat. White sugar used to be the no-no. Now it is high fructose corn syrup, which overwhelms our bodies and makes us crave more carbs. Even worse, the calorie-free artificial sweeteners also make us crave carbs!
Is this some kind of trap?
Let's get back to fats, which are present in fresh, unprocessed, real foods made by nature. Meats, fish, vegetables, nuts, seeds, dairy products, eggs, and oils. FATS!
"Essential fatty acids, in a ratio of two (omega 3) to one (omega 6) and at levels of about twelve to fifteen percent of total caloric intake, increase the rate of metabolic reaction in the body. This increased rate burns more fat into carbon dioxide, water and energy (heat), which results in fat burn-off and a loss of excess weight." - Udo Erasmus, author of "Fats That Heal Fats That Kill".
You mean you can eat food that "results in fat burn-off and a loss of excess weight"? That is what this, and other doctors such as Al Sears, state. Dr Atkins of the Atkins Diet fame spread the same information.
For ballet and other dancers who need a high energy supply, regeneration of muscle mass on a daily basis, and endurance for performances, it is good to know how to tell what makes you fat, and what makes you strong. Stay well!
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 and hypo-mobile (tighter motion) body requires accurate ballet movements.
All would-be ballerinas and plenty of men in ballet want to get into pointe shoes, and, faster. The good news is, the finer details are available to all dance students through a little extra reading, examining photos and watching videos. This terrific ballet education is accessible from dance experts near and far.
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.
Using a pinkie ball (hard, small sports ball) or a golf ball, and rolling it under the arches with gentle pressure, eases the tension out of the muscles. 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. Also check that you get the extra tension towards the outside of the calf, and the inside area.
The front of the calves, or your shins, can be tense as well. Kneeling on the floor, ease and press your pinky 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. You can get more information on using a pinkie ball for all your muscles here.
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 pointe, 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. Using a theraband, ensuring that the intrinsic (exclusive to the foot) muscles are being constantly strengthened are two ways to work toward the perfect function for dancing ballet in pointe shoes as safely as possible. Doing this will help prevent sprained ankles.
Learn how to develop perfect foot muscles for pointe shoes.
All would-be ballerinas and plenty of men in ballet want to get into pointe shoes, and, faster. The good news is, the finer details are available to all dance students through a little extra reading, examining photos and watching videos. This terrific ballet education is accessible from dance experts near and far.
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.
Using a pinkie ball (hard, small sports ball) or a golf ball, and rolling it under the arches with gentle pressure, eases the tension out of the muscles. 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. Also check that you get the extra tension towards the outside of the calf, and the inside area.
The front of the calves, or your shins, can be tense as well. Kneeling on the floor, ease and press your pinky 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. You can get more information on using a pinkie ball for all your muscles here.
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 pointe, 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. Using a theraband, ensuring that the intrinsic (exclusive to the foot) muscles are being constantly strengthened are two ways to work toward the perfect function for dancing ballet in pointe shoes as safely as possible. Doing this will help prevent sprained ankles.
Learn how to develop perfect foot muscles for pointe shoes.
Adult Ballet Brings the Ethereal and the Grounded Together With Ballet Exercises
A common response to why adults seek ballet as an exercise to reduce stress, anxiety, or feeling spaced out, is "to get a sense of my body". Ballet is ethereal, yet taking adult ballet classes is a great way to get grounded.
If you take the big step and find a dance studio that provides adult ballet classes, how do you prepare yourself?
First, go and visit the ballet school, and observe the dance instruction in the adult ballet section. Before you buy any ballet wear, you can find out the dress code, and the the type of ballet leotards and tights most frequently worn. Check out the ballet shoes that are either required, or free for you to choose. Black or pink, black or white for men in ballet, and so on.
Whether you have a huge performing arts school, or a small neighborhood ballet studio, visit, watch a couple of classes and get a feel for the place. Ballet wear includes your hairstyle, clothes you might want to wear over your leotards and tights, if allowed. Even if you want to hide a less than wraith-like figure under a sweater, filmy skirt, or dance pants, always wear a leotard and pink tights, for women.
This classic ballet wear allows the ballet teacher to see what your muscles are doing, if she/he wants. This is only to your benefit, since especially in the beginner adult ballet classes, you want to know that you are learning correct ballet technique and getting into correct ballet positions.
Some adult ballet classes use Pilates to help warm up. This is excellent for developing the core muscles. Feeling your core muscles gives a good sense of the body. It is grounding. Feeling the core muscles and having correct posture in the low back/pelvic area will help you develop your turnout muscles without needless tension.
Feeling the soles of the feet flat on the floor, not slanting in (pronation) or out (supination) is essential. That in itself is a grounding effort. If you have been advised to exercise for stress or anxiety control, I think ballet is excellent. Ballet gives you control over something which you can indeed control. Your own body.
You cannot be spacey in ballet class. The music, the sound of the teacher's voice, and the sense of your body working, enhances your presence. You cannot be somewhere else. While getting grounded, you are learning an elegant and ethereal style of dancing. The best of both ideas.
By the way, presence is IT. If you ever wonder why professional ballet dancers work so hard for little money and lots of aches and pains, for so long, maybe because it creates more of their own presence so often. Because presence is Presence. You know what I mean.
So if you have always wanted to take adult ballet classes, go. Get the best teacher you can, and benefit from all the wonderful ballet manuals available now that will tell you all the finer details of ballet technique. That extra understanding will get you even more grounded in adult ballet technique.
The Perfect Pointe Book gives practice routines you can do safely at home, after a few months of beginner adult ballet classes. Even if you never dance ballet in pointe shoes, the exact details of this manual will answer many questions you may have and never get to ask in ballet class.
The Ballet Store site provides a free ballet glossary so you can learn the French words for ballet quickly.And get all the ballet wear you need.
If you take the big step and find a dance studio that provides adult ballet classes, how do you prepare yourself?
First, go and visit the ballet school, and observe the dance instruction in the adult ballet section. Before you buy any ballet wear, you can find out the dress code, and the the type of ballet leotards and tights most frequently worn. Check out the ballet shoes that are either required, or free for you to choose. Black or pink, black or white for men in ballet, and so on.
Whether you have a huge performing arts school, or a small neighborhood ballet studio, visit, watch a couple of classes and get a feel for the place. Ballet wear includes your hairstyle, clothes you might want to wear over your leotards and tights, if allowed. Even if you want to hide a less than wraith-like figure under a sweater, filmy skirt, or dance pants, always wear a leotard and pink tights, for women.
This classic ballet wear allows the ballet teacher to see what your muscles are doing, if she/he wants. This is only to your benefit, since especially in the beginner adult ballet classes, you want to know that you are learning correct ballet technique and getting into correct ballet positions.
Some adult ballet classes use Pilates to help warm up. This is excellent for developing the core muscles. Feeling your core muscles gives a good sense of the body. It is grounding. Feeling the core muscles and having correct posture in the low back/pelvic area will help you develop your turnout muscles without needless tension.
Feeling the soles of the feet flat on the floor, not slanting in (pronation) or out (supination) is essential. That in itself is a grounding effort. If you have been advised to exercise for stress or anxiety control, I think ballet is excellent. Ballet gives you control over something which you can indeed control. Your own body.
You cannot be spacey in ballet class. The music, the sound of the teacher's voice, and the sense of your body working, enhances your presence. You cannot be somewhere else. While getting grounded, you are learning an elegant and ethereal style of dancing. The best of both ideas.
By the way, presence is IT. If you ever wonder why professional ballet dancers work so hard for little money and lots of aches and pains, for so long, maybe because it creates more of their own presence so often. Because presence is Presence. You know what I mean.
So if you have always wanted to take adult ballet classes, go. Get the best teacher you can, and benefit from all the wonderful ballet manuals available now that will tell you all the finer details of ballet technique. That extra understanding will get you even more grounded in adult ballet technique.
The Perfect Pointe Book gives practice routines you can do safely at home, after a few months of beginner adult ballet classes. Even if you never dance ballet in pointe shoes, the exact details of this manual will answer many questions you may have and never get to ask in ballet class.
The Ballet Store site provides a free ballet glossary so you can learn the French words for ballet quickly.And get all the ballet wear you need.
Ballet and Sports Fitness - Magnesium For Your Muscle Tone
For success in ballet, sports and fitness, strong muscle tone must also result in fluid movement. This requires the minimal tension needed to execute a ballet movement, or ballet position, or a physical move as required in sports training.
Magnesium is a nutritional super star. It improves function in the brain, bones and muscles. In team sports, advanced ballet in pointe shoes and pas de deux, magnesium is part of the nutrition that enhances ballet/sports/fitness success.
Magnesium is present in most of your body cells. It plays a starring role as a co-factor, meaning, it assists enzymes in catalysing (a catalyst is a substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected) many necessary chemical reactions.
Magnesium affects many things that your ballet and sports require of you, physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Here's a short list:
- nerve conduction, or the sending and receiving of messages affecting muscle response
- muscular movement affecting fluidity, accuracy and coordination
- bone metabolism, affecting your growth and development, as well as your immune system
- protein manufacture in the body which is extremely complex
- fat and carbohydrate metabolism. A new frontier being researched now is magnesium in relation to insulin resistance, which, once that condition begins, makes it harder to stay thin
- glucose utilization, affecting brain power and muscle power
Whether your goals in ballet/sports/fitness are personal and recreational, or professional, I'm sure you would want all the points made above functioning for optimum results in your muscles and brain.
Because magnesium allows the muscle contractions that occur to turn off, it helps control tension and spasms caused by over training, heavy practice or rehearsal days, and inaccurate technique.
Magnesium supplements can be bought in tablet or powder form. Always read labels, and select brands that do not have anything else added, except maybe fruit flavoring from natural sources that you recognize. Powdered magnesium digests faster. It's usually a good idea to take half the recommended dosage for a couple of days, to let your body get used to a nutrient that has been deficient. Magnesium can loosen the bowels at first, but that effect goes away within a day or so. Magnesium carbonate has the biggest affect this way. Magnesium citrate and magnesium lactate are known to digest better.
Because of the relaxing effect magnesium has, you may sleep more deeply, and high blood pressure may lower towards normal. Even irregularities of the heart muscle can be helped by magnesium.
Many flavoring foods are high in magnesium: dill, chives, celery seed, spearmint, sage, coriander and basil. Put fresh into salads or chopped and sprinkled on vegetables, meat or fish, these are all delicious.
So for strong bones, good muscle tone (which requires proper relaxation for strength), getting enough rest, and staying calm, eat magnesium! Best obtained from fresh foods, yet very helpful as a food-sourced supplement, it is a super star silent partner in your ballet/sports/fitness training.
Magnesium is present in most of your body cells. It plays a starring role as a co-factor, meaning, it assists enzymes in catalysing (a catalyst is a substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected) many necessary chemical reactions.
Magnesium affects many things that your ballet and sports require of you, physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Here's a short list:
- nerve conduction, or the sending and receiving of messages affecting muscle response
- muscular movement affecting fluidity, accuracy and coordination
- bone metabolism, affecting your growth and development, as well as your immune system
- protein manufacture in the body which is extremely complex
- fat and carbohydrate metabolism. A new frontier being researched now is magnesium in relation to insulin resistance, which, once that condition begins, makes it harder to stay thin
- glucose utilization, affecting brain power and muscle power
Whether your goals in ballet/sports/fitness are personal and recreational, or professional, I'm sure you would want all the points made above functioning for optimum results in your muscles and brain.
Because magnesium allows the muscle contractions that occur to turn off, it helps control tension and spasms caused by over training, heavy practice or rehearsal days, and inaccurate technique.
Magnesium supplements can be bought in tablet or powder form. Always read labels, and select brands that do not have anything else added, except maybe fruit flavoring from natural sources that you recognize. Powdered magnesium digests faster. It's usually a good idea to take half the recommended dosage for a couple of days, to let your body get used to a nutrient that has been deficient. Magnesium can loosen the bowels at first, but that effect goes away within a day or so. Magnesium carbonate has the biggest affect this way. Magnesium citrate and magnesium lactate are known to digest better.
Because of the relaxing effect magnesium has, you may sleep more deeply, and high blood pressure may lower towards normal. Even irregularities of the heart muscle can be helped by magnesium.
Many flavoring foods are high in magnesium: dill, chives, celery seed, spearmint, sage, coriander and basil. Put fresh into salads or chopped and sprinkled on vegetables, meat or fish, these are all delicious.
So for strong bones, good muscle tone (which requires proper relaxation for strength), getting enough rest, and staying calm, eat magnesium! Best obtained from fresh foods, yet very helpful as a food-sourced supplement, it is a super star silent partner in your ballet/sports/fitness training.
How To Learn Better In Ballet Class
How do you increase your concentration and learn better in ballet class? This is important for you to learn faster, make faster progress and increase the strength and accuracy of your ballet technique.
If you are a ballet beginner, it is very important to learn the French words for ballet. Study a ballet glossary at The Ballet Store and highlight the words or phrases that match the words you learn every class. This way you will avoid distractions, like having your mind wander or wonder every time the ballet teacher says something you do not understand.
Understanding the words you hear aligns with the idea of only trying to do one thing at a time. In ballet class, once a teacher starts talking or demonstrating an exercise, your ability to concentrate will determine how well you comprehend and then remember what you have seen and heard. In this instance, as soon as your mind starts to wander, or wonder, you are now doing an additional task. You miss some of what you should have heard or seen, so there is nothing there to remember!
If you are an adult ballet beginner, the best glossary is a photo guide glossary, like you would find in The Ballet Bible. You will see ballet steps demonstrated while learning the French ballet words. This results in faster progress.
If you feel that poor memory stops you from learning better in ballet class, try to develop an awareness of where your mind goes when the teacher is showing a combination. Some people learn better visually and can be distracted by words being spoken. Some people learn better through audial comprehension and get distracted by what they are seeing.
My experience with ballet students is that those with poor concentration are usually distracted by something as soon as the music stops and the teacher starts correcting someone, or everyone. Adjusting ballet wear or fiddling with pointe shoes, or hair, are the most common and observable activities.
Poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and lots of worry are often at the bottom of a decrease in ability to concentrate. These issues must be corrected out of class.
Understanding the words you hear aligns with the idea of only trying to do one thing at a time. In ballet class, once a teacher starts talking or demonstrating an exercise, your ability to concentrate will determine how well you comprehend and then remember what you have seen and heard. In this instance, as soon as your mind starts to wander, or wonder, you are now doing an additional task. You miss some of what you should have heard or seen, so there is nothing there to remember!
If you are an adult ballet beginner, the best glossary is a photo guide glossary, like you would find in The Ballet Bible. You will see ballet steps demonstrated while learning the French ballet words. This results in faster progress.
If you feel that poor memory stops you from learning better in ballet class, try to develop an awareness of where your mind goes when the teacher is showing a combination. Some people learn better visually and can be distracted by words being spoken. Some people learn better through audial comprehension and get distracted by what they are seeing.
My experience with ballet students is that those with poor concentration are usually distracted by something as soon as the music stops and the teacher starts correcting someone, or everyone. Adjusting ballet wear or fiddling with pointe shoes, or hair, are the most common and observable activities.
Poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and lots of worry are often at the bottom of a decrease in ability to concentrate. These issues must be corrected out of class.
A Chiropractor's Role With Neck Pain and Stiffness in Ballet Training
Neck pain, back pain, and unresolved muscle tension will lead to ballet injuries if left untreated.
Ballet training can bring on pain and stiffness that does not go away in the muscle recovery period, which is rarely sufficient. Once a pattern of tension is established, a ballet dancer must follow a specific routine to reverse the harmful trend before arthritis sets in.
When a ballet dancer's core muscles are weak, or when a dancer is working an intense schedule without enough recovery time, where does the strain go? Often to the neck and shoulders.
Ballet dancers (and other style dancers) will typically work with increasing tension and strain, aching muscles, and mild pain, until the condition develops to the point of an acute and sharp neck pain. They will start to feel an extreme stiffness of their neck, having difficulty moving it in any direction. When the pain reaches its worst level, it might be accompanied by shooting pain down into both shoulders and perhaps even to the elbows.
This kind of discomfort may develop very gradually, so there is not necessarily personal neglect involved. Usually the pain is less in the morning, although the stiffness is noticeable. With additional time and attention given to warming up the neck and upper back, a good part of a heavy rehearsal day, starting with class, could be danced well with tolerance of the discomfort. Most likely, however, as the day goes on, the pain increases, often described as a "stabbing pain", with certain movements. The neck stiffness can return despite the dancer being warmed up. The strain becomes visible to others, watching or coaching.
At this point a dancer will be forced to take time out to seek professional help. Upon examination by a chiropractor, for example, it will be found that the back of the neck and mid back muscles are in tight spasm. The muscles under the chin may be in spasm as well, holding the head at a downward angle. The dancer easily understands that he/she has made this condition worse by working with the head not centered over the shoulders. (When the postural plumb line is violated in any way, extra muscle gripping will show up, as the body always finds a way to compensate and "balance" itself).
What is alarming is that, by viewing an x-ray of this kind of neck, it can be seen that the normal curve is not only decreased, but has reversed! And, quite distressing news to a young ballet dancer, the front of the middle neck bones may be severely degenerated, because of the chronic pressure on the front of them.
This curve reversal is all too common among classically trained dancers. Traditional ballet positions demand that the neck appear tall and straight. Although no harm is intended, the muscles along the front of the neck get stronger and stronger. This development straightens the neck bones, and continues through the years of training, until the normal curve reverses. The front of the neck bones actually start to grind, and gradually arthritis sets in.
The goal of chiropractic care would be to re-mobilize the neck bones that are locked in spasm, along with releasing the chronic tension of the shoulder and upper back muscles. Early treatment can prevent the development of the reversed curve, and eventual arthritis. The tight neck muscles can be relaxed and stretched, relieving the compression that reduces the natural curve. Massage, machine traction and a supportive pillow for sleeping can all contribute to chiropractic treatment, countering the harmful tendencies that have become a habit for the ballet dancer.
The neck of a ballet dancer can be held in a tall and slightly straightened position without leading to harm. All ballet students need to understand how to relax and stretch properly, as well as how to strengthen the core muscles to prevent neck strain and back pain. Education will prevent ballet dance injuries.
When a ballet dancer's core muscles are weak, or when a dancer is working an intense schedule without enough recovery time, where does the strain go? Often to the neck and shoulders.
Ballet dancers (and other style dancers) will typically work with increasing tension and strain, aching muscles, and mild pain, until the condition develops to the point of an acute and sharp neck pain. They will start to feel an extreme stiffness of their neck, having difficulty moving it in any direction. When the pain reaches its worst level, it might be accompanied by shooting pain down into both shoulders and perhaps even to the elbows.
This kind of discomfort may develop very gradually, so there is not necessarily personal neglect involved. Usually the pain is less in the morning, although the stiffness is noticeable. With additional time and attention given to warming up the neck and upper back, a good part of a heavy rehearsal day, starting with class, could be danced well with tolerance of the discomfort. Most likely, however, as the day goes on, the pain increases, often described as a "stabbing pain", with certain movements. The neck stiffness can return despite the dancer being warmed up. The strain becomes visible to others, watching or coaching.
At this point a dancer will be forced to take time out to seek professional help. Upon examination by a chiropractor, for example, it will be found that the back of the neck and mid back muscles are in tight spasm. The muscles under the chin may be in spasm as well, holding the head at a downward angle. The dancer easily understands that he/she has made this condition worse by working with the head not centered over the shoulders. (When the postural plumb line is violated in any way, extra muscle gripping will show up, as the body always finds a way to compensate and "balance" itself).
What is alarming is that, by viewing an x-ray of this kind of neck, it can be seen that the normal curve is not only decreased, but has reversed! And, quite distressing news to a young ballet dancer, the front of the middle neck bones may be severely degenerated, because of the chronic pressure on the front of them.
This curve reversal is all too common among classically trained dancers. Traditional ballet positions demand that the neck appear tall and straight. Although no harm is intended, the muscles along the front of the neck get stronger and stronger. This development straightens the neck bones, and continues through the years of training, until the normal curve reverses. The front of the neck bones actually start to grind, and gradually arthritis sets in.
The goal of chiropractic care would be to re-mobilize the neck bones that are locked in spasm, along with releasing the chronic tension of the shoulder and upper back muscles. Early treatment can prevent the development of the reversed curve, and eventual arthritis. The tight neck muscles can be relaxed and stretched, relieving the compression that reduces the natural curve. Massage, machine traction and a supportive pillow for sleeping can all contribute to chiropractic treatment, countering the harmful tendencies that have become a habit for the ballet dancer.
The neck of a ballet dancer can be held in a tall and slightly straightened position without leading to harm. All ballet students need to understand how to relax and stretch properly, as well as how to strengthen the core muscles to prevent neck strain and back pain. Education will prevent ballet dance injuries.
New Dance and Ballet Resolutions - Get Some Tips For an Extra Advantage
Ballet dancers tend to be self-critical and my intention is to help dancers progress faster with a light-hearted and keep-it-simple approach to new resolutions for their quest to excel in ballet class.
Solving technical roadblocks may result in the extra advantage of a new understanding and enthusiasm that will take the "chore" out of making New Year's goals for your ballet training. So here are a few tips.
We've all had ballet corrections that do not seem to ever go away. We may understand perfectly how ballet positions and ballet movements should be. We understand how the body should mechanically do something, yet it can be frustrating when the body we're in just does not get it right after much trying.
What is the most frequent correction you got last year? Why isn't it fixed? There is a reason, relating to one of the following.
** Posture
** Flexibility
** Alignment
** Strength and reflexes
** Turnout
** Tension
For example, if you stand sideways to a mirror, legs parallel and straight, core area held a little, do your ankles/knees/hips/shoulders/ears stack up, with natural spinal curves kept? If not, is an area not stacked because it is too tight or too lose? Can the core muscles hold without strain showing in the neck or shoulders? Posture has a lot to do with tension, flexibility, strength, and understanding. Correct posture leads to correct alignment in many ballet positions. Fix if needed! Study, search for information.
Turnout involves strength, flexibility and tension. And understanding what true turnout is. Incorrect turnout affects posture, increases tension, reduces flexibility and distorts alignment. There is a book called Tune Up Your Turnout by Deborah Vogel that is a good myth-buster, and something every dancer can use. You can figure out a lot by yourself, with the right information. The trick is that you need to get your body to do something, from an ideal concept.
All of the above factors affect the rest, but which one underlies your never-ending correction?
Do you understand the mechanics behind the ballet position/movement/step you are trying to improve? If not, find out the details you need to know!
I believe that if you understand all the aspects of one basic thing in ballet (anatomy, mechanics, technique, style, physical requirements), something super-simple, (I didn't say easy) like standing in fifth position, you will understand a great deal about many other things in ballet.
Another example of getting more anatomical, mechanical and technical details of one factor in ballet technique is, strengthening the sole of the foot. Understanding the foot, and how to strengthen exclusively the foot muscles, not only leads to superior strength in dancing in pointe shoes, but will refine allegro, balance, landing from jumps and releves on pointe, and lots more. All this is covered in The Perfect Pointe Book, just to name one of many professionally presented dance manuals.
Try selecting one recurring correction, and make a new resolution to search understanding all possible aspects of it. I believe that will affect several technical roadblocks that you may have. I think you'll gain an extra advantage and progress faster in the New Year.
We've all had ballet corrections that do not seem to ever go away. We may understand perfectly how ballet positions and ballet movements should be. We understand how the body should mechanically do something, yet it can be frustrating when the body we're in just does not get it right after much trying.
What is the most frequent correction you got last year? Why isn't it fixed? There is a reason, relating to one of the following.
** Posture
** Flexibility
** Alignment
** Strength and reflexes
** Turnout
** Tension
For example, if you stand sideways to a mirror, legs parallel and straight, core area held a little, do your ankles/knees/hips/shoulders/ears stack up, with natural spinal curves kept? If not, is an area not stacked because it is too tight or too lose? Can the core muscles hold without strain showing in the neck or shoulders? Posture has a lot to do with tension, flexibility, strength, and understanding. Correct posture leads to correct alignment in many ballet positions. Fix if needed! Study, search for information.
Turnout involves strength, flexibility and tension. And understanding what true turnout is. Incorrect turnout affects posture, increases tension, reduces flexibility and distorts alignment. There is a book called Tune Up Your Turnout by Deborah Vogel that is a good myth-buster, and something every dancer can use. You can figure out a lot by yourself, with the right information. The trick is that you need to get your body to do something, from an ideal concept.
All of the above factors affect the rest, but which one underlies your never-ending correction?
Do you understand the mechanics behind the ballet position/movement/step you are trying to improve? If not, find out the details you need to know!
I believe that if you understand all the aspects of one basic thing in ballet (anatomy, mechanics, technique, style, physical requirements), something super-simple, (I didn't say easy) like standing in fifth position, you will understand a great deal about many other things in ballet.
Another example of getting more anatomical, mechanical and technical details of one factor in ballet technique is, strengthening the sole of the foot. Understanding the foot, and how to strengthen exclusively the foot muscles, not only leads to superior strength in dancing in pointe shoes, but will refine allegro, balance, landing from jumps and releves on pointe, and lots more. All this is covered in The Perfect Pointe Book, just to name one of many professionally presented dance manuals.
Try selecting one recurring correction, and make a new resolution to search understanding all possible aspects of it. I believe that will affect several technical roadblocks that you may have. I think you'll gain an extra advantage and progress faster in the New Year.
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.
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.
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.
How to Avoid Overuse of the Achilles Tendon in Sports and Ballet
One of the too-common dance injuries is that of the achilles tendon.
Runners and other athletes in sports training also suffer some over use inflammation, and even rupture of the achilles tendon. This tendon depends on muscle strength in the calf and the foot, to retain proper use. Following are some self-care tips that will help you avoid overuse and injury of your achilles tendons, and encourage courageous patience in better rehabilitation.
Tendonitis is all too-prevalent in dance injuries and sports injuries. In fact, when someone says "I have tendonitis" it usually refers to the achilles tendon, without being explained, it is that common. Inflammation, or "itis" can occur in any area of the body.
The achilles tendon comes from the lower end of the calf muscles, and inserts, or is attached, to the heel bone. The calf muscles above, and the intrinsic foot muscles below, are supposed to do all the actual work in moving the foot flexed, or extended (pointed, in ballet).
If the foot can flex and stretch without changing its angle (curving outward, or sickling out in ballet, or curving inward, sickling in or 'pigeon toes'), in most cases the tendon will not get irritated.
This is presuming that when you are standing on an even surface, the foot is not sloping inward, what people think of as "fallen arches", or is not sloping outward toward the little toe edge of the foot.
Runners and other athletes often work on uneven surfaces and depend on both strength and supportive shoes to minimize the variation in foot angle as it strikes the ground or pushes off. Ballet dancers absolutely depend on foot strength to prevent misuse, as they do not generally wear supports in their ballet shoes and pointe shoes. If needed, however, orthotics, or foot levelers, can be worn in dance shoes.
If a dancer or athlete has bowed legs, or hyper-extended legs, there will be an angle created just to have the feet flat on the floor. If this situation is understood, the student can be taught how to avoid inflammation of the achilles tendon through understanding, and correction of, or accurate compensation for, this particular anatomical detail.
Correcting the stance of hyper-extended legs by stacking the skeletal joints (ankles, knees, hips and on up) and holding turnout, will correct the natural pronation (fallen arches) of the feet on the floor. Sometimes this is not even visible to a glance in dancers, due to a strong built-up muscle structure that is deceptive. Even chiropractors and physio therapists have to test dancers' muscles extensively, in order not to miss this observation, until they gain experience with it.
As more and more athletes are studying ballet principles of turnout and footwork to gain an extra advantage in their performance, and prevent sports injuries, hopefully the area of hyper-extension will also be addressed.
Bowed legs require an angle of the foot, for it to be flat on the floor. In ballet, correct use of turnout, developing the intrinsic foot muscles, and always having the body weight placed correctly on the feet (hyper-extension and bowed legs tend to throw the weight back) minimizes the overuse and irritation of the achilles tendon.
Both ballet dancers and athletes need the understanding that poorly developed foot muscles lead to exhausting the calf muscles. This in turn creates tension, loss of muscle tone and strength, and the achilles tendon develops tendonitis.
Once inflammation has set in, rest, and icing must be applied. A courageous patience is needed in recovery, as the pressure to stay in the daily competitive drive for a an upcoming exam, performance or team try-out, must be resisted. You long term persistence in your chosen field depends on avoiding a chronic situation.
Ballet, dance, and sports injuries can be prevented. If you are a pre-pro, a would-be ballerina, a dedicated recreational dancer or athlete, study all you can about how to avoid overuse and injury of your achilles tendon.
Tendonitis is all too-prevalent in dance injuries and sports injuries. In fact, when someone says "I have tendonitis" it usually refers to the achilles tendon, without being explained, it is that common. Inflammation, or "itis" can occur in any area of the body.
The achilles tendon comes from the lower end of the calf muscles, and inserts, or is attached, to the heel bone. The calf muscles above, and the intrinsic foot muscles below, are supposed to do all the actual work in moving the foot flexed, or extended (pointed, in ballet).
If the foot can flex and stretch without changing its angle (curving outward, or sickling out in ballet, or curving inward, sickling in or 'pigeon toes'), in most cases the tendon will not get irritated.
This is presuming that when you are standing on an even surface, the foot is not sloping inward, what people think of as "fallen arches", or is not sloping outward toward the little toe edge of the foot.
Runners and other athletes often work on uneven surfaces and depend on both strength and supportive shoes to minimize the variation in foot angle as it strikes the ground or pushes off. Ballet dancers absolutely depend on foot strength to prevent misuse, as they do not generally wear supports in their ballet shoes and pointe shoes. If needed, however, orthotics, or foot levelers, can be worn in dance shoes.
If a dancer or athlete has bowed legs, or hyper-extended legs, there will be an angle created just to have the feet flat on the floor. If this situation is understood, the student can be taught how to avoid inflammation of the achilles tendon through understanding, and correction of, or accurate compensation for, this particular anatomical detail.
Correcting the stance of hyper-extended legs by stacking the skeletal joints (ankles, knees, hips and on up) and holding turnout, will correct the natural pronation (fallen arches) of the feet on the floor. Sometimes this is not even visible to a glance in dancers, due to a strong built-up muscle structure that is deceptive. Even chiropractors and physio therapists have to test dancers' muscles extensively, in order not to miss this observation, until they gain experience with it.
As more and more athletes are studying ballet principles of turnout and footwork to gain an extra advantage in their performance, and prevent sports injuries, hopefully the area of hyper-extension will also be addressed.
Bowed legs require an angle of the foot, for it to be flat on the floor. In ballet, correct use of turnout, developing the intrinsic foot muscles, and always having the body weight placed correctly on the feet (hyper-extension and bowed legs tend to throw the weight back) minimizes the overuse and irritation of the achilles tendon.
Both ballet dancers and athletes need the understanding that poorly developed foot muscles lead to exhausting the calf muscles. This in turn creates tension, loss of muscle tone and strength, and the achilles tendon develops tendonitis.
Once inflammation has set in, rest, and icing must be applied. A courageous patience is needed in recovery, as the pressure to stay in the daily competitive drive for a an upcoming exam, performance or team try-out, must be resisted. You long term persistence in your chosen field depends on avoiding a chronic situation.
Ballet, dance, and sports injuries can be prevented. If you are a pre-pro, a would-be ballerina, a dedicated recreational dancer or athlete, study all you can about how to avoid overuse and injury of your achilles tendon.
Learning to Develop Lean Muscles in Ballet
Any would - be ballerina suffers from the fear factor in developing big butts or big thighs instead of the long lean look.
Any would -be ballerina suffers from the fear factor in developing big butts or big thighs instead of the long lean look. Especially if that shape runs in the family. Especially when human genetics are discussed as though no one can escape their fate.Your genetic shape is modified by what you eat, and how you exercise.
Posture is everything for growing to be long and lean. The spine and pelvis must be in a natural position. A postural plumb line must be straight from the top of the head, down through your body's natural curves, to your ankle bones.
If a mirror at the ballet studio, or at home, reflects a vertical line of some kind, like a door frame, stand at the mirror so that you can place your body sideways, in front of the line. Notice how your spine and legs line up along the line. If your weight is leaning back, or too far forward from your ankles, you will be able to see that you are not standing along the line.
Your spine has three natural curves. The most noticeable curve is at the waist area of the lumbar spine. A common misconception is that this curve should be pulled long, by tucking the pelvis under, and that this stance protects the low back. Exactly the opposite is true. Years of tucking under will lead to low back pain and perhaps even herniated discs. Correct posture will protect the discs. The discs, in turn, cushion the bones and allow maximum comfortable movement.
This tucking under of the pelvis will develop big thighs, or quads, and big butts, or gluteal muscles. The body weight presses down on the thighs, not allowing any elongation of the muscles. The deep rotator muscles are not in a prime position to hold turnout, and the gluts have to be held clenched in a bulked up fashion, to keep the pelvis stable.
The long lean look of a ballerina is from working pulled up in the deep lower ab muscles, and with a feeling of pressing down through the center of her leg bones, as if pushing the floor away. The thigh muscles pull up but do not clench hard. You need a certain amount of tension for the stability of each ballet position and movement, but not more than that. Extra tension will create less fluidity of your ballet movement.
Pilates is an excellent cross training for dancers because all exercises are done emphasizing length.
If you understand the correct posture that a ballerina works in, you can learn how to get the long and lean look, and avoid the big butts and big thighs that develop from working in an unnatural way.
How to Stay in Shape and Keep Your Muscle Tone While on Vacation
For athletes and dancers (classical ballet and others too), time off without a daily class brings the double-edged sword of relief and anxiety. Relief to have relaxing time, and anxiety about not staying in shape and keeping the muscle tone they've worked so hard for. So without turning time off into a working vacation, here are some suggestions for daily routines to help stay in shape.
If you're staying at home and have a spot that you usually exercise in, then you are set to practice. If you are a classical ballet student, the challenge is great - there is really nothing to replace the demands of a ballet class. However, you can customize a daily routine to challenge your muscles.
If you are intermediate or advanced, it is easy to get a ballet class DVD to workout with. However, many are instructional with breaks in between the exercises. There are some ballet workout DVDs which are pretty demanding, but if you don't want to customize a routine that works on your particular ongoing corrections from class, you will get a good workout. Also, you'll get warmed up enough to stretch safely.
If you choose to do a regular barre routine, make a simple barre workout that emphasizes your weaknesses. For example, if you have any balancing problems, put in a slow rise and slow lowering into a demi plie in every exercise. And repeat without using the barre. If you understand where the shift in balance is coming from, you can correct, repeat super-slow-motion movements.
You can also include core muscle exercises every day, to help with the balancing problem.
You could sign up for local Pilates classes - they are wonderful for the elongating type of exercises, core muscle strength and stretching too.
If you are traveling in hotels or in homes, and will have a restricted space, take a stretchy band. With the floor space required to sit, move into second position, or lie down and lift your legs to the front back and side, you can do slow leg raises with the band, and developpes with the band. This challenges your leg and core muscles.
If you are preparing for pointe work coming up in your next session of classes, use the stretchy band for foot strengthening. Sitting, legs stretched out in front, pointe your ankles but not your toes. Run the band behind your flexed toes, and stretch your toes long against the resistance of the band. You increase the resistance as you need, and work out all your foot and ankle muscles.
This is good for men in ballet too. Strengthening the feet means you will not be over working your calf muscles, which pinch-hit for the foot muscles when they are weak. This leads to strain and tension, which in turn decreases the ankle flexibility and the degree of point that you have.
Swimming is great for endurance - if you enjoy it, swim a lot.
Stay hydrated, and eat good whole food to keep those electrolytes up. Dehydration affects your muscles tone, your energy, your brain function and leads to retaining water. Real food provides minerals you can digest, avoid those sugary sports drinks with a couple of token minerals in them.
I hope this has given you some ideas as to how to enjoy your time off without feeling like it is a working vacation, and with no worry about staying in shape or how to keep your muscle tone.
If you're staying at home and have a spot that you usually exercise in, then you are set to practice. If you are a classical ballet student, the challenge is great - there is really nothing to replace the demands of a ballet class. However, you can customize a daily routine to challenge your muscles.
If you are intermediate or advanced, it is easy to get a ballet class DVD to workout with. However, many are instructional with breaks in between the exercises. There are some ballet workout DVDs which are pretty demanding, but if you don't want to customize a routine that works on your particular ongoing corrections from class, you will get a good workout. Also, you'll get warmed up enough to stretch safely.
If you choose to do a regular barre routine, make a simple barre workout that emphasizes your weaknesses. For example, if you have any balancing problems, put in a slow rise and slow lowering into a demi plie in every exercise. And repeat without using the barre. If you understand where the shift in balance is coming from, you can correct, repeat super-slow-motion movements.
You can also include core muscle exercises every day, to help with the balancing problem.
You could sign up for local Pilates classes - they are wonderful for the elongating type of exercises, core muscle strength and stretching too.
If you are traveling in hotels or in homes, and will have a restricted space, take a stretchy band. With the floor space required to sit, move into second position, or lie down and lift your legs to the front back and side, you can do slow leg raises with the band, and developpes with the band. This challenges your leg and core muscles.
If you are preparing for pointe work coming up in your next session of classes, use the stretchy band for foot strengthening. Sitting, legs stretched out in front, pointe your ankles but not your toes. Run the band behind your flexed toes, and stretch your toes long against the resistance of the band. You increase the resistance as you need, and work out all your foot and ankle muscles.
This is good for men in ballet too. Strengthening the feet means you will not be over working your calf muscles, which pinch-hit for the foot muscles when they are weak. This leads to strain and tension, which in turn decreases the ankle flexibility and the degree of point that you have.
Swimming is great for endurance - if you enjoy it, swim a lot.
Stay hydrated, and eat good whole food to keep those electrolytes up. Dehydration affects your muscles tone, your energy, your brain function and leads to retaining water. Real food provides minerals you can digest, avoid those sugary sports drinks with a couple of token minerals in them.
I hope this has given you some ideas as to how to enjoy your time off without feeling like it is a working vacation, and with no worry about staying in shape or how to keep your muscle tone.
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 Bottom in A Midsummers Night's Dream. Some choreographers have put on pointe shoes in order to empathize with their ballerinas. Many men in ballet want to take advantage of the opportunity to stretch their ankles and build strength.
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 most can.
Some men in ballet might have the ambition of getting into Les Ballets Trockaderos du Monte Carlo, all men, many ballerina roles.
Generally men in ballet do not have the mobile ankles that 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. No suffering needlessly. 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!
Increase your ballet technique. Get The Perfect Pointe Bookand learn all the relevant technique details that you need.
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 most can.
Some men in ballet might have the ambition of getting into Les Ballets Trockaderos du Monte Carlo, all men, many ballerina roles.
Generally men in ballet do not have the mobile ankles that 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. No suffering needlessly. 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!
Increase your ballet technique. Get The Perfect Pointe Bookand learn all the relevant technique details that you need.
How Can I Improve The Basics Of Pirouette Exercises - Especially In Pointe Shoes?
Pirouettes are fun, showy, and prominent in classical ballet choreography as well as other dance styles.
Even if you are never going to be a ballerina, dance ballet in pointe shoes because of gender, casting, dance style or because you are starting ballet at a later age, how to improve pirouettes is important.
The postural plumb line is where you start, in looking at what is going to make a pirouette succeed. Firstly, can you stand with good posture?
If so, can you rise up and down, firstly in a cou de pied position, on one leg, without losing your postural plumb line? If so, can you do a series of releves holding a good position, without neck or shoulder strain?
If you do lose it, correct your posture, then see if you lose it going into your demi plie. Is your weight sitting back? Do you lose any placement at the hips? Do you lose any turnout?
If any of the three things above occur, you need to get those fixed and forget about pirouettes until you build strength to maintain the basics of posture, turnout and a correct demi plie. You will still do your pirouettes in your ballet class, but for your daily practice routines, you need a step-by-step approach to get stronger.
If everything is good so far, raise your leg into a retire position and check that no placement gets lost at the hips. If this occurs, you need more stretching in the hip and pelvic area. Or, perhaps you need to rearrange the tension at the hips and you will find that you can get your hips level after all.
While the feeling of the spin is important and not to be lost for the sake of good technique, it is still vital that you be able to do sixteen, twenty-four, and then thirty-two strong releves in retire on both sides, without strain. You need a relaxed neck and shoulders to spot properly in multiple turns.
Especially in pointe shoes, you need to do these repetitive releves, to see that you can stay on one spot and not travel around. If you have trouble with this, use the barre. Check your balance at the bottom of your demi plie, as well as in the releve position. Seeing where your weight wants to go tells you where the weakness, or excess tension is. To build strength is important, and to train the muscle memory properly is too.
The reason why I recommend back-peddling to basic exercises in order to correct or build on an exercise, is because practicing things incorrectly is a waste of time. Asking your teacher for help or getting another student to buddy with you on practicing and correcting each other, is really worth the while.
It is more fun just doing turns, but technical inaccuracies will catch up with you and hold you back. Instantly, when you put on pointe shoes.
On your rest day, be sure to relax, stretch out the tired and tense muscles, using a rubber ball for the tight and tender spots. Ice the sore spots for 15 minutes, two or three times a day.
If you have worked so hard in ballet class or rehearsal that your legs are throbbing, lie down and stick them straight up the wall for a few minutes. It is easy to fall asleep that way...
Whenever you find yourself thinking "how can I improve..." just go back to the basic, slow motion movement to discover what classical ballet principle of technique is missing. Regardless of your dance style, simple ballet exercises done well, build strength. And then it is even more fun.
The postural plumb line is where you start, in looking at what is going to make a pirouette succeed. Firstly, can you stand with good posture?
If so, can you rise up and down, firstly in a cou de pied position, on one leg, without losing your postural plumb line? If so, can you do a series of releves holding a good position, without neck or shoulder strain?
If you do lose it, correct your posture, then see if you lose it going into your demi plie. Is your weight sitting back? Do you lose any placement at the hips? Do you lose any turnout?
If any of the three things above occur, you need to get those fixed and forget about pirouettes until you build strength to maintain the basics of posture, turnout and a correct demi plie. You will still do your pirouettes in your ballet class, but for your daily practice routines, you need a step-by-step approach to get stronger.
If everything is good so far, raise your leg into a retire position and check that no placement gets lost at the hips. If this occurs, you need more stretching in the hip and pelvic area. Or, perhaps you need to rearrange the tension at the hips and you will find that you can get your hips level after all.
While the feeling of the spin is important and not to be lost for the sake of good technique, it is still vital that you be able to do sixteen, twenty-four, and then thirty-two strong releves in retire on both sides, without strain. You need a relaxed neck and shoulders to spot properly in multiple turns.
Especially in pointe shoes, you need to do these repetitive releves, to see that you can stay on one spot and not travel around. If you have trouble with this, use the barre. Check your balance at the bottom of your demi plie, as well as in the releve position. Seeing where your weight wants to go tells you where the weakness, or excess tension is. To build strength is important, and to train the muscle memory properly is too.
The reason why I recommend back-peddling to basic exercises in order to correct or build on an exercise, is because practicing things incorrectly is a waste of time. Asking your teacher for help or getting another student to buddy with you on practicing and correcting each other, is really worth the while.
It is more fun just doing turns, but technical inaccuracies will catch up with you and hold you back. Instantly, when you put on pointe shoes.
On your rest day, be sure to relax, stretch out the tired and tense muscles, using a rubber ball for the tight and tender spots. Ice the sore spots for 15 minutes, two or three times a day.
If you have worked so hard in ballet class or rehearsal that your legs are throbbing, lie down and stick them straight up the wall for a few minutes. It is easy to fall asleep that way...
Whenever you find yourself thinking "how can I improve..." just go back to the basic, slow motion movement to discover what classical ballet principle of technique is missing. Regardless of your dance style, simple ballet exercises done well, build strength. And then it is even more fun.
Common Misunderstandings About Ballet Stretches And Doing The Splits
I am flabbergasted at the misunderstandings being perpetuated about doing the splits. Ballet stretches taught properly help with muscle flexibility.
Ballet exercises in soft shoes and pointe shoes all require correct posture and alignments. Doing the splits for a jete or a penche does not come naturally to many dancers. How do they make it look right?
One of the biggest reliefs I had when I went from amateur to professional training was that hips do not have to be square in a derriere position. Including for the splits.
I started my training in the R.A.D. system. I had natural turnout. It looked great except when I did a tendu (French word for stretched) derriere. We had to keep our hips square. In more advanced classes the developpe to the back, and attitude positions still looked turned in. Naturally the students would go for height, which opened our hip. Our teacher would correct our hips, placing them back to a square position, and both the height and turnout looked miserable.
When I got into classes taught by teachers from The National Ballet of Canada, I was elated to find I could open my working hip. The waist, upper back and shoulders had to stay square, but not the hips. I finally and instantly had a professional looking line in arabesque, attitude, etc. When I explained how I had been taught they said "no one can do that!"
Another absurdity is that some people will never do the splits due to hip deformity.
Doing the splits depends on overall hyper-mobility. Not only hamstrings and quads need to be extremely flexible, but your postural muscles, the iliopsoas, needs to be very flexible. Hyper-mobility of the joints is an extra blessing for doing the splits, but creates a lot of problems too.
A professional ballet dancer will do whatever it takes to get a good line in a split jete or penche. Those who cannot do the splits perfectly open the hip more, and sometimes slightly bend the leg so that their foot lines up with the hip, and even though the entire leg is not lined up, the illusion of the splits is seen.
The hard and fast rules of ballet technique are for safety - for prevention of dance injuries. Getting the right line allows for accommodations that skilled teachers know how to teach.
Stretch after your ballet exercises when you are warm. Relax your muscles. Use a rubber ball to knead out the worst tension. Stretch gently in correctly aligned positions. You will improve your muscle flexibility, and you may end up doing the splits. If you never do, it is not going to kill a dance career.
One of the biggest reliefs I had when I went from amateur to professional training was that hips do not have to be square in a derriere position. Including for the splits.
I started my training in the R.A.D. system. I had natural turnout. It looked great except when I did a tendu (French word for stretched) derriere. We had to keep our hips square. In more advanced classes the developpe to the back, and attitude positions still looked turned in. Naturally the students would go for height, which opened our hip. Our teacher would correct our hips, placing them back to a square position, and both the height and turnout looked miserable.
When I got into classes taught by teachers from The National Ballet of Canada, I was elated to find I could open my working hip. The waist, upper back and shoulders had to stay square, but not the hips. I finally and instantly had a professional looking line in arabesque, attitude, etc. When I explained how I had been taught they said "no one can do that!"
Another absurdity is that some people will never do the splits due to hip deformity.
Doing the splits depends on overall hyper-mobility. Not only hamstrings and quads need to be extremely flexible, but your postural muscles, the iliopsoas, needs to be very flexible. Hyper-mobility of the joints is an extra blessing for doing the splits, but creates a lot of problems too.
A professional ballet dancer will do whatever it takes to get a good line in a split jete or penche. Those who cannot do the splits perfectly open the hip more, and sometimes slightly bend the leg so that their foot lines up with the hip, and even though the entire leg is not lined up, the illusion of the splits is seen.
The hard and fast rules of ballet technique are for safety - for prevention of dance injuries. Getting the right line allows for accommodations that skilled teachers know how to teach.
Stretch after your ballet exercises when you are warm. Relax your muscles. Use a rubber ball to knead out the worst tension. Stretch gently in correctly aligned positions. You will improve your muscle flexibility, and you may end up doing the splits. If you never do, it is not going to kill a dance career.
How To Build Strength For Hyperextended Knees Before You Dance In Pointe Shoes
Understanding neutral spine, neutral leg, and understanding the support system of your core muscles is vital.
Every ballet exercise requires a neutral standing leg. Dancing in pointe shoes, especially, requires a strong neutral leg and perfect alignment.
In discussions about hyperextended knees, some students who have been dancing for years are just beginning to understand that their knees hyperextend, or over-straighten.
Explaining a neutral leg, in the first few classes, is as important as explaining a neutral spine, whatever words the teacher uses. (Unless there are no hyperextended legs in the class, this is necessary).
A neutral leg is: knee above the ankle bone, pelvis above the knees. A line drawn down through a photo of you standing, taken from the side, should reveal a postural plumb line, from the center of the skull, neck, spine (through your natural curves), pelvis, through the knees and ankles, or just in front of the ankles, depending where you rested your weight.
With hyperextended legs, the knees stretch back behind this line. While this curving out at the back of the knees is an admired line in a dancer's gesture leg, it causes many problems in a standing leg.
First you tackle the feeling of the legs being bent, when held in a straight position. However, in this straight position it is much easier to hold the turnout and have the pelvis in a neutral position where you can build strength in your center.
When the knees rest back in hyperextension, the thighs turn in, and often the pelvis tucks under. Now you have compromised the safety of your low back. (In this position you may develop bulky thighs and bulky hip muscles). From here you destabilize your balance. You can compensate for this distortion in many ways in soft shoes, to a degree.
When you get onto pointe shoes, all kinds of problems will show up, if they haven't already.
Easily a whole booklet could be written about this. To keep it simplified, focus on the straight, or neutral leg.
If you are a few years into training, it's extra work, it's reprogramming neural pathways. But most dancers do this all the time as they progress through their training and careers.
There is also a lot of talk about overdeveloping the quads or inside knee muscles, or some other deformity, because of holding the leg straight. Not so. If your pelvis is neutral, you can use your muscles properly. You don't need to grip or clench.
You want your thighs pulled up long. You want a feeling of pushing down through the center of your leg bones into the floor. And imagine a space between your hip bones and the top of your thighs. You will achieve a real lengthening by doing this, your deep lower abs will pull up and in nicely, and now your core muscles are supporting the length you want.
You will be able to hold your turnout and have a strong supporting leg. When you get into pointe shoes, you will have your body aligned well, over that tiny point on the floor.
Always remember in your ballet stretching, to relax and lengthen all your muscles. Use a soft rubber ball to knead the muscles, leaning on a wall, or use it with the floor. Deborah Vogel, a dance medicine specialist tells you how to release muscle tension with a DVD on using the "pinky ball".
In discussions about hyperextended knees, some students who have been dancing for years are just beginning to understand that their knees hyperextend, or over-straighten.
Explaining a neutral leg, in the first few classes, is as important as explaining a neutral spine, whatever words the teacher uses. (Unless there are no hyperextended legs in the class, this is necessary).
A neutral leg is: knee above the ankle bone, pelvis above the knees. A line drawn down through a photo of you standing, taken from the side, should reveal a postural plumb line, from the center of the skull, neck, spine (through your natural curves), pelvis, through the knees and ankles, or just in front of the ankles, depending where you rested your weight.
With hyperextended legs, the knees stretch back behind this line. While this curving out at the back of the knees is an admired line in a dancer's gesture leg, it causes many problems in a standing leg.
First you tackle the feeling of the legs being bent, when held in a straight position. However, in this straight position it is much easier to hold the turnout and have the pelvis in a neutral position where you can build strength in your center.
When the knees rest back in hyperextension, the thighs turn in, and often the pelvis tucks under. Now you have compromised the safety of your low back. (In this position you may develop bulky thighs and bulky hip muscles). From here you destabilize your balance. You can compensate for this distortion in many ways in soft shoes, to a degree.
When you get onto pointe shoes, all kinds of problems will show up, if they haven't already.
Easily a whole booklet could be written about this. To keep it simplified, focus on the straight, or neutral leg.
If you are a few years into training, it's extra work, it's reprogramming neural pathways. But most dancers do this all the time as they progress through their training and careers.
There is also a lot of talk about overdeveloping the quads or inside knee muscles, or some other deformity, because of holding the leg straight. Not so. If your pelvis is neutral, you can use your muscles properly. You don't need to grip or clench.
You want your thighs pulled up long. You want a feeling of pushing down through the center of your leg bones into the floor. And imagine a space between your hip bones and the top of your thighs. You will achieve a real lengthening by doing this, your deep lower abs will pull up and in nicely, and now your core muscles are supporting the length you want.
You will be able to hold your turnout and have a strong supporting leg. When you get into pointe shoes, you will have your body aligned well, over that tiny point on the floor.
Always remember in your ballet stretching, to relax and lengthen all your muscles. Use a soft rubber ball to knead the muscles, leaning on a wall, or use it with the floor. Deborah Vogel, a dance medicine specialist tells you how to release muscle tension with a DVD on using the "pinky ball".
Productive Routines - A Step By Step Approach To Pointe Work
Whether you are a would-be ballerina in dance classes, under ten years old, or a young adult beginner, you can start some clever planning to achieve your goal of dancing in pointe shoes.
Productive routines done at home, with a step by step approach, will help you build strength for all aspects of your ballet technique.
Anything that enhances the strength and accuracy of your ballet technique will get you closer to doing pointe work, if you are a female, and get you closer to the male virtuoso steps if you are a male.
If you are over about 12 years old and have been doing ballet for three years or more, it will also help you get towards classes on pointe faster.
If you are under 12, there is no rush. You need to grow, and there are a zillion finer details to work on in the meantime.
However, you can begin learning as soon as you can read! There are foot muscles to learn about, and posture, and turnout.
There are "flexers" and "extensors" and "rotators".
There are foods that help you grow and there are foods that weaken your muscles instantly! (sugars, and various chemicals in foods).
There are French words for ballet to learn.
There are ways to learn to relax and stretch, ways to warm up, and ways to ice and rest exhausted muscles (while you are watching your favorite ballet movies) .
Be optimistic and excited, but be methodical too. The way has been prepared for you by many teachers who have shared their expertise with books, videos, and excellent practice regimens.
I have seen students with the ideal ballet physique, good stage looks, the money to study, ("born to dance") and yet poor ability to concentrate. They are more likely to get injured and lose time. Or, they just cannot absorb the many details and keep up with the demands of ballet training.
Thus, students who seem less talented at first, but who can work well, gain consistently.
A step by step approach and clever planning, will result in productive routines that will advance you better, perhaps faster, and more safely.
Dance ballet in pointe shoes with expert guidance from The Perfect Pointe Book.
Anything that enhances the strength and accuracy of your ballet technique will get you closer to doing pointe work, if you are a female, and get you closer to the male virtuoso steps if you are a male.
If you are over about 12 years old and have been doing ballet for three years or more, it will also help you get towards classes on pointe faster.
If you are under 12, there is no rush. You need to grow, and there are a zillion finer details to work on in the meantime.
However, you can begin learning as soon as you can read! There are foot muscles to learn about, and posture, and turnout.
There are "flexers" and "extensors" and "rotators".
There are foods that help you grow and there are foods that weaken your muscles instantly! (sugars, and various chemicals in foods).
There are French words for ballet to learn.
There are ways to learn to relax and stretch, ways to warm up, and ways to ice and rest exhausted muscles (while you are watching your favorite ballet movies) .
Be optimistic and excited, but be methodical too. The way has been prepared for you by many teachers who have shared their expertise with books, videos, and excellent practice regimens.
I have seen students with the ideal ballet physique, good stage looks, the money to study, ("born to dance") and yet poor ability to concentrate. They are more likely to get injured and lose time. Or, they just cannot absorb the many details and keep up with the demands of ballet training.
Thus, students who seem less talented at first, but who can work well, gain consistently.
A step by step approach and clever planning, will result in productive routines that will advance you better, perhaps faster, and more safely.
Dance ballet in pointe shoes with expert guidance from The Perfect Pointe Book.
The Pursuit of Perfection VS Striving For Excellence In Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
The pursuit of perfection is not the same as striving for excellence.
If you do not understand the difference, and are becoming a perfectionist in your ballet training, you will jeopardize your progress in different ways. Ballet technique must be excellent. But you need a healthy viewpoint to be consistent in your advancement.
Self-criticism is not the same as self-critiquing. A critique is a critical examination of something. But it is more related to a particular definition from the Merriam Webster Dictionary:
"critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly"
Self-criticism has a negative slant to it, in common usage anyway. It usually means just plain picking on yourself.
A lot of your ballet technique can actually be perfect. Your posture can be perfect. If it isn't, you can get more flexible, or build muscle and make it just right. The challenge in ballet, is retaining the perfect posture when you first learn a harder version of what you are doing.
So, if you are always striving to advance, you are always moving past the point where you feel secure in a movement. That's just the way it works. If you are self-critiquing and not self-criticizing, you'll be happy with this process, or at least accept it.
Perfectionism is a state of true unhappiness. You actually bully yourself. And, if you are learning a physical activity, you bully your body as a result. It is very complex.
There are always bad days and frustrating classes. A healthy viewpoint is one of letting it go and just starting the new day when it comes. You do your best every class, and sometimes your best is a little better than other times.
The healthy pursuit of perfection comes when you know your work and you can do your work, and you are rehearsing with a coach who is going to help you with every minute detail. And that goes way beyond the technical into the dramatic elements, pacing your energy, and the repetition. The repetition that means you can dance beautifully on a bad day too.
Always remember to relax and stretch your muscles, and reflect on the things that are easier for you, that you really enjoy doing in class. It's a given that you will fall asleep thinking about the things that felt not so good. But try to end your thoughts with "but I'm really good at..."
Striving for excellence will not jeopardize your progress. As long as you have the information you need about ballet technique, you will continue to build strength, you will get into pointe shoes at the right time for you.
Strive for excellence in your ballet positions, ballet technique and ballet movements with guidance from the experts at www.theballetstore.com.
Self-criticism is not the same as self-critiquing. A critique is a critical examination of something. But it is more related to a particular definition from the Merriam Webster Dictionary:
"critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly"
Self-criticism has a negative slant to it, in common usage anyway. It usually means just plain picking on yourself.
A lot of your ballet technique can actually be perfect. Your posture can be perfect. If it isn't, you can get more flexible, or build muscle and make it just right. The challenge in ballet, is retaining the perfect posture when you first learn a harder version of what you are doing.
So, if you are always striving to advance, you are always moving past the point where you feel secure in a movement. That's just the way it works. If you are self-critiquing and not self-criticizing, you'll be happy with this process, or at least accept it.
Perfectionism is a state of true unhappiness. You actually bully yourself. And, if you are learning a physical activity, you bully your body as a result. It is very complex.
There are always bad days and frustrating classes. A healthy viewpoint is one of letting it go and just starting the new day when it comes. You do your best every class, and sometimes your best is a little better than other times.
The healthy pursuit of perfection comes when you know your work and you can do your work, and you are rehearsing with a coach who is going to help you with every minute detail. And that goes way beyond the technical into the dramatic elements, pacing your energy, and the repetition. The repetition that means you can dance beautifully on a bad day too.
Always remember to relax and stretch your muscles, and reflect on the things that are easier for you, that you really enjoy doing in class. It's a given that you will fall asleep thinking about the things that felt not so good. But try to end your thoughts with "but I'm really good at..."
Striving for excellence will not jeopardize your progress. As long as you have the information you need about ballet technique, you will continue to build strength, you will get into pointe shoes at the right time for you.
Strive for excellence in your ballet positions, ballet technique and ballet movements with guidance from the experts at www.theballetstore.com.
Ballet and Sports Jumping Injuries Can Be Prevented By Education and Your Ability To Concentrate
Most sports or ballet jumping injuries result in ankle sprains or knee injuries. Ballet well taught, will prevent injuries through the proper use of turnout and placement to support posture and changes of direction. In sports, athletes are coached to keep their knees lined up under their hip joints, but in the guidelines I found, there is no mention of how the feet are aligned, or placed on the floor or ground.
The ankle joint is a hinge joint, and is actually three joints. Your two 'shin bones', the tibia and fibula join to the the talus, the foot bone, and also to the heel bone.
This allows for flexing and stretching your foot, for keeping the foot flat on the floor while the leg angles, and also for ankle rotations.
In ballet, and many sports, the strength of the intrinsic foot muscles - the muscles exclusively in your feet, is the buffer against strains in the calf muscles. The calf and leg muscles have to work harder to control the ankle if the foot muscles are underdeveloped. However, the calf and leg muscles cannot control the ankle and foot movements as well as strong foot muscles can.
You could say that is an out-sourced job. Control is best, locally, in the feet. Athletes have the challenge of uneven ground to deal with as well.
To dancers working in pointe shoes, the sole of the shoe presents uneven ground. Some professional dancers file down the edges of the leather sole so that it is more flush to the floor. But unlike a new pointe student, they have the strength in their intrinsic foot muscles to make up for the loss of the sole support. In other words, I do not recommend this for novice pointe work students - it is better to work on achieving new strength and balance in standing in pointe shoes (on flat).
Occasionally, also, the talus bone is damaged from a jumping injury. The ankle may be sprained, and the talus bone can suffer a compression fracture, easily, on the corner areas. This can go undetected.
Dancers have turnout to control stresses on knee and ankle joints. They also have the foot muscles to buffer landings. Athletes have training routines also. But all of us must rely on our ability to concentrate, and build strength for muscle control to avoid jumping injuries.
Avoid dance injuries. Learn the finer details about injury prevention with The Perfect Pointe Book, The Ballet Bible and the Dancing Smart publications.
The ankle joint is a hinge joint, and is actually three joints. Your two 'shin bones', the tibia and fibula join to the the talus, the foot bone, and also to the heel bone.
This allows for flexing and stretching your foot, for keeping the foot flat on the floor while the leg angles, and also for ankle rotations.
In ballet, and many sports, the strength of the intrinsic foot muscles - the muscles exclusively in your feet, is the buffer against strains in the calf muscles. The calf and leg muscles have to work harder to control the ankle if the foot muscles are underdeveloped. However, the calf and leg muscles cannot control the ankle and foot movements as well as strong foot muscles can.
You could say that is an out-sourced job. Control is best, locally, in the feet. Athletes have the challenge of uneven ground to deal with as well.
To dancers working in pointe shoes, the sole of the shoe presents uneven ground. Some professional dancers file down the edges of the leather sole so that it is more flush to the floor. But unlike a new pointe student, they have the strength in their intrinsic foot muscles to make up for the loss of the sole support. In other words, I do not recommend this for novice pointe work students - it is better to work on achieving new strength and balance in standing in pointe shoes (on flat).
Occasionally, also, the talus bone is damaged from a jumping injury. The ankle may be sprained, and the talus bone can suffer a compression fracture, easily, on the corner areas. This can go undetected.
Dancers have turnout to control stresses on knee and ankle joints. They also have the foot muscles to buffer landings. Athletes have training routines also. But all of us must rely on our ability to concentrate, and build strength for muscle control to avoid jumping injuries.
Avoid dance injuries. Learn the finer details about injury prevention with The Perfect Pointe Book, The Ballet Bible and the Dancing Smart publications.
Ballet Turnout Prevents Knee Injuries Suffered By Soccer and Volleyball Players
"Knee muscles are capable of protecting ligaments and preventing injury," says Edward M. Wojtys M.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery, U-M Medical School,...
...and Director of Sports Medicine at UMHS (University of Michigan Health System). "Female athletes are two to eight times more likely to tear their anterior cruciate ligament because they may not able to achieve the same muscle stiffness across the knee joint." Both female and male athletes could benefit from ballet classes, to learn the principles of turnout. Pointe shoes could pose an equal risk for dancers, because of the extra demand for strengthening turnout.
It is the running and pivoting team sports that this study addresses. Sprinters and runners go in one direction, and do not have to risk knee rotation. This article from Science Daily also reports:
"The thought is, if you play jumping, turning, twisting sports, that you should be better prepared to protect your knee against rotational forces," Wojtys says.
That's why the measurements for the females involved in non-pivoting sports were surprising when compared to females in the pivoting sports. Females in non-pivoting sports had an increase in knee stiffness of 198 percent - 27 percent higher than the females in pivoting sports.
"Women who played jumping, turning, twisting sports actually had the poorest ability to protect themselves against rotational strains," Wojtys says. "
Please note that the above reference to "stiffness" means deliberate tension of the knee muscles, not the kind of stiffness resulting from strain or over training.
Ballet is a pivotal movement system. We do turn and pivot both in adage, jumps and on pointe. But we have turnout to protect our knees, especially, but also all of our joints. We employ turnout to change direction smoothly.
And, of course, our movements are choreographed in advance, and well rehearsed.
The strength of our turnout and placement means we do not have to twist to turn or pivot. This takes years of training. Athletes also practise dodging and twisting movements for speed and reflex, but to date, do not generally understand how to protect their joints.
This study shows that female athletes are more likely to risk knee injuries. What a shame that so far, it is mainly football players who study ballet, to avoid the risk of injuries resulting from twisting and tearing joints.
It is the running and pivoting team sports that this study addresses. Sprinters and runners go in one direction, and do not have to risk knee rotation. This article from Science Daily also reports:
"The thought is, if you play jumping, turning, twisting sports, that you should be better prepared to protect your knee against rotational forces," Wojtys says.
That's why the measurements for the females involved in non-pivoting sports were surprising when compared to females in the pivoting sports. Females in non-pivoting sports had an increase in knee stiffness of 198 percent - 27 percent higher than the females in pivoting sports.
"Women who played jumping, turning, twisting sports actually had the poorest ability to protect themselves against rotational strains," Wojtys says. "
Please note that the above reference to "stiffness" means deliberate tension of the knee muscles, not the kind of stiffness resulting from strain or over training.
Ballet is a pivotal movement system. We do turn and pivot both in adage, jumps and on pointe. But we have turnout to protect our knees, especially, but also all of our joints. We employ turnout to change direction smoothly.
And, of course, our movements are choreographed in advance, and well rehearsed.
The strength of our turnout and placement means we do not have to twist to turn or pivot. This takes years of training. Athletes also practise dodging and twisting movements for speed and reflex, but to date, do not generally understand how to protect their joints.
This study shows that female athletes are more likely to risk knee injuries. What a shame that so far, it is mainly football players who study ballet, to avoid the risk of injuries resulting from twisting and tearing joints.
Myomouse Builds Strength and Simulates Controlling Weight - News For Retired Dancers and Athletes
"The researchers found that the "genetically reprogrammed" mice lost fat and showed other signs of metabolic improvement throughout the body...
...What's more, those benefits were seen even though the mice continued eating a diet high in both fat and sugar and didn't increase their physical activity at all."
A study that appears in the February 6th issue of Cell Metabolism was conducted with Myomouse - a mouse type that was genetically engineered to produce Muscle II fibers. The kind he would have built using barbells, or in the slower press up type of pointe shoe exercises. The resulting gene adaptions showed that his chemistry could then reverse fatty liver disease, insulin resistance and other aging conditions.
"Slow Burn" by Frederick Hahn cites a testimonial by an M.D., who states that he reversed his Type II Diabetes by the Slow Burn fitness regimen. That is pretty exciting.
Teenagers who have a tendency to gain weight to the point of obesity should look into this. Insulin resistance (leading to Type II Diabetes) can start at any age, if the diet is bad enough. That means overloaded with empty carbs that mess up the blood sugar regulation.
(I'm not suggesting that you should add Slow Burn to your ballet exercises or sports so that you can eat fat and sugar.)
Retired dancers and athletes often find that with a healthy diet for controlling weight, muscle mass is lost and fat slowly appears, despite disciplined work. The study with the "myomouses" showed that more muscle II fibers were lost than muscle I fibers. Muscle II fibers are the ones that give the body cues to - well, oversimplifying - stay young!
Even if we could be genetically reprogrammed for this, doing a slow motion type of exercise may be in our better interest. However, I am amazed at the progression of science in this direction, and hope that the results will be shared with, and available to everyone.
I've also become aware recently of The Pace Program which also changes the way the body metabolizes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080205121740.htm is where you can read about the Myomouse study. The details are extremely interesting.
So if you've hung up your ballet shoes and pointe shoes, or other atheletic gear, simulate genetic reprogramming with Slow Burn exercise. Build strength, and work on controlling weight with optimum results.
A study that appears in the February 6th issue of Cell Metabolism was conducted with Myomouse - a mouse type that was genetically engineered to produce Muscle II fibers. The kind he would have built using barbells, or in the slower press up type of pointe shoe exercises. The resulting gene adaptions showed that his chemistry could then reverse fatty liver disease, insulin resistance and other aging conditions.
"Slow Burn" by Frederick Hahn cites a testimonial by an M.D., who states that he reversed his Type II Diabetes by the Slow Burn fitness regimen. That is pretty exciting.
Teenagers who have a tendency to gain weight to the point of obesity should look into this. Insulin resistance (leading to Type II Diabetes) can start at any age, if the diet is bad enough. That means overloaded with empty carbs that mess up the blood sugar regulation.
(I'm not suggesting that you should add Slow Burn to your ballet exercises or sports so that you can eat fat and sugar.)
Retired dancers and athletes often find that with a healthy diet for controlling weight, muscle mass is lost and fat slowly appears, despite disciplined work. The study with the "myomouses" showed that more muscle II fibers were lost than muscle I fibers. Muscle II fibers are the ones that give the body cues to - well, oversimplifying - stay young!
Even if we could be genetically reprogrammed for this, doing a slow motion type of exercise may be in our better interest. However, I am amazed at the progression of science in this direction, and hope that the results will be shared with, and available to everyone.
I've also become aware recently of The Pace Program which also changes the way the body metabolizes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080205121740.htm is where you can read about the Myomouse study. The details are extremely interesting.
So if you've hung up your ballet shoes and pointe shoes, or other atheletic gear, simulate genetic reprogramming with Slow Burn exercise. Build strength, and work on controlling weight with optimum results.
Higher SAT Scores From Ballet Class and Pointe Shoes?
In a southern California newspaper, a report by Chris Moran says " The College Board annually releases a report showing that the more arts and music courses students take, the higher their SAT scores are....
.....Sweetwater Union High School District's survey of its own students five years ago found that students enrolled in visual and performing arts classes had higher grade-point averages than those who were not. The correlation is an admittedly chicken-and-egg argument over whether the arts make students smarter or smarter students pursue the arts. "
A recent article in New Science Daily presents the following:
"Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?"
#8 in a series of points made is:
"Learning to dance by effective observation is closely related to learning by physical practice, both in the level of achievement and also the neural substrates that support the organization of complex actions. Effective observational learning may transfer to other cognitive skills."
MARY BELLE MCCORKLE and SHIRLEY KISER wrote in the Tucson Citizen, "How the arts make kids smarter.
Students' scores improve in the three R's when they're exposed to music, dance and the theater".
Betty Oliphant, former Principal of The National Ballet School of Canada, insisted on high academic standards, because she grew up in London in the earlier 2oth Century where, she once told me, dancers were considered dumb. Personally I don't think you can learn the classics or the finer details of ballet technique if you are dumb.
What is dumb anyway? Shyness, less-confident, dyslexic, under-nourished? Maybe not interested in the usual social issues and dramas?
If it were not for the internet I would not know that scientists find this subject interesting. Artists know that they are not less smart than scientists. They also know that the money needed to run all these multi-university studies could run a small ballet company for a season or two.
Scientists and artists alike need patrons - and competition is fierce. Patrons need artists and scientists, and vice versa - so it's a chicken or the egg situation - and it makes an interesting holistic picture for us all to function in.
But if your parents worry that your grades will drop if you spend too much time in pointe shoes or the ballet class - just mention the higher SAT scores!
A recent article in New Science Daily presents the following:
"Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?"
#8 in a series of points made is:
"Learning to dance by effective observation is closely related to learning by physical practice, both in the level of achievement and also the neural substrates that support the organization of complex actions. Effective observational learning may transfer to other cognitive skills."
MARY BELLE MCCORKLE and SHIRLEY KISER wrote in the Tucson Citizen, "How the arts make kids smarter.
Students' scores improve in the three R's when they're exposed to music, dance and the theater".
Betty Oliphant, former Principal of The National Ballet School of Canada, insisted on high academic standards, because she grew up in London in the earlier 2oth Century where, she once told me, dancers were considered dumb. Personally I don't think you can learn the classics or the finer details of ballet technique if you are dumb.
What is dumb anyway? Shyness, less-confident, dyslexic, under-nourished? Maybe not interested in the usual social issues and dramas?
If it were not for the internet I would not know that scientists find this subject interesting. Artists know that they are not less smart than scientists. They also know that the money needed to run all these multi-university studies could run a small ballet company for a season or two.
Scientists and artists alike need patrons - and competition is fierce. Patrons need artists and scientists, and vice versa - so it's a chicken or the egg situation - and it makes an interesting holistic picture for us all to function in.
But if your parents worry that your grades will drop if you spend too much time in pointe shoes or the ballet class - just mention the higher SAT scores!
Chunking and Imitational Learning In Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
Please let me explain. "Chunking" is a new verb. It is a scientific word. Try not to think "chunky" because to a dancer "chunky" is a very threatening idea.
Chunking means breaking down a movement into its series of mini-movements so that someone learning it can learn it more accurately and faster, and build the right neural pathways. Like a ballet class, or a ballet exercise. Neuroscientists use this word.
I am trying to be serious and academic about this but the verb "chunking" is too funny.
Brandeis University's Volen Center for Complex Systems published a study "Monkey See Monkey Do". It attended to the lack of research on imitative learning, which has apparently been neglected, in favor of studies in verbal learning, even though we learn more through imitation than by words. The study notes that:
"Several strategies may help leverage a learner's attention and motivate imitative learning. Organizing the motor skill practice is key. For example, Sekuler, an expert on the neural and cognitive terrain of visual memory, says that breaking down a behavioral sequence into chunks can aid imitation learning, just as chunking can help us memorize a string of seemingly unrelated digits or other material. Agam and Sekuler have their sights set on identifying strategies that teachers and coaches could use to make complex actions more "chunkable," and therefore easier to imitate.
The researchers' long-term goal is to devise simple methods that will allow teachers and coaches to take any arbitrary complex action that they want to teach--like that series of dance steps or that perfect golf swing, and then re-package that action into components that make for optimal learning."
If the researchers had watched a classical ballet, and then a ballet class, they would see a supreme example of chunking. Don't you just love that word? All those pre-pointe routines make pointe work chunkable.
The gazillion degages are chunking the aspired to, smooth, floating, gliding glissade. The stretchy, elastic, muscle-elicious fondu in adage are chunks of grand allegro.
The quick footwork exercises at the ballet barre are chunkettes of petit allegro.
I do not mean to diss brain research but I find this hilarious. So please appreciate the careful chunking that your ballet teachers are so good at, in helping you develop organized thought patterns, build neural pathways and build strength in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
One excellent example of chunking is The Perfect Pointe Book, which chunks perfectly for pointe shoe practice and essential ballet technique for all.
I am trying to be serious and academic about this but the verb "chunking" is too funny.
Brandeis University's Volen Center for Complex Systems published a study "Monkey See Monkey Do". It attended to the lack of research on imitative learning, which has apparently been neglected, in favor of studies in verbal learning, even though we learn more through imitation than by words. The study notes that:
"Several strategies may help leverage a learner's attention and motivate imitative learning. Organizing the motor skill practice is key. For example, Sekuler, an expert on the neural and cognitive terrain of visual memory, says that breaking down a behavioral sequence into chunks can aid imitation learning, just as chunking can help us memorize a string of seemingly unrelated digits or other material. Agam and Sekuler have their sights set on identifying strategies that teachers and coaches could use to make complex actions more "chunkable," and therefore easier to imitate.
The researchers' long-term goal is to devise simple methods that will allow teachers and coaches to take any arbitrary complex action that they want to teach--like that series of dance steps or that perfect golf swing, and then re-package that action into components that make for optimal learning."
If the researchers had watched a classical ballet, and then a ballet class, they would see a supreme example of chunking. Don't you just love that word? All those pre-pointe routines make pointe work chunkable.
The gazillion degages are chunking the aspired to, smooth, floating, gliding glissade. The stretchy, elastic, muscle-elicious fondu in adage are chunks of grand allegro.
The quick footwork exercises at the ballet barre are chunkettes of petit allegro.
I do not mean to diss brain research but I find this hilarious. So please appreciate the careful chunking that your ballet teachers are so good at, in helping you develop organized thought patterns, build neural pathways and build strength in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
One excellent example of chunking is The Perfect Pointe Book, which chunks perfectly for pointe shoe practice and essential ballet technique for all.
Not Stocked At The Ballet Store - Your Ability To Concentrate
Advancing into pointe shoes is determined by some finer details other than age, experience and muscle strength. Your ability to concentrate forms neural pathways (learning new things through concentration and repetition).
You must be able to work safely, with no distractions. If you are a little tired, or having an "off day", your ability to concentrate will get you through.
Holding back a young dance student from pointe work, who has the near-perfect physique, allowing for accurate placement and tidy looking exercises, is sometimes advisable.
Sufficient muscular strength may not be present yet. Just as important, maturity, and ability to concentrate may not be developed.
The advantage of practicing pre-pointe foot exercises is that a student has focused on some finer details of muscle work in the tiny intrinsic foot muscles. These muscles do not get developed well in our footwear, generally.
Specific exercises using the toes like you are playing a piano, or switching off lifting the big toe from the floor, then the other four toes, develop the foot muscles.
Before those movements are done with ease, the neural pathways are developed. The ability to concentrate on these tiny movements trains the brain to recognize what you want to do, and to react instantly.
After repetitions of the correct movements, the brain connects immediately with the right muscles and the correct movement results. That's muscle memory. And the strength follows.
While you cannot get ballet positions, movements and technique on the shelf at the ballet store, you can get it all with practice. Your brain will build neural pathways as you apply your focused intention. If your technique is accurate, hurrah. If not, you will at some point have to unlearn, and learn again.
If your power of concentration is not yet developed, no problem. You just repeat a correctly learned exercise. Your fantastic brain takes over. You feel your muscles and every single part of a movement. THEN you start to build strength.
It is best for you to have a better ability to concentrate, good muscle memory from well built neural pathways, and technical control, before you dance ballet in pointe shoes.
Holding back a young dance student from pointe work, who has the near-perfect physique, allowing for accurate placement and tidy looking exercises, is sometimes advisable.
Sufficient muscular strength may not be present yet. Just as important, maturity, and ability to concentrate may not be developed.
The advantage of practicing pre-pointe foot exercises is that a student has focused on some finer details of muscle work in the tiny intrinsic foot muscles. These muscles do not get developed well in our footwear, generally.
Specific exercises using the toes like you are playing a piano, or switching off lifting the big toe from the floor, then the other four toes, develop the foot muscles.
Before those movements are done with ease, the neural pathways are developed. The ability to concentrate on these tiny movements trains the brain to recognize what you want to do, and to react instantly.
After repetitions of the correct movements, the brain connects immediately with the right muscles and the correct movement results. That's muscle memory. And the strength follows.
While you cannot get ballet positions, movements and technique on the shelf at the ballet store, you can get it all with practice. Your brain will build neural pathways as you apply your focused intention. If your technique is accurate, hurrah. If not, you will at some point have to unlearn, and learn again.
If your power of concentration is not yet developed, no problem. You just repeat a correctly learned exercise. Your fantastic brain takes over. You feel your muscles and every single part of a movement. THEN you start to build strength.
It is best for you to have a better ability to concentrate, good muscle memory from well built neural pathways, and technical control, before you dance ballet in pointe shoes.
Build Strength For Ballet Technique By Understanding Your Core Muscles
When you build strength in your core, you support high extensions, pirouette and fouette positions, pointe work and grand allegro.
There are many good articles on the internet about your core muscles and how they stabilize the body and prevent injuries and low back pain. To enhance your ballet technique, and your grace, in ballet shoes and pointe shoes, the following tips will help. When you build strength in your core, you support high extensions, pirouette and fouette positions, pointe work and grand allegro.
I found this easy to understand article at:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-exercises/SM00071
"Core muscles
Your body's core is the area around your trunk and pelvis. When you have good core stability, the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen work in harmony. Strong core muscles make it easier to do most physical activities - from swinging a golf club to getting a glass off a top shelf or bending down to tie your shoes. Weak core muscles leave you susceptible to poor posture, lower back pain and muscle injuries.
Core exercises help you strengthen your core muscles. And it doesn't take specialized equipment or an expensive gym membership to try core exercises. Any exercise that uses the trunk of your body without support counts. Think squats, push-ups and abdominal crunches."
The article then presents some simple and effective core exercises that anyone can do.
As a ballet student, your core muscles are engaged all the time. Posture and turnout depend on your core muscles.
Correct neutral spine, and correct turnout is the basis of your stability. Holding the turnout in your deep hip rotators, assisting with your inner thigh muscles, and supporting with your lower ab muscles pulled up and flat, allows for a relaxed upper body, and smooth head movements and fluid port de bras.
A wonderful and simple way to improve the strength of your core muscles for ballet, is doing slow press ups in retire position. (This is an intermediate level exercise).Using the barre lightly, press up slowly, maintaining your posture and turnout. Be aware of moments where your neck, shoulders or arms tense up - that is where you are letting go of your core strength. It's an easy marker to watch for.
When you can do this effortlessly, you are ready to do it without the barre. This will build strength for every movement. You will feel much stronger in pirouettes and will be able to add more turns.
When you get into pointe shoes, you won't have to struggle with an incorrect position that will throw you off your tiny pointe of connection with the floor. Nor will you strain or collapse into your ending positions.
All this applies to male students too - their investment in this kind of strength building will result in better pirouettes and control in grand allegro.
You'll continue to build strength if your basic ballet exercises are done accurately. Core muscles with the addition of turnout, is where you start, in your aspirations to dance in pointe shoes.
I found this easy to understand article at:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-exercises/SM00071
"Core muscles
Your body's core is the area around your trunk and pelvis. When you have good core stability, the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen work in harmony. Strong core muscles make it easier to do most physical activities - from swinging a golf club to getting a glass off a top shelf or bending down to tie your shoes. Weak core muscles leave you susceptible to poor posture, lower back pain and muscle injuries.
Core exercises help you strengthen your core muscles. And it doesn't take specialized equipment or an expensive gym membership to try core exercises. Any exercise that uses the trunk of your body without support counts. Think squats, push-ups and abdominal crunches."
The article then presents some simple and effective core exercises that anyone can do.
As a ballet student, your core muscles are engaged all the time. Posture and turnout depend on your core muscles.
Correct neutral spine, and correct turnout is the basis of your stability. Holding the turnout in your deep hip rotators, assisting with your inner thigh muscles, and supporting with your lower ab muscles pulled up and flat, allows for a relaxed upper body, and smooth head movements and fluid port de bras.
A wonderful and simple way to improve the strength of your core muscles for ballet, is doing slow press ups in retire position. (This is an intermediate level exercise).Using the barre lightly, press up slowly, maintaining your posture and turnout. Be aware of moments where your neck, shoulders or arms tense up - that is where you are letting go of your core strength. It's an easy marker to watch for.
When you can do this effortlessly, you are ready to do it without the barre. This will build strength for every movement. You will feel much stronger in pirouettes and will be able to add more turns.
When you get into pointe shoes, you won't have to struggle with an incorrect position that will throw you off your tiny pointe of connection with the floor. Nor will you strain or collapse into your ending positions.
All this applies to male students too - their investment in this kind of strength building will result in better pirouettes and control in grand allegro.
You'll continue to build strength if your basic ballet exercises are done accurately. Core muscles with the addition of turnout, is where you start, in your aspirations to dance in pointe shoes.
Build Strength in Your Center Work With Preparation Ballet Exercises
Syllabus classes like R.A.D. and Cecchetti present only the exercises to be done in the exams. Many months can be spent working up to new and difficult movements.
You can build strength in your center with preparation ballet exercises, whether in ballet shoes or pointe shoes. This adds up to well-executed combinations and helps to prevent injuries.
For example, if your class has done adage in the center consisting of developpe en croix, and your new level requires a fouette or promenade, you may need to build more strength in your center.
Fouette in adage depends on the stability of the supporting side, firstly, then of course, also the working position.
To break it down, you could practise an exercise where you developpe devant, turn a quarter turn to face the wall, moving the supporting heel and thigh to a new turned out position, and the working leg coming forward to its proper second position. You could either close here, and developpe a la seconde and then turn a quarter turn back to devant, or just keep holding the leg up and turn back to devant. It depends on your current strength and stamina. You can do this four times on each side, changing sides, so as not to exhaust the supporting side.
You would do the same, going from developpe a la seconde to arabesque, always leading with the supporting heel/thigh and adjusting to the arabesque position carefully.
And then with developpe to arabesque back to a la seconde.
When you are feeling steady with these movements, you would want to add going into a demi plie at the end of the developpe, and releve the fouette, then coming down into a strong demi plie. This will be needed in fouette releve en pointe, and fouette saute, for a good strong landing. Adage is a preparation for these, as well as for adage choreography.
If you feel wobbly in the torso, or are straining your neck and shoulders to balance, you can do the lying on the floor on your side exercise, raising both legs up a few inches, straight, keeping the supporting waist held off the floor. 4-8 times per side and you will build core strength.
Teachers break movements down like this, and you can even practice the position changes in retire or a tendu, to get those torso muscles fully engaged and controlled.
This strength in your center means a lot when you put on pointe shoes and wobble until you get used to the shoe, maintaining a full height position and balancing on the sole of the pointe shoe.
Building this core strength through preparation exercises leads to the "effortless" quality that is so admired in professionals. And you can do it too.
The Ballet Bible details the components of ballet positions and ballet movements, and illustrates the core strength needed to do them accurately.
For example, if your class has done adage in the center consisting of developpe en croix, and your new level requires a fouette or promenade, you may need to build more strength in your center.
Fouette in adage depends on the stability of the supporting side, firstly, then of course, also the working position.
To break it down, you could practise an exercise where you developpe devant, turn a quarter turn to face the wall, moving the supporting heel and thigh to a new turned out position, and the working leg coming forward to its proper second position. You could either close here, and developpe a la seconde and then turn a quarter turn back to devant, or just keep holding the leg up and turn back to devant. It depends on your current strength and stamina. You can do this four times on each side, changing sides, so as not to exhaust the supporting side.
You would do the same, going from developpe a la seconde to arabesque, always leading with the supporting heel/thigh and adjusting to the arabesque position carefully.
And then with developpe to arabesque back to a la seconde.
When you are feeling steady with these movements, you would want to add going into a demi plie at the end of the developpe, and releve the fouette, then coming down into a strong demi plie. This will be needed in fouette releve en pointe, and fouette saute, for a good strong landing. Adage is a preparation for these, as well as for adage choreography.
If you feel wobbly in the torso, or are straining your neck and shoulders to balance, you can do the lying on the floor on your side exercise, raising both legs up a few inches, straight, keeping the supporting waist held off the floor. 4-8 times per side and you will build core strength.
Teachers break movements down like this, and you can even practice the position changes in retire or a tendu, to get those torso muscles fully engaged and controlled.
This strength in your center means a lot when you put on pointe shoes and wobble until you get used to the shoe, maintaining a full height position and balancing on the sole of the pointe shoe.
Building this core strength through preparation exercises leads to the "effortless" quality that is so admired in professionals. And you can do it too.
The Ballet Bible details the components of ballet positions and ballet movements, and illustrates the core strength needed to do them accurately.
Don't Waste Time - Learn To Self-Assess Your Ballet Technique
If you are a dedicated student who is willing to do some reading about the finer details of correct ballet technique, you'll acquire good ballet exercise tips and you'll know if you're working accurately in class.
If you can learn about self-assessing, and practise very accurate routines to improve one basic ballet exercise at a time, you'll get ahead much faster, for example, even if you continue only doing 2 classes a week. The internet is full of information! Glossaries of French words for ballet are available.
I know that if you are a dedicated student, you will love these volumes of information. You can prepare for pointe safely and properly, even if your own teacher doesn't know how. And many teachers don't, because this has not been taught before.
You can gradually reach the same standards as students who have studied during the early years that perhaps you didn't. You need the right info, that's all. For instance, if you just read one article about a correct plie, and practise that for a week at home, you would improve and strengthen every exercise you do in class.
If you self-assessed and started a routine for preparing to work in pointe shoes, in one month you would be far ahead of where you are now. And I encourage male dance students to do these too, because to date, I haven't found anything written for male students refining their footwork.
Repetition certainly is the essence of ballet training - but it only gets you optimum results if you're doing things accurately. Even the best of teachers can correct you only so much in a class - teachers try their best to correct everyone. So any student who is willing to learn to assess themselves and work a little at home is going to get way ahead!
Be creative in how you apply your homework in ballet exercises - figure out how you can do your foot exercises while you study for schoolwork. Do your core exercises while you watch a movie. There are many ways to not waste time, to build strength and muscle memory, and to excel beyond your expectations.
And always remember, stretching, relaxing tight muscles, and a day of rest is always part of the program!
I know that if you are a dedicated student, you will love these volumes of information. You can prepare for pointe safely and properly, even if your own teacher doesn't know how. And many teachers don't, because this has not been taught before.
You can gradually reach the same standards as students who have studied during the early years that perhaps you didn't. You need the right info, that's all. For instance, if you just read one article about a correct plie, and practise that for a week at home, you would improve and strengthen every exercise you do in class.
If you self-assessed and started a routine for preparing to work in pointe shoes, in one month you would be far ahead of where you are now. And I encourage male dance students to do these too, because to date, I haven't found anything written for male students refining their footwork.
Repetition certainly is the essence of ballet training - but it only gets you optimum results if you're doing things accurately. Even the best of teachers can correct you only so much in a class - teachers try their best to correct everyone. So any student who is willing to learn to assess themselves and work a little at home is going to get way ahead!
Be creative in how you apply your homework in ballet exercises - figure out how you can do your foot exercises while you study for schoolwork. Do your core exercises while you watch a movie. There are many ways to not waste time, to build strength and muscle memory, and to excel beyond your expectations.
And always remember, stretching, relaxing tight muscles, and a day of rest is always part of the program!
Build Strength For Long and Lean Ballet Muscles - Highly Effective Tips
To build strength for the long and lean muscles every dance student wants, here are some highly effective tips to achieve optimum results. The finer details are both physical and conceptual, and will improve all your ballet exercises.
Length is the goal in ballet, and here are some ways to think of it as a realistic goal.
For example, when you start a demi plie, you pull up. But to make that an extra pulled up strength, think of bending your knees, maximum turnout, and not lowering your body for a second. That's right, pull up the lower abs so that your belly button moves up your torso and stays there!
This is different from pulling in your stomach into a bundled knot. Whether or not you succeed in bending your knees and staying up, you will stretch your lower abs long and flat. To practice, open and close your knees a little several times and try to stay up at the same level. Then, when you sink down into that plie, keep the lower torso long and flat, still pulling up and away from the motion, still letting your calves relax, turnout held, and your feet flat on the floor, heels firm. If you do this every time you do a plie, it will make a huge difference in the lengthening feeling.
Another place to feel a lengthening is from the top of a press up. You've reached the top of your demi pointe or full pointe. As you lower the heels, pretend you are not lowering. You pull the heels down, away from your hips and torso. Your thighs stretch out long, in your mental image, like a stretchy band (which they are). You keep trying to stay up even as your heels touch the floor.
At this moment, if you are continuing into a demi plie, you again hold the lower abs long and up, as you open the knees, as if you are not lowering.
Here are just two places that will make a tremendous difference, if you do the lengthening technique every time you do a plie or pull down from a press up.
This helps control the pelvis, posture, and turnout, and you'll get the best you can in developing long and lean muscles and build strength.
For example, when you start a demi plie, you pull up. But to make that an extra pulled up strength, think of bending your knees, maximum turnout, and not lowering your body for a second. That's right, pull up the lower abs so that your belly button moves up your torso and stays there!
This is different from pulling in your stomach into a bundled knot. Whether or not you succeed in bending your knees and staying up, you will stretch your lower abs long and flat. To practice, open and close your knees a little several times and try to stay up at the same level. Then, when you sink down into that plie, keep the lower torso long and flat, still pulling up and away from the motion, still letting your calves relax, turnout held, and your feet flat on the floor, heels firm. If you do this every time you do a plie, it will make a huge difference in the lengthening feeling.
Another place to feel a lengthening is from the top of a press up. You've reached the top of your demi pointe or full pointe. As you lower the heels, pretend you are not lowering. You pull the heels down, away from your hips and torso. Your thighs stretch out long, in your mental image, like a stretchy band (which they are). You keep trying to stay up even as your heels touch the floor.
At this moment, if you are continuing into a demi plie, you again hold the lower abs long and up, as you open the knees, as if you are not lowering.
Here are just two places that will make a tremendous difference, if you do the lengthening technique every time you do a plie or pull down from a press up.
This helps control the pelvis, posture, and turnout, and you'll get the best you can in developing long and lean muscles and build strength.
Fitness and Nutrition Programs For Working in Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
There are many aspects to nutrition for athletes - muscles need minerals for flexibility (especially the splits). Stretching is necessary for good muscle tone, and minerals can help.
Calcium/magnesium/phosphorus/Vitamin D is a combination supplement showing up a lot now. It's proportioned properly for the best utilization by the body.
Liquid versions abound in the natural health food stores. Hopefully that means that the sources are natural (not made in a lab). This enables the body to recognize the product and use it. Chemical vitamins are not used by the body.
Since the body knows better than chemists do, as in balancing and using nutrients, it is best to give it a combination of vitamins and minerals that work together. If an athlete takes calcium for muscles, for example, he/she may not be able to benefit from the calcium without symbiotic minerals. Magnesium is often mixed with calcium. Magnesium prevents the "spark plugs" that electrically fire to contract a muscle, from repetitive firing, which results in muscle spasms. The muscle contracts and cannot relax. Calcium feeds the muscle, magnesium allows relaxation, and phosphorus needs to be in balance, and Vitamin D helps with calcium absorption. Always take as directed.
Taut muscles lose tone. They need to be stretched, relaxed, and rested. Lean meats, chicken, fish, and tofu mixed with a variety of vegetables and salads, provide a broad range of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Fruits add nutrition too.
Muscles that work into knots and spasms may need more nutrition. Firstly, proper technique and class regimens don't lead to such terrible knots and spasms - but once they are present - what to do?
A calcium supplement, balanced with magnesium, phosphorus and Vitamin D, will help relax the muscles and restore them to a workable condition. Tension melts and you may sleep better. You will get more out of your pointe classes, pre-pointe routines and repetitive grands plie (if you are a male student pushing for more thigh strength) if you follow good fitness and nutrition guidelines. Look around on the internet and in your local health food stores for quality calcium supplements, in the combination mentioned here. Life will be a lot easier in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
Liquid versions abound in the natural health food stores. Hopefully that means that the sources are natural (not made in a lab). This enables the body to recognize the product and use it. Chemical vitamins are not used by the body.
Since the body knows better than chemists do, as in balancing and using nutrients, it is best to give it a combination of vitamins and minerals that work together. If an athlete takes calcium for muscles, for example, he/she may not be able to benefit from the calcium without symbiotic minerals. Magnesium is often mixed with calcium. Magnesium prevents the "spark plugs" that electrically fire to contract a muscle, from repetitive firing, which results in muscle spasms. The muscle contracts and cannot relax. Calcium feeds the muscle, magnesium allows relaxation, and phosphorus needs to be in balance, and Vitamin D helps with calcium absorption. Always take as directed.
Taut muscles lose tone. They need to be stretched, relaxed, and rested. Lean meats, chicken, fish, and tofu mixed with a variety of vegetables and salads, provide a broad range of proteins, vitamins and minerals. Fruits add nutrition too.
Muscles that work into knots and spasms may need more nutrition. Firstly, proper technique and class regimens don't lead to such terrible knots and spasms - but once they are present - what to do?
A calcium supplement, balanced with magnesium, phosphorus and Vitamin D, will help relax the muscles and restore them to a workable condition. Tension melts and you may sleep better. You will get more out of your pointe classes, pre-pointe routines and repetitive grands plie (if you are a male student pushing for more thigh strength) if you follow good fitness and nutrition guidelines. Look around on the internet and in your local health food stores for quality calcium supplements, in the combination mentioned here. Life will be a lot easier in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
Better Rehabilitation For Ballet and Sports Injuries Postulated in MRI Study
Science Daily reports - "Ballet Dancers' Brains Reveal The Art Of Imitation".
Understanding "mirroring" in the brain leads scientist to conclude that better rehabilitation could occur for injured athletes if they keep watching the actions they are restricted from performing. An MRI study showed how their brains responded. While out of rehearsals and pointe shoes, keep watching!
"The University College London (UCL) study, published in the latest online edition of Cerebral Cortex , may help in the rehabilitation of people whose motor skills are damaged by stroke, and suggests that athletes and dancers could continue to mentally train while they are physically injured.
...Professor Patrick Haggard of UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience says: ......Our findings suggest that once the brain has learned a skill, it may simulate the skill without even moving, through simple observation. An injured dancer might be able to maintain their skill despite being temporarily unable to move, simply by watching others dance. This concept could be used both during sports training and in maintaining and restoring movement ability in people who are injured."
"Deborah Bull, Creative Director at Royal Opera House (ROH2), says: "We are delighted to be working with Patrick Haggard, our Associate Scientist, on this fascinating area of research. As a former dancer, I have long been intrigued by the different ways in which people respond to dance. Through this and future research, I hope we'll begin to understand more about the unique ways in which the human body can communicate without words."
There is nothing more stressful for a an athlete or dancer than the idea of injury. Competition for roles or preparation for exams is always present. Whether one is a student or a professional, the calendar of events in a year of training, or company season, is always tight.
Losing a couple of months can be devastating. According to this study, staying at home nursing an injury is even worse. It seems like that attending the environment of study or work is better. The brains enacts the skills required while observing, and the idea is that skill will therefore, not be lost.
Other scientists (Candace Pert, Bruce Lipton) have been saying for a long time that your brain does not know the difference between imagining doing something and doing it - and as all skills originate in the neural pathways - it seems best to continue using them, even if you are sitting in a cast.
It will be interesting to watch developments in these studies in better rehabilitation from ballet and sports injuries.
"The University College London (UCL) study, published in the latest online edition of Cerebral Cortex , may help in the rehabilitation of people whose motor skills are damaged by stroke, and suggests that athletes and dancers could continue to mentally train while they are physically injured.
...Professor Patrick Haggard of UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience says: ......Our findings suggest that once the brain has learned a skill, it may simulate the skill without even moving, through simple observation. An injured dancer might be able to maintain their skill despite being temporarily unable to move, simply by watching others dance. This concept could be used both during sports training and in maintaining and restoring movement ability in people who are injured."
"Deborah Bull, Creative Director at Royal Opera House (ROH2), says: "We are delighted to be working with Patrick Haggard, our Associate Scientist, on this fascinating area of research. As a former dancer, I have long been intrigued by the different ways in which people respond to dance. Through this and future research, I hope we'll begin to understand more about the unique ways in which the human body can communicate without words."
There is nothing more stressful for a an athlete or dancer than the idea of injury. Competition for roles or preparation for exams is always present. Whether one is a student or a professional, the calendar of events in a year of training, or company season, is always tight.
Losing a couple of months can be devastating. According to this study, staying at home nursing an injury is even worse. It seems like that attending the environment of study or work is better. The brains enacts the skills required while observing, and the idea is that skill will therefore, not be lost.
Other scientists (Candace Pert, Bruce Lipton) have been saying for a long time that your brain does not know the difference between imagining doing something and doing it - and as all skills originate in the neural pathways - it seems best to continue using them, even if you are sitting in a cast.
It will be interesting to watch developments in these studies in better rehabilitation from ballet and sports injuries.
The Perfect Battement Tendu - French Ballet Word For Stretched
Tendu is one of the French words for ballet. It means stretched. Usually, that means you have pointed your foot in a front, side, or backward direction from a closed position. Whether in soft ballet shoes or pointe shoes, the technique is the same.
Whether you pick up a ballet glossary at a ballet store, or find one on line, every new student needs one. Even if you speak French, the way the words are used can be different.
Battement tendu is a ballet movement opening the foot and leg, keeping the pointe of the toes on the floor.
Assuming that your posture is correct, "spine neutral", your turnout is from the hips, your neck and shoulders are relaxed, and your barre arm is resting lightly, not too much happens!
True, and not true.
If your are in fifth position, you begin shifting the weight to the standing leg and sliding the working heel forward, at the same time. You are pressing your heel forward, if you are going devant - to the front, or a la seconde, to the side. You can turn out your foot because you are taking the weight off that leg, so there is no strain on the knee joint.
Here's a tricky part - as you extend the leg, you keep pressing the foot into the floor. Not so as to strain the knee joint with having weight on the foot - no, but you are creating resistance. You press the foot into the floor to build strength in the foot muscles. You do not curl your toes to do this, think of the whole foot. But as you are extending the foot to the devant ballet position, it happens quickly. After the metatarsal area has left the floor, be sure to stretch your toes out long, do not curl or bend them. The movement is over when the arch is fully stretched, and the toes simply come into line.
This is the same movement you will do in pointe shoes, keeping the toes long, not bent over.
Some ballet techniques teach that you extend the foot so that the toes end up opposite the standing heel, in a devant position. Others teach that you cross the foot over so that the toe ends up opposite the center of the standing foot, or in line with the center of the torso. You can lose turnout crossing over like this, or, keeping the turnout, you can end up losing the hip placement, turning the body slightly croise (toward the corner of the supporting side). In the early years of training I see no reason not to stay with the extended toes in line with the supporting heel.
If nothing else has happened in the body, you have done a correct tendu devant.
To close, you relax your toe joints, pressing the toes slightly into the floor as the leg draws in, the toes pull back, the heel lowers, until the sole of the foot is pressing on the floor. Here's the little tricky area again - you pull the leg in, but you must stop pulling the toes back as you get into fifth (or first) so as not be turning the foot out too much. You have to stand on the whole foot, turned out from the hip rotators. Ballet is not anatomically correct, but you must compromise without injuring your knees, rolling your ankles, and being off balance.
At the end of the movement, your weight must be evenly on two feet, hips square, spine still neutral, neck relaxed. With the thousands of tendus you do in ballet training, there is no way you will not get strong and build good ballet technique.
You will find a complete glossary of French words for ballet in the The Ballet Bible.
Battement tendu is a ballet movement opening the foot and leg, keeping the pointe of the toes on the floor.
Assuming that your posture is correct, "spine neutral", your turnout is from the hips, your neck and shoulders are relaxed, and your barre arm is resting lightly, not too much happens!
True, and not true.
If your are in fifth position, you begin shifting the weight to the standing leg and sliding the working heel forward, at the same time. You are pressing your heel forward, if you are going devant - to the front, or a la seconde, to the side. You can turn out your foot because you are taking the weight off that leg, so there is no strain on the knee joint.
Here's a tricky part - as you extend the leg, you keep pressing the foot into the floor. Not so as to strain the knee joint with having weight on the foot - no, but you are creating resistance. You press the foot into the floor to build strength in the foot muscles. You do not curl your toes to do this, think of the whole foot. But as you are extending the foot to the devant ballet position, it happens quickly. After the metatarsal area has left the floor, be sure to stretch your toes out long, do not curl or bend them. The movement is over when the arch is fully stretched, and the toes simply come into line.
This is the same movement you will do in pointe shoes, keeping the toes long, not bent over.
Some ballet techniques teach that you extend the foot so that the toes end up opposite the standing heel, in a devant position. Others teach that you cross the foot over so that the toe ends up opposite the center of the standing foot, or in line with the center of the torso. You can lose turnout crossing over like this, or, keeping the turnout, you can end up losing the hip placement, turning the body slightly croise (toward the corner of the supporting side). In the early years of training I see no reason not to stay with the extended toes in line with the supporting heel.
If nothing else has happened in the body, you have done a correct tendu devant.
To close, you relax your toe joints, pressing the toes slightly into the floor as the leg draws in, the toes pull back, the heel lowers, until the sole of the foot is pressing on the floor. Here's the little tricky area again - you pull the leg in, but you must stop pulling the toes back as you get into fifth (or first) so as not be turning the foot out too much. You have to stand on the whole foot, turned out from the hip rotators. Ballet is not anatomically correct, but you must compromise without injuring your knees, rolling your ankles, and being off balance.
At the end of the movement, your weight must be evenly on two feet, hips square, spine still neutral, neck relaxed. With the thousands of tendus you do in ballet training, there is no way you will not get strong and build good ballet technique.
You will find a complete glossary of French words for ballet in the The Ballet Bible.
Tendu A La Seconde and A La Arriere - More French Ballet Words
Your positions a la seconde and a la arriere in battement tendu are the basis for building strength and good dance technique. The accuracy of these positions will carry over to your pre-pointe strengths, your adagio, to......everything you do in a ballet.
Your ballet positions a la seconde and a la arriere in battement tendu are the basis for building strength and good ballet technique. The accuracy of these positions will carry over to your pre-pointe strengths, your adagio, to......everything you do in a ballet class! Learning correct body placement and fine foot work in these exercises will also help prevent ballet injuries.
For a la seconde, the foot leaves fifth or first, the sole pressing into the floor, the metatarsals pressing as you extend the arch, and lastly, you lengthen the toes. Hopefully nothing else has happened in the body or to the standing leg. You aim the tendu to the spot furthest to the side, where you can still hold your turnout in both legs. For most dancers, this is not straight to the side. It doesn't matter. Holding the turnout of the supporting leg and the placement of the body facing square to the front matters. You need this stable ballet position for developpe, turns in a la seconde, and jumps in or going through a la seconde postion (fouette saute, grand jete en tournant).
Closing the tendu, press the toes down, then relax the metatarsal joints. Press the ball of foot and sole of foot into the floor, creating resistance. Make sure the whole foot is on the floor, so you can smoothly resume weight onto it. All the way into first or fifth behind, aiming for the foot placement that allows maximum turnout of both legs from the hips, no wiggling, no hip change, unless that is impossible.
A la arriere, behind, press down into the foot, changing the weight to the supporting leg. Lead out with the toes first, lengthening down the back of the leg, pressure in the sole of the foot as the arch stretches and then the toes lengthen.
At some point, your working hip will open from a square position, but the turnout of the supporting leg should not change, and your body from the waist up should be square to the front. Also, you have to keep feeling length down through the leg. The leg must be extended all the way out, before the foot fully points, or you will force your torso to scrunch at the waist instead of staying long. It's like a tug of war to lengthen the leg, and keep the body pulled up tall. Also that feeling prevents you from shifting the weight back off the supporting foot. You should be able to lift your hand from the barre any time, and be tall on your standing leg.
Closing from the back is a gradual change from the heel leading back in, pressure on the sole of the foot, and bringing the toes forward again to where you can stand on your whole foot. Also the working hip comes square again, smoothly, as the toes drop, the arch presses down, and the weight goes on to the foot.
To learn ballet in pointe shoes get The Perfect Pointe Book where you'll discover the best exercises for the foot muscles. You tendus will strengthen faster if you add these exercises to your daily routines. And don't forget to massage your feet with a small hard rubber ball, called a "pinky ball". Ice if your feet ache and massage when sitting watching TV. Strengthen, stretch, and always relax your muscles.
For a la seconde, the foot leaves fifth or first, the sole pressing into the floor, the metatarsals pressing as you extend the arch, and lastly, you lengthen the toes. Hopefully nothing else has happened in the body or to the standing leg. You aim the tendu to the spot furthest to the side, where you can still hold your turnout in both legs. For most dancers, this is not straight to the side. It doesn't matter. Holding the turnout of the supporting leg and the placement of the body facing square to the front matters. You need this stable ballet position for developpe, turns in a la seconde, and jumps in or going through a la seconde postion (fouette saute, grand jete en tournant).
Closing the tendu, press the toes down, then relax the metatarsal joints. Press the ball of foot and sole of foot into the floor, creating resistance. Make sure the whole foot is on the floor, so you can smoothly resume weight onto it. All the way into first or fifth behind, aiming for the foot placement that allows maximum turnout of both legs from the hips, no wiggling, no hip change, unless that is impossible.
A la arriere, behind, press down into the foot, changing the weight to the supporting leg. Lead out with the toes first, lengthening down the back of the leg, pressure in the sole of the foot as the arch stretches and then the toes lengthen.
At some point, your working hip will open from a square position, but the turnout of the supporting leg should not change, and your body from the waist up should be square to the front. Also, you have to keep feeling length down through the leg. The leg must be extended all the way out, before the foot fully points, or you will force your torso to scrunch at the waist instead of staying long. It's like a tug of war to lengthen the leg, and keep the body pulled up tall. Also that feeling prevents you from shifting the weight back off the supporting foot. You should be able to lift your hand from the barre any time, and be tall on your standing leg.
Closing from the back is a gradual change from the heel leading back in, pressure on the sole of the foot, and bringing the toes forward again to where you can stand on your whole foot. Also the working hip comes square again, smoothly, as the toes drop, the arch presses down, and the weight goes on to the foot.
To learn ballet in pointe shoes get The Perfect Pointe Book where you'll discover the best exercises for the foot muscles. You tendus will strengthen faster if you add these exercises to your daily routines. And don't forget to massage your feet with a small hard rubber ball, called a "pinky ball". Ice if your feet ache and massage when sitting watching TV. Strengthen, stretch, and always relax your muscles.
7 Additional Effective Habits For Improving Your Ballet Positions and Ballet Technique
Details, details, details....if you get them right in plies, the rest of the class is easier.
Every exercise you do up until you get into pointe shoes, is pre-pointe. The term focuses on the basics to help you work well in pointe shoes, to emphasize that there IS a regimen to improve your strength build-up towards pointe work.
** Check your postural plumb line at your first demi plie. This line goes straight down through your body, through the curve of the spine and your natural shapes. Also called "neutral spine".
** Check your turn out from your rotator muscles in the back of your pelvis. Your feet should be turned out as much as your thighs are, but not more to the degree that they pronate, or tense under the arches and toes.
** Move your head from side to side. Your neck is relaxed, and your shoulders move easily with your breathing. Do not press your shoulders down to compensate for a non-neutral spine, feet not completely contacting the floor, or anything else showing that you are off balance. Pressing the shoulders down, shows that your abdominal and back "core" muscles, are weak.
** Note that your arm can move without the shoulders following. The shoulder joint is free.
** Focus of your eyes. Be aware of what you are looking at. Your attention to the environment is necessary. A class or a stage is a busy place! You must seem, to an audience, that you are focusing outward, to them, even when you are not, and even when you cannot see them.
** Hold the barre lightly. Place your hand on it and use a slight pressure down when you feel your balance shifting. Gripping constantly tells you that you cannot do what you are trying to do! Cut back to an easier version of the exercise and practice. Increase your core muscle exercises.
** If you alter ANYTHING at the depth of your grande plie, or during the first inch coming up, find what is weak. When your heels come off the floor, watch and feel. Have a friend help. If it is just a matter of strength at the bottom of the plie, do shallower grande plies for a while, so as not to lose posture or turnout.
If you are among the men in ballet and you've noticed the girls talking excitedly about new pre-pointe regimens, pay attention! Those exercises and assessments for pointe work are perfect for you. The strength and finesse of foot work is necessary for you. Jumps, landings, controlling your descent from multiple turns, will have that cat-like quality if you develop your feet as you would for pointe work.
For better ballet positions get a definitive technical ballet manual, The Perfect Pointe Book.
** Check your postural plumb line at your first demi plie. This line goes straight down through your body, through the curve of the spine and your natural shapes. Also called "neutral spine".
** Check your turn out from your rotator muscles in the back of your pelvis. Your feet should be turned out as much as your thighs are, but not more to the degree that they pronate, or tense under the arches and toes.
** Move your head from side to side. Your neck is relaxed, and your shoulders move easily with your breathing. Do not press your shoulders down to compensate for a non-neutral spine, feet not completely contacting the floor, or anything else showing that you are off balance. Pressing the shoulders down, shows that your abdominal and back "core" muscles, are weak.
** Note that your arm can move without the shoulders following. The shoulder joint is free.
** Focus of your eyes. Be aware of what you are looking at. Your attention to the environment is necessary. A class or a stage is a busy place! You must seem, to an audience, that you are focusing outward, to them, even when you are not, and even when you cannot see them.
** Hold the barre lightly. Place your hand on it and use a slight pressure down when you feel your balance shifting. Gripping constantly tells you that you cannot do what you are trying to do! Cut back to an easier version of the exercise and practice. Increase your core muscle exercises.
** If you alter ANYTHING at the depth of your grande plie, or during the first inch coming up, find what is weak. When your heels come off the floor, watch and feel. Have a friend help. If it is just a matter of strength at the bottom of the plie, do shallower grande plies for a while, so as not to lose posture or turnout.
If you are among the men in ballet and you've noticed the girls talking excitedly about new pre-pointe regimens, pay attention! Those exercises and assessments for pointe work are perfect for you. The strength and finesse of foot work is necessary for you. Jumps, landings, controlling your descent from multiple turns, will have that cat-like quality if you develop your feet as you would for pointe work.
For better ballet positions get a definitive technical ballet manual, The Perfect Pointe Book.
Adding Turns in Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
Building strength and good technique has to happen long before you get to multiple turns. Once there, increasing your turns is not too difficult. The feeling of spin is controlled through good spotting, musicality, and...practise, practise!
One aspect of fast spinning is spotting. You must have a relaxed neck and quick and accurate head movement. Such as, no inclining the head. Inclining happens when you leave the head too long. For more neck flexibility, ice it for 15 minutes after hot showers, and tilt the head sideways for gentle stretches. Do not roll the head around in circles; the neck joints are not designed to do that.
You can work up to more turns by adding half a turn at a time. Do four and a half, which means changing your spot to the back after three and a half turns. That will just kind of bring you around to the back, to catch up to your head. And voila you have done another half a turn. Don't strain, and come down into a soft, controlled stretchy demi plie. Repeat this until it is easy, then add another half, and another half. Little by little as needed, so that you are not compensating for any postural loss, or losing control over your ending position.
I had a teacher once who set pirouette exercises like that, starting with two and a quarter turns. It meant changing your spot to the next wall, and coming around to it. Really easy, not too much difference. You'd do a double, then 2 and a quarter, 2 and a half, 2 and three quarters, then three. Or start with a triple, and do three and a quarter, etc. In pointe shoes, it takes not much more than a thought to add a quarter turn.
Another teacher I had used to say "during your preparation, imagine you are spiralling your spine in the opposite direction to where you are going to turn. Like your inner muscles are twisting to the left, though your shoulders stay square to the front; the prep position doesn't change outwardly. Then when you go up onto releve and turn, you release that twist and it makes you spin. That's a mental trick, and it really works for some people.
Assuming your technique is good, and your postural plumb line is correct, just keep on adding quarter or half turns, and let each addition get easy and natural.
Go here for more articles and ballet technique tips.
You can work up to more turns by adding half a turn at a time. Do four and a half, which means changing your spot to the back after three and a half turns. That will just kind of bring you around to the back, to catch up to your head. And voila you have done another half a turn. Don't strain, and come down into a soft, controlled stretchy demi plie. Repeat this until it is easy, then add another half, and another half. Little by little as needed, so that you are not compensating for any postural loss, or losing control over your ending position.
I had a teacher once who set pirouette exercises like that, starting with two and a quarter turns. It meant changing your spot to the next wall, and coming around to it. Really easy, not too much difference. You'd do a double, then 2 and a quarter, 2 and a half, 2 and three quarters, then three. Or start with a triple, and do three and a quarter, etc. In pointe shoes, it takes not much more than a thought to add a quarter turn.
Another teacher I had used to say "during your preparation, imagine you are spiralling your spine in the opposite direction to where you are going to turn. Like your inner muscles are twisting to the left, though your shoulders stay square to the front; the prep position doesn't change outwardly. Then when you go up onto releve and turn, you release that twist and it makes you spin. That's a mental trick, and it really works for some people.
Assuming your technique is good, and your postural plumb line is correct, just keep on adding quarter or half turns, and let each addition get easy and natural.
Go here for more articles and ballet technique tips.
7 Highly Effective Tips for Fouettes in Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
I'm seeing discussions about fouettes, spotting, and travelling during the series of turns. This is usually a problem of posture and muscular tension. Sometimes pointe work has started too early, without the required technical strength.
Travelling in turns usually is a problem of strength holding the postural plumb line. If the position and movement is not correct, the turns will travel and flounder.
Here are 7 highly effective tips to examine your technique for fouettes and turns a la seconde:
** Standing sideways to a mirror, do a few press ups in first position. Do you have a postural plumb line? If your core, your turnout, your ankles and soles of the foot are steady, also check to see that these movements are done with no strain in the shoulders and neck.
** With fingertips on the barre, do slow motion press ups and down in retire, or a la seconde. If you can do this without strain in the neck and shoulders, great. If there is strain, you need to build up strength in your core, and possibly overall. If a postural deviation from your plumb line shows up here, check for technical accuracy.
** What specific technical accuracy? The basics, always. Is your turnout strong, or have you compensated by shoving your supporting heel forward when you plie, changing your center of balance? Are you dropping back in the bottom of the demi plie? A shorter demi plie is not a bad thing. What counts is being in good posture in your demi plie so that you can press with your heel/foot, into the floor, and use gravity to push up, without having to make another compensation to rise into a straight position. It's a lot more work to keep all these compensations/countercompensations going.
I want to make a comment here about Classical Stretch, the Full Body Workout and Athletes' Intense Stretch. On a day off dance classes, this is a wonderful routine. It is not too hard on the legs and back, which need to rest, it combines Pilates with balletic style for your core strength, and it fulfills the need for stretch and relaxation that most dancers neglect. Good muscle tone is not just work, work, and more work.
The rest of this long technical article is here, in the blog.
You can also let me know on the forum if you have any particular questions about this topic, or any other.
Here are 7 highly effective tips to examine your technique for fouettes and turns a la seconde:
** Standing sideways to a mirror, do a few press ups in first position. Do you have a postural plumb line? If your core, your turnout, your ankles and soles of the foot are steady, also check to see that these movements are done with no strain in the shoulders and neck.
** With fingertips on the barre, do slow motion press ups and down in retire, or a la seconde. If you can do this without strain in the neck and shoulders, great. If there is strain, you need to build up strength in your core, and possibly overall. If a postural deviation from your plumb line shows up here, check for technical accuracy.
** What specific technical accuracy? The basics, always. Is your turnout strong, or have you compensated by shoving your supporting heel forward when you plie, changing your center of balance? Are you dropping back in the bottom of the demi plie? A shorter demi plie is not a bad thing. What counts is being in good posture in your demi plie so that you can press with your heel/foot, into the floor, and use gravity to push up, without having to make another compensation to rise into a straight position. It's a lot more work to keep all these compensations/countercompensations going.
I want to make a comment here about Classical Stretch, the Full Body Workout and Athletes' Intense Stretch. On a day off dance classes, this is a wonderful routine. It is not too hard on the legs and back, which need to rest, it combines Pilates with balletic style for your core strength, and it fulfills the need for stretch and relaxation that most dancers neglect. Good muscle tone is not just work, work, and more work.
The rest of this long technical article is here, in the blog.
You can also let me know on the forum if you have any particular questions about this topic, or any other.
The Best Ballet Wear in Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
Every ballet store provides the kind of ballet wear that teachers want to see. Whether you are taking ballet for weight loss, for exercises and strengthening, or for a career builder, select simple clothes for class.
Traditional ballet teachers may seem fussy about the dress code in their studios. Pink tights, black leotards. There is a reason for this. For the men in ballet, a white leotard or tee shirt, and black tights.
When a teacher is looking over a class in motion, visual clutter needs to be at a minimum. Black leotards and pink tights are a good uniform landscape for the teacher.
The black of the leotard emphasizes the line of the posture, the upper back and neck suppleness/tension, the hip/leg break and alignment correctness, and makes it easiest to respond to what is seen with ongoing and detailed corrections.
For instance, it is easy to see, even across a large studio, if the back of the thigh is not pulled up as needed, if the dancer is wearing pink tights. The line of the muscles is hidden in dark tights. In pink tights, it is also easy to see bulky tension in thigh muscles that should be more elongated. So your ballet teacher can help you more effectively if you are wearing simple clothing.
Distractions such as multi-colored clothing, and sloppy leg warmers prevent the teacher from being at their top efficiency.
Just like office folk get to wear more casual clothes to work on Fridays, my student-day classes were allowed to wear colored leotards and black tights on Saturdays. We pushed it, and came to class with bright leg warmers, print head bands and jewelry just bigger than the allowed tiny stud pierced earrings. We were always asked to remove even the tiniest of neck chains.
Of course there were always cold winter days when sweaters and body-length woolies were necessary. And it's not like a teacher can't see plain bad placement through all that, but the finer details are hidden.
The artistry of ballet depends on the ultra-perfectionistic and over-idealized form being sought, and then being surrendered to an allowing energy flow, that releases expression and drama. The same duality that all the arts struggle with.....
I wish I could say that better, but all I'm really talking about is that the norm for strict ballet wear that a good ballet store provides, ultimately supports the best results for ballet positions, ballet movements, ballet for weight loss, ballet strengthening regimens, pointe work, and the virtuosity aspired to by men in ballet. It allows the teacher to see what's going on in a large class full of diverse talent.
When a teacher is looking over a class in motion, visual clutter needs to be at a minimum. Black leotards and pink tights are a good uniform landscape for the teacher.
The black of the leotard emphasizes the line of the posture, the upper back and neck suppleness/tension, the hip/leg break and alignment correctness, and makes it easiest to respond to what is seen with ongoing and detailed corrections.
For instance, it is easy to see, even across a large studio, if the back of the thigh is not pulled up as needed, if the dancer is wearing pink tights. The line of the muscles is hidden in dark tights. In pink tights, it is also easy to see bulky tension in thigh muscles that should be more elongated. So your ballet teacher can help you more effectively if you are wearing simple clothing.
Distractions such as multi-colored clothing, and sloppy leg warmers prevent the teacher from being at their top efficiency.
Just like office folk get to wear more casual clothes to work on Fridays, my student-day classes were allowed to wear colored leotards and black tights on Saturdays. We pushed it, and came to class with bright leg warmers, print head bands and jewelry just bigger than the allowed tiny stud pierced earrings. We were always asked to remove even the tiniest of neck chains.
Of course there were always cold winter days when sweaters and body-length woolies were necessary. And it's not like a teacher can't see plain bad placement through all that, but the finer details are hidden.
The artistry of ballet depends on the ultra-perfectionistic and over-idealized form being sought, and then being surrendered to an allowing energy flow, that releases expression and drama. The same duality that all the arts struggle with.....
I wish I could say that better, but all I'm really talking about is that the norm for strict ballet wear that a good ballet store provides, ultimately supports the best results for ballet positions, ballet movements, ballet for weight loss, ballet strengthening regimens, pointe work, and the virtuosity aspired to by men in ballet. It allows the teacher to see what's going on in a large class full of diverse talent.
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Ballet for Weight Loss
Edgar Cayce said "The exercises that work are the ones that you do".
There are people who choose ballet for weight loss. I think swimming still comes in first for calories-burnt-per-minute.
Ballet is a lot harder to do for many reasons. Some of those translate into calorie burning, and some don't.
Ballet is an art. It engages the spirit, mind and body. I'm not expecting that many swimmers don't experience the same thing, but I'm speaking about it as a performing art, and an art that requires soulfulness for an audience to want to watch. No offence to swimmers.
Ballet is resistance training. You are using your body weight, bench pressing with every plie, every fondu, every releve and every jump. The ramifications for bone density and growth (if you're still growing) are significant.
Resistance creates strength. Pushing into the floor for every tendu, degage, grande battment and jump using any sliding motion, is resistance.
Wearing pointe shoes at the barre, is resistance.
Doing a series of changement from a grande plie, as is taught in some boys' classes, is resistance.
In a Cecchetti adagio, pirouettes are done from a grande plie, that's using resistance.
A dancer weighing 110 pounds burns 63 calories every 15 minutes in a ballet class. That's 360+ calories in an hour and a half.
So if you are trying to lose fat, or maintain your current weight, and you do a ballet class three times a week, you must eat 360 calories less on the days you don't do a class, unless there is other exercise that would compensate for that.
Walking 3000 steps burns very few calories - yet takes at least 23-25 minutes. Depending on your weight, you will burn 25-35 calories. Easier not to eat them! And yet, walking has other fantastic benefits.
So whatever your choice of exercise, enjoy it, eat well, get exactly the right fit in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes at this ballet store, and feed your soul at the theater when your favorite ballet company is in town!
Ballet is a lot harder to do for many reasons. Some of those translate into calorie burning, and some don't.
Ballet is an art. It engages the spirit, mind and body. I'm not expecting that many swimmers don't experience the same thing, but I'm speaking about it as a performing art, and an art that requires soulfulness for an audience to want to watch. No offence to swimmers.
Ballet is resistance training. You are using your body weight, bench pressing with every plie, every fondu, every releve and every jump. The ramifications for bone density and growth (if you're still growing) are significant.
Resistance creates strength. Pushing into the floor for every tendu, degage, grande battment and jump using any sliding motion, is resistance.
Wearing pointe shoes at the barre, is resistance.
Doing a series of changement from a grande plie, as is taught in some boys' classes, is resistance.
In a Cecchetti adagio, pirouettes are done from a grande plie, that's using resistance.
A dancer weighing 110 pounds burns 63 calories every 15 minutes in a ballet class. That's 360+ calories in an hour and a half.
So if you are trying to lose fat, or maintain your current weight, and you do a ballet class three times a week, you must eat 360 calories less on the days you don't do a class, unless there is other exercise that would compensate for that.
Walking 3000 steps burns very few calories - yet takes at least 23-25 minutes. Depending on your weight, you will burn 25-35 calories. Easier not to eat them! And yet, walking has other fantastic benefits.
So whatever your choice of exercise, enjoy it, eat well, get exactly the right fit in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes at this ballet store, and feed your soul at the theater when your favorite ballet company is in town!
QUESTION: Hi My daughter is 11yrs old and has been doing pointe for a few months.
Other dancing schools do not let students go on pointe until they are atleast 12 or 13. Could she be damaging her feet?
How can you tell if your daughter is strong enough to do pointe work? There are specific requirements for this that teachers look for.
** Familiarity with correct technique. This results from the time spent in classes combined with the ability of a child to retain information and work hard without constant prompting.
** Muscle strength. The time required to develop this varies, and depends upon the number of classes per week, the child's other activities, musculoskeletal health and general health.
If you watched students in the regular class, and then watched them do the same movements in the pointe class, you should not see too much difference in the effort. If they struggle hard, fall hard off pointe, or clench the barre, then they are not ready to do pointe work.
Some smaller and younger children work better than their peers and could be strong enough to do basic pointe work. Children who learn quickly need to be challenged with new work. If their technique is precise they could work safely in a pointe class.
Teachers need to know their students. I think it takes a couple of years to watch children work, adjust to growth, handle the pressures of life, and observe which students are going to tackle new work with discipline and precision. Enthusiasm is not enough, and yet it is the motivating force for participating in an art like ballet.
I have taught children who were born to do ballet, physically, and yet did not have the powers of concentration to work safely without constant supervision. These students look good for a few years, but don't make the best or most reliable performers. And they don't necessarily fall in love with ballet. Many move on to easier hobbies.
If you have concerns, ask your daughter's teacher exactly what qualifies her to do pointe now. Just be frank and tell the him/her that you would like to be reassured that your daughter is ready for pointe. The teacher should be able to tell you something specific that makes sense.
And then it's off to the ballet store!
If you are wondering how to choose a ballet teacher, how to identify good posture, turnout and other aspects of ballet training, there is lots of information here.
** Familiarity with correct technique. This results from the time spent in classes combined with the ability of a child to retain information and work hard without constant prompting.
** Muscle strength. The time required to develop this varies, and depends upon the number of classes per week, the child's other activities, musculoskeletal health and general health.
If you watched students in the regular class, and then watched them do the same movements in the pointe class, you should not see too much difference in the effort. If they struggle hard, fall hard off pointe, or clench the barre, then they are not ready to do pointe work.
Some smaller and younger children work better than their peers and could be strong enough to do basic pointe work. Children who learn quickly need to be challenged with new work. If their technique is precise they could work safely in a pointe class.
Teachers need to know their students. I think it takes a couple of years to watch children work, adjust to growth, handle the pressures of life, and observe which students are going to tackle new work with discipline and precision. Enthusiasm is not enough, and yet it is the motivating force for participating in an art like ballet.
I have taught children who were born to do ballet, physically, and yet did not have the powers of concentration to work safely without constant supervision. These students look good for a few years, but don't make the best or most reliable performers. And they don't necessarily fall in love with ballet. Many move on to easier hobbies.
If you have concerns, ask your daughter's teacher exactly what qualifies her to do pointe now. Just be frank and tell the him/her that you would like to be reassured that your daughter is ready for pointe. The teacher should be able to tell you something specific that makes sense.
And then it's off to the ballet store!
If you are wondering how to choose a ballet teacher, how to identify good posture, turnout and other aspects of ballet training, there is lots of information here.
What's In Store For you In Pointe Shoes?
Who is the most important person in a ballet store? The one who can help you get exactly the right fit in pointe shoes. What is a good exercise to strengthen your feet for pointe shoes? What will give you that cat-like quality?
If you have just started pointe work, here is one thing you can do to strengthen your feet.
Use the floor as resistance in every tendu and degage you do.
PRESS into the floor with the sole of your foot, every time you leave fifth or first position stretching into a tendu, degage, grande battement.
PRESS through the metatarsals on to full pointe to the end of your tendu, degage or grande battement.
This strengthens the sole of the foot, and the muscles under the metatarsals (toes) which help you in pointe work.
This helps you in jumps, lowering into a demi-plie with a cat-like quality, and avoids injuries by landing well, when you are on a less-sprung floor.
While the person at the ballet store is important, it is also important for you to realize that your basic ballet work is preparation for your work in pointe shoes. Every small movement from a closed position to an open position is a chance to strengthen the sole of the foot. Pressure into the floor is like the resistance of a heavy weight. The harder you press, the heavier the weight.
Once you have worn out a pair of pointe shoes, you wear them for soft shoes. Why? The shoe gives you more resistance every time you stretch, and that strengthens the foot.
Sometimes the softened pointe shoes cause you to wobble when standing on one leg, as there is extra height in the sole of pointe shoes. File this down with a wood file. It makes the sole flatter on the floor.
Who thought you'd need a tool box too?
Relaxing the foot muscles is important. Roll your foot over a rubber ball that has a little give.
Here's a stretch I learned from Deborah Vogel's Dancing Smart series. With a soft rubber ball, kneel down on the floor. Put the ball under one of your shins. Press your weight into the ball, inch by inch. This will relax the tibial muscles. Go all the way down to the ankle area, kneading and stretching the muscles.
Put the ball under the top of the metatarsal area, and pressing into it, you will get a stretch down the top of the foot and over the ankle, increasing the curve of your point.
Muscles are stronger and better toned when they get stretched properly, and relaxed fully, every day.
Pointe shoes make noise, so the more control the better.
The upper body posture and control is part of all of this too - but the feet is where you meet the stage. I hope this helps.
Use the floor as resistance in every tendu and degage you do.
PRESS into the floor with the sole of your foot, every time you leave fifth or first position stretching into a tendu, degage, grande battement.
PRESS through the metatarsals on to full pointe to the end of your tendu, degage or grande battement.
This strengthens the sole of the foot, and the muscles under the metatarsals (toes) which help you in pointe work.
This helps you in jumps, lowering into a demi-plie with a cat-like quality, and avoids injuries by landing well, when you are on a less-sprung floor.
While the person at the ballet store is important, it is also important for you to realize that your basic ballet work is preparation for your work in pointe shoes. Every small movement from a closed position to an open position is a chance to strengthen the sole of the foot. Pressure into the floor is like the resistance of a heavy weight. The harder you press, the heavier the weight.
Once you have worn out a pair of pointe shoes, you wear them for soft shoes. Why? The shoe gives you more resistance every time you stretch, and that strengthens the foot.
Sometimes the softened pointe shoes cause you to wobble when standing on one leg, as there is extra height in the sole of pointe shoes. File this down with a wood file. It makes the sole flatter on the floor.
Who thought you'd need a tool box too?
Relaxing the foot muscles is important. Roll your foot over a rubber ball that has a little give.
Here's a stretch I learned from Deborah Vogel's Dancing Smart series. With a soft rubber ball, kneel down on the floor. Put the ball under one of your shins. Press your weight into the ball, inch by inch. This will relax the tibial muscles. Go all the way down to the ankle area, kneading and stretching the muscles.
Put the ball under the top of the metatarsal area, and pressing into it, you will get a stretch down the top of the foot and over the ankle, increasing the curve of your point.
Muscles are stronger and better toned when they get stretched properly, and relaxed fully, every day.
Pointe shoes make noise, so the more control the better.
The upper body posture and control is part of all of this too - but the feet is where you meet the stage. I hope this helps.
Talking About Weight and Dieting AGAIN
I get three questions about weight and dieting to every one about dancing.
I love to talk about ballet shoes and pointe shoes, getting exactly the right fit, and other aspects of dance.
I'm alarmed at the ongoing discussion of weight, diet, fasting even! Fasting! omg.
Not that it's anything new, but I've read in several dancer bios and ballet school articles that the diet craze is over. I don't think so.
The thing is, a dancer can be extremely thin, and strong, and be eating enough to be healthy. A dancer can have the muscle mass she/he needs. A dancer can be safe and healthy.
The whole misunderstanding of a good diet is cultural, highly promoted by the diet and foods industry, and dangerously WRONG.
Processed carbohydrates make you fat, and offer no nutrition. Unprocessed fats, protein, complex carbohydrates (like vegetables and salads) DO NOT MAKE YOU FAT.
If you refrain from eating white breads (crackers, low-fat diet toast, sugar and fat-free cookies), pasta and potatoes, you train your body to burn fat.
If you eat empty, non-nutritional carbs, you train your body to burn all its available sugar, and to store fat.
It is a fact that artificial sweeteners make you crave sugar/carbs. So avoid them.
Believe it or not, the fattiest nuts, Macadamia, are the best snack. They are nutritious, and are low enough in carbs that eating them will will keep you burning fat! That's the way it works!
Starving yourself, counting calories, fasting (omg) while doing dance training, or any other living activity, is obsessive and will not get you where you want to go.
If young dancers persist with these strange ideas of health, they will not dance.
And I hope you dance......
I'm alarmed at the ongoing discussion of weight, diet, fasting even! Fasting! omg.
Not that it's anything new, but I've read in several dancer bios and ballet school articles that the diet craze is over. I don't think so.
The thing is, a dancer can be extremely thin, and strong, and be eating enough to be healthy. A dancer can have the muscle mass she/he needs. A dancer can be safe and healthy.
The whole misunderstanding of a good diet is cultural, highly promoted by the diet and foods industry, and dangerously WRONG.
Processed carbohydrates make you fat, and offer no nutrition. Unprocessed fats, protein, complex carbohydrates (like vegetables and salads) DO NOT MAKE YOU FAT.
If you refrain from eating white breads (crackers, low-fat diet toast, sugar and fat-free cookies), pasta and potatoes, you train your body to burn fat.
If you eat empty, non-nutritional carbs, you train your body to burn all its available sugar, and to store fat.
It is a fact that artificial sweeteners make you crave sugar/carbs. So avoid them.
Believe it or not, the fattiest nuts, Macadamia, are the best snack. They are nutritious, and are low enough in carbs that eating them will will keep you burning fat! That's the way it works!
Starving yourself, counting calories, fasting (omg) while doing dance training, or any other living activity, is obsessive and will not get you where you want to go.
If young dancers persist with these strange ideas of health, they will not dance.
And I hope you dance......
To Dance or Not to Dance In Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes
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.
"If you can live without dance, do so, if you cannot, then dance." -me
Ballet is a subculture. Like other art forms, training is intense, competition is fierce. Ballet attracts perfectionists, obsessed and oddly dysfunctional people. It also attracts 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 late, and physical limitations, is the challenge for the majority. Yet, when I taught at university, I saw students go on to become leaders in the dance world. Not in ballet, but in the modern dance arena, which emphasizes creativity somewhat more than the perfect technique and physique.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. While studying away from home, they lack their family support. This can be very stressful for children. The hard training and the joy of learning what they love sometimes balances the stress beautifully.
To be positive, let's 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 stage fright. He became an 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 well-known Canadian musician/conductor was once a struggling dance student. He played piano at the school to pay for classes. He started his training late. The top pianist spotted his talent and supported his development as an accompanist. I remember my heart soaring as Steve played Swan Lake from the Russian leather-bound score his mentor had given him, on a piano in our tiny apartment. Born to dance in his soul, he became an excellent musician.
If you are led to dance, dance! To dance is never a mistake.
Find all your dance needs here.
Ballet is a subculture. Like other art forms, training is intense, competition is fierce. Ballet attracts perfectionists, obsessed and oddly dysfunctional people. It also attracts 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 late, and physical limitations, is the challenge for the majority. Yet, when I taught at university, I saw students go on to become leaders in the dance world. Not in ballet, but in the modern dance arena, which emphasizes creativity somewhat more than the perfect technique and physique.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. While studying away from home, they lack their family support. This can be very stressful for children. The hard training and the joy of learning what they love sometimes balances the stress beautifully.
To be positive, let's 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 stage fright. He became an 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 well-known Canadian musician/conductor was once a struggling dance student. He played piano at the school to pay for classes. He started his training late. The top pianist spotted his talent and supported his development as an accompanist. I remember my heart soaring as Steve played Swan Lake from the Russian leather-bound score his mentor had given him, on a piano in our tiny apartment. Born to dance in his soul, he became an excellent musician.
If you are led to dance, dance! To dance is never a mistake.
Find all your dance needs here.
The Point of Getting Exactly the Right Pointe Shoe
Some of us more than others need to work on getting pain relief, even after we discover exactly the right fit - or as close as we can get - in our pointe shoe.
The point I am making, is, there is a very fine tuning that we can learn, to make dancing ballet in pointe shoes easier.
To add to what I've written before at theballetstore.com, here is a more detailed process.
Put on the new shoes with the toe-protective padding you intend to wear. Walk around for a few minutes. Wear a pair of socks over them to keep them clean. Walk going through the foot like you do in bare feet - hah - or as close to that as you can get. You'll get some feel for the shoe.
If there is very little pressure and pain, this shoe is not giving too much resistance.
If it hurts your foot, try adjusting the padding. Walk around some more.
Walking around with your pointe shoes on won't feel that great. Don't get a blister from doing so. You are simply stress- testing before you get into class.
Here's something you can do to mold the shoe to your foot, if you have places that the shoe is really pressing on: you boil some water and pour it into the shoe. Roll it around inside, getting it all over. Pour it out. Put on your shoes, with padding, and walk around. The shoe will soften and mold to your foot. Take your pointe shoes off, and let them dry thoroughly. They will stiffen up in the shape of your feet. Custom made as it were.
Do not do any rises or releves in the shoes when they are soft from the boiling water.
Exception: if you have low arches and insteps, it's a good idea to do a few rises when the shoes are soft. This will help break them in.
Let your pointe shoes dry out quickly and thoroughly after class. This will help give them longevity.
IF you focus on this proper use of your pointe shoes, you will get more out of your pointe classes. Fighting the shoe and the pain is a waste of your concentration. It creates tension, anxiety, and deprives you of the joy of being elegant and artistic.
Art is something that happens on a soul level. You don't want to be faint from the pain,chasing that elusive muse of your inner being's expression.
In my first two years of training, pointe classes were awful. I didn't know that my shoes did not fit. I was told that they would hurt, and they did. I wondered how everyone else coped with the pain. I had no idea that I was suffering unnecessarily. I should have complained about it to my teachers.
Take time buying shoes. Don't worry about bothering anybody. In class, bother your teacher if the shoes prevent you from doing the movements. Good ballet teachers love it when students bother them with details!
And always give yourself the time at home to prepare your pointe shoes. You can view videos of fitting and breaking in pointe shoes here.
To add to what I've written before at theballetstore.com, here is a more detailed process.
Put on the new shoes with the toe-protective padding you intend to wear. Walk around for a few minutes. Wear a pair of socks over them to keep them clean. Walk going through the foot like you do in bare feet - hah - or as close to that as you can get. You'll get some feel for the shoe.
If there is very little pressure and pain, this shoe is not giving too much resistance.
If it hurts your foot, try adjusting the padding. Walk around some more.
Walking around with your pointe shoes on won't feel that great. Don't get a blister from doing so. You are simply stress- testing before you get into class.
Here's something you can do to mold the shoe to your foot, if you have places that the shoe is really pressing on: you boil some water and pour it into the shoe. Roll it around inside, getting it all over. Pour it out. Put on your shoes, with padding, and walk around. The shoe will soften and mold to your foot. Take your pointe shoes off, and let them dry thoroughly. They will stiffen up in the shape of your feet. Custom made as it were.
Do not do any rises or releves in the shoes when they are soft from the boiling water.
Exception: if you have low arches and insteps, it's a good idea to do a few rises when the shoes are soft. This will help break them in.
Let your pointe shoes dry out quickly and thoroughly after class. This will help give them longevity.
IF you focus on this proper use of your pointe shoes, you will get more out of your pointe classes. Fighting the shoe and the pain is a waste of your concentration. It creates tension, anxiety, and deprives you of the joy of being elegant and artistic.
Art is something that happens on a soul level. You don't want to be faint from the pain,chasing that elusive muse of your inner being's expression.
In my first two years of training, pointe classes were awful. I didn't know that my shoes did not fit. I was told that they would hurt, and they did. I wondered how everyone else coped with the pain. I had no idea that I was suffering unnecessarily. I should have complained about it to my teachers.
Take time buying shoes. Don't worry about bothering anybody. In class, bother your teacher if the shoes prevent you from doing the movements. Good ballet teachers love it when students bother them with details!
And always give yourself the time at home to prepare your pointe shoes. You can view videos of fitting and breaking in pointe shoes here.
7 Highly Effective Habits In Ballet Training
A key area of dancing for females is pointe work, and a key area for males is jumping. In training, regardless of age, there are 7 highly effective habits that will contribute to excellence in both these areas.
***First, education: specific physical attributes and shortcomings. Every dancer wants long and stretchy Achilles tendons, and flexible ankles. These advantages provide the biggest movement between the bottom of a demi-plie and the take-off point of a releve or jump.
***Second, technical education . Regardless of physical advantages, understanding the ideal movements and resulting positions can be obtained from an educated teacher, books, and DVD's available to all through internet ballet stores. There is no restriction to our access to information.
***Third, a teacher who not only has decent credentials, but who has the required habit of demanding correctness in class. This is a variable, and inexperienced teachers do not realize how often they are going to repeat the same old correction over the years of training, to the same students.... in a million different imaginative ways, and with appreciation for your own uniqueness, too.
***Fourth, knowing that there is cross-training that will help you compensate for your physical shortcomings. If you are less flexible than you would like to be, there is Pilates, massage, or Yoga. If you are flexible but weak in some areas, Pilates, and weight training will help.
***Fifth, knowing where more details count - if your habit is curiosity, that's a huge asset. If it's not, adopt it. Studying anatomy and kinesiology is a plus. (I know you already have homework or a job, or family obligations, but hey, if you are serious about dance, all this is just more fun, right?)
***Sixth, coordinating your knowledge of your physiology, and how you might be compensating detrimentally to get the deepest demi-plie and best take-off that you can, and instead, compensate more with cross-training and less with bad habits. It's only a life-long process, don't get discouraged.
***Seven, a truly habitual appreciation of your own uniqueness, talents, intelligence, and determination. There will always be an invitation to doubt yourself, envy others' real or imagined superiority, and waste time thinking negative thoughts.
Proper rest and nutrition have a lot to do with #7. Body and brain fatigue, and nutritional deficiencies are directly related to mood. Be more curious, and get the nutritional information you need.
These 7 highly effective habits are the tip of the iceberg, - a great guide to follow until you develop your own uniqueness in training priorities.
Get more information on how to improve your ballet training.
***Second, technical education . Regardless of physical advantages, understanding the ideal movements and resulting positions can be obtained from an educated teacher, books, and DVD's available to all through internet ballet stores. There is no restriction to our access to information.
***Third, a teacher who not only has decent credentials, but who has the required habit of demanding correctness in class. This is a variable, and inexperienced teachers do not realize how often they are going to repeat the same old correction over the years of training, to the same students.... in a million different imaginative ways, and with appreciation for your own uniqueness, too.
***Fourth, knowing that there is cross-training that will help you compensate for your physical shortcomings. If you are less flexible than you would like to be, there is Pilates, massage, or Yoga. If you are flexible but weak in some areas, Pilates, and weight training will help.
***Fifth, knowing where more details count - if your habit is curiosity, that's a huge asset. If it's not, adopt it. Studying anatomy and kinesiology is a plus. (I know you already have homework or a job, or family obligations, but hey, if you are serious about dance, all this is just more fun, right?)
***Sixth, coordinating your knowledge of your physiology, and how you might be compensating detrimentally to get the deepest demi-plie and best take-off that you can, and instead, compensate more with cross-training and less with bad habits. It's only a life-long process, don't get discouraged.
***Seven, a truly habitual appreciation of your own uniqueness, talents, intelligence, and determination. There will always be an invitation to doubt yourself, envy others' real or imagined superiority, and waste time thinking negative thoughts.
Proper rest and nutrition have a lot to do with #7. Body and brain fatigue, and nutritional deficiencies are directly related to mood. Be more curious, and get the nutritional information you need.
These 7 highly effective habits are the tip of the iceberg, - a great guide to follow until you develop your own uniqueness in training priorities.
Get more information on how to improve your ballet training.
Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes and More Flexibility
Summer Intensives offer a chance for increased flexibility. After your first class, you are partially warmed up for the rest of the day. Also, allow your ballet shoes and pointe shoes to dry as much as possible in between classes, they will last longer.
Intensive training in ballet means intensive use of the flexor muscles. Battment tendu, grande battment and developpe en avant mean heavy use of the iliopsoas (hip flexor) muscles. Without constant stretching, this tension will compromise your turnout, as the tension at the side of the hips will counter the thigh's ability to rotate outwards. It will also lessen the flexibilty of the low back and front of the hip, in doing an arabesque.
A standing lunge done in between exercises will relieve the tension building up in the hip flexors and postural muscles. Finding exactly the right balance between strength and stretch is what creates power in your work.
A wonderful stretch regimen for dancers is yoga. My favorite is "Ali McGraw - Yoga Mind & Body". It is a few years old but still available. It is not for beginners, but dancers will love it. The positions are easy for most dancers, and give fantastic relief to muscle tension. Done in the evening it will leave you stretched and ready to sleep.
A more active stretching routine is the "Classical Stretch" series. On a lighter class schedule day, or on a no-class day, the "Athletes' Intense Stretch" will get rid of the muscle tension while still allowing muscle recovery.
If you are recovering from injury, both of the above may be helpful, but please consult with your doctor, teacher or trainer as to whether you are ready to do these routines.
Losing electrolytes and dehydration can cause muscle tension and cramps. Real sea salt on your foods, calcium/magnesium supplements and "All 12" cell salts are a great help. Celery is one of the saltiest foods you can eat, organic, multiple mineral salts, and it is a hydrating food too - a perfect snack in between classes.
The apparency of weight loss through dehydration is a seductive trap. Recognize it and don't worry about weight. If you feel puffy from drinking water, then your mineral balance is off and your cells are floating in water but are not able to use it. So you're still dehydrated. Forget the junk food sports waters. Better to mix a pinch of sea salt into your water and drink it. Neon colors and a couple of minerals won't help.
So please take care of yourselves in the heat, treat spare time as recovery time, and you will reap the most benefits from your summer intensive!
Click here for ballet shoes, pointe shoes, strengthening exercises, diet and health for dancers, and all your ballet and exercise DVDs.
A standing lunge done in between exercises will relieve the tension building up in the hip flexors and postural muscles. Finding exactly the right balance between strength and stretch is what creates power in your work.
A wonderful stretch regimen for dancers is yoga. My favorite is "Ali McGraw - Yoga Mind & Body". It is a few years old but still available. It is not for beginners, but dancers will love it. The positions are easy for most dancers, and give fantastic relief to muscle tension. Done in the evening it will leave you stretched and ready to sleep.
A more active stretching routine is the "Classical Stretch" series. On a lighter class schedule day, or on a no-class day, the "Athletes' Intense Stretch" will get rid of the muscle tension while still allowing muscle recovery.
If you are recovering from injury, both of the above may be helpful, but please consult with your doctor, teacher or trainer as to whether you are ready to do these routines.
Losing electrolytes and dehydration can cause muscle tension and cramps. Real sea salt on your foods, calcium/magnesium supplements and "All 12" cell salts are a great help. Celery is one of the saltiest foods you can eat, organic, multiple mineral salts, and it is a hydrating food too - a perfect snack in between classes.
The apparency of weight loss through dehydration is a seductive trap. Recognize it and don't worry about weight. If you feel puffy from drinking water, then your mineral balance is off and your cells are floating in water but are not able to use it. So you're still dehydrated. Forget the junk food sports waters. Better to mix a pinch of sea salt into your water and drink it. Neon colors and a couple of minerals won't help.
So please take care of yourselves in the heat, treat spare time as recovery time, and you will reap the most benefits from your summer intensive!
Click here for ballet shoes, pointe shoes, strengthening exercises, diet and health for dancers, and all your ballet and exercise DVDs.
Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes - When to Relax
One thing that I have now - and love - is my physio ball, also known as a gym ball or exercise ball. In fact, most exercise regimens have adopted its use in one way another - Pilates on the ball, Core exercises on the ball, Yoga on the ball, and more.
I use the ball as my computer chair. I use no other. It is wonderful for several reasons. One is, I sit on a chair most of the day at work - not my favorite thing. And I need to move!
Bouncing gently, or just fidgeting on the ball while I'm thinking or waiting for pages to load, is healthy, and it is relaxing. Sore muscles get a little movement. Sitting on a chair, sore muscles get positioned poorly and become more spasm'd and hurt.
Also, the ball gives even when you breathe. There is literally no impact, no pressure moving up the spine when you sit on the ball.
It is also good for stretching. Sitting in second position, fourth position, and lunge positions, you just roll in different directions and get stretched, while you are reading or writing. I love it! Since we dancers tend to mindlessly stretch something, taking advantage of every move we make, the ball is a great addition to our collection of things that aid our recovery after classes. If you get one, experiment with it and you'll see what I mean.
When those legs just cannot get past relentless aching, lie on the floor and put your calves up on the ball. Kind of like putting them up a wall, but easier if you don't have space at your walls. You can roll slightly from side to side, stretching the sides of the hips and lower back, or roll all the way to the side, draping the top leg over the ball so you don't overdo the stretch.
Hanging over the ball like a rag doll, knees on the floor, and rolling up and down is a wonderful
spine stretch. It opens up the lower, mid and upper back, relaxing the shoulders as well. Just let the head hang. Aahhh.....and you can reverse the position, bending back over the ball, and roll around a little.
I use an exercise mat so my feet don't lose grip. Also you can position the ball against something behind you so you won't lose control and get dumped overboard.
The only time I got dumped was once when I was overtired but couldn't stop reading at my computer - the endless glut of interesting information syndrome - and while bouncing gently, I actually fell asleep and rolled backward. A rude awakening. Now I put a big book behind me if I'm tired. Always consider safety!
So it's a great tool for stretching and relaxing. The bouncing is good for your lymph system.
(It's also wonderful for bouncing a baby to sleep, because it's so easy on the back.)
The physio ball is a great help if you're exhausted from dancing in pointe shoes, and still have work to do sitting down, when you get home.
Bouncing gently, or just fidgeting on the ball while I'm thinking or waiting for pages to load, is healthy, and it is relaxing. Sore muscles get a little movement. Sitting on a chair, sore muscles get positioned poorly and become more spasm'd and hurt.
Also, the ball gives even when you breathe. There is literally no impact, no pressure moving up the spine when you sit on the ball.
It is also good for stretching. Sitting in second position, fourth position, and lunge positions, you just roll in different directions and get stretched, while you are reading or writing. I love it! Since we dancers tend to mindlessly stretch something, taking advantage of every move we make, the ball is a great addition to our collection of things that aid our recovery after classes. If you get one, experiment with it and you'll see what I mean.
When those legs just cannot get past relentless aching, lie on the floor and put your calves up on the ball. Kind of like putting them up a wall, but easier if you don't have space at your walls. You can roll slightly from side to side, stretching the sides of the hips and lower back, or roll all the way to the side, draping the top leg over the ball so you don't overdo the stretch.
Hanging over the ball like a rag doll, knees on the floor, and rolling up and down is a wonderful
spine stretch. It opens up the lower, mid and upper back, relaxing the shoulders as well. Just let the head hang. Aahhh.....and you can reverse the position, bending back over the ball, and roll around a little.
I use an exercise mat so my feet don't lose grip. Also you can position the ball against something behind you so you won't lose control and get dumped overboard.
The only time I got dumped was once when I was overtired but couldn't stop reading at my computer - the endless glut of interesting information syndrome - and while bouncing gently, I actually fell asleep and rolled backward. A rude awakening. Now I put a big book behind me if I'm tired. Always consider safety!
So it's a great tool for stretching and relaxing. The bouncing is good for your lymph system.
(It's also wonderful for bouncing a baby to sleep, because it's so easy on the back.)
The physio ball is a great help if you're exhausted from dancing in pointe shoes, and still have work to do sitting down, when you get home.
Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes - and Between Class Shoes
"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. " - Joyce Morgenroth
What should a dedicated dancer wear for daily foot support?
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 at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/newsletr/spring97/shoes.htm.
So how do we take care of our "vulgar, useful foot"?
I found some good info in "Slow Burn" by Stu Mittleman, p. 77, "Always Buy a Shoe Fit, Not a Shoe Size". Stu's details in shoe selection resemble the minutiae that dancers attend to in fitting ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
I used to work with Peter Walpole, DPM, who helped out both at The National Ballet School and National Ballet Company of Canada for many years. Peter Walpole provided the most wonderful orthotics. He would despair of expensive shoes and tell his patients "tear out the insoles and supports". I was happy to see that Stu Mittleman agrees. He discusses orthotics at length.
Stu discusses the available athletic shoes for the tilt pattern. In ballet we say 'rolling ankles' 'dropped arches' or 'flat feet'. 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.
If your feet hurt day after day, you'll be happy to find the exact right style and fit of street shoes to wear in between your classes, as well as getting exactly the right fit in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
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 at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/newsletr/spring97/shoes.htm.
So how do we take care of our "vulgar, useful foot"?
I found some good info in "Slow Burn" by Stu Mittleman, p. 77, "Always Buy a Shoe Fit, Not a Shoe Size". Stu's details in shoe selection resemble the minutiae that dancers attend to in fitting ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
I used to work with Peter Walpole, DPM, who helped out both at The National Ballet School and National Ballet Company of Canada for many years. Peter Walpole provided the most wonderful orthotics. He would despair of expensive shoes and tell his patients "tear out the insoles and supports". I was happy to see that Stu Mittleman agrees. He discusses orthotics at length.
Stu discusses the available athletic shoes for the tilt pattern. In ballet we say 'rolling ankles' 'dropped arches' or 'flat feet'. 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.
If your feet hurt day after day, you'll be happy to find the exact right style and fit of street shoes to wear in between your classes, as well as getting exactly the right fit in your ballet shoes and pointe shoes.
Finding Exactly the Right Fit in Pointe Shoes
Your first few pointe shoe fittings at your ballet store require time and patience.
There are many options available in pointe shoes now. A student could be confused, yet relieved too, that there might be a shoe that will fit exactly right.Parents, please be aware that there is a financial aspect here. Pointe shoes can't be purchased to grow into. They must fit like a glove, and may not wear out before the student grows out of them. Yet if your child has a high arch, shoes may be broken quickly, in a matter of a few classes, and must be replaced. This situation improves as feet strengthen, but must be put up with until then. Such students can remove the inner sole, soften the box with their hands (if necessary) and wear the shoes as soft shoes for regular classes. This saves buying soft shoes, unless they are a requirement, such as for a ballet exam.
At a student's first fitting, a lot of time must be taken. If a fitter or a dance teacher is available, that is a real plus. Not all stores may have experienced fitters.
The length and tapering of the toes, the width across the metatarsals, the height of the arch, and the depth of the foot must all be must be examined and fitted correctly. A bad fit can cause sprains and injuries.
What will you use for protection inside the shoe? Gel pads, toe length adaptors, toe tips et al will take up space, so wear them while you are fitting pointe shoes.
The boxes of pointe shoes come in tapered shapes, and square shapes. The foot must not sink into, or slide around inside the box. A longer second toe usually requires a slightly tapered, narrow to medium box, but there are no strict rules. A longer big toe may also feel more comfortable in a tapered box. Try every shape of shoe.
You check for vamp length by rising up to 3/4 pointe, to see if the shoe break is where your metatarsal joints are. Too high a vamp impedes the foot movement, and too low a vamp will not support you.
Arch height and ankle flexibility determines the stiffness you will need in the shank of the pointe shoe. You must be able rise onto pointe fully, and not be leaning into the back of the box. You need support, but not so much resistance that you can't work properly.
When you are on pointe, there should be about 1/4 inch of fabric at your heel. If there is none, the shoe is too short. If there is more, the shoe is too long. In a demi-plie, if your toes are mashed into the box, the shoe is too short or too narrow.
The vamp should not gape or wrinkle - nor should the sides. There should be equal pressure from the shoe all over the foot. As you grow, choices may change.
"Copyright © DanceArt.com. All Rights Reserved" of the ballerina in tutu, imaged here.
For some helpful videos about pointe shoes, go here.
Ballet Shoes, Pointe Shoes, Daily Exercise and Diet
When to start taking pointe classes is a frequent discussion I have with ballet students. I always remind them that basic technique has to be very strong before you can do pointe work.
Either at the dance studio or at home, stand next to the mirror in first or fifth position, so that you are looking at yourself sideways. With arms in fifth-en-avant (I'm speaking Cecchetti here) slowly press up onto 3/4 pointe, and keep the following points in mind.
Do you have any difficulty maintaining your correct posture and turnout?
Do your ankles wobble toward your big toe or your little toe?
Do you cramp right away?
Can you keep your shoulders and neck relaxed?
Can you do some simple port-de-bras without losing balance?
Can you slowly press down through flat to a demi-plie, and then do several of these slow-motion releves maintaining your poise?
If you have any trouble with this, ask your teacher what you need to work on, to get stronger for future pointe work. Have her/him watch you and correct you so that you can work on this at home. I encourage this kind of practice especially for those students who would like to take more classes but just can't. Work for some, school for others, and availability of the right classes commonly prevents full time study. However, you can check the following for yourself:
If your ankles are wobbly, keep the legs parallel, face the mirror, and rise up and down slowly keeping the weight in the middle of your feet, so there is no sickling in or out. This must be strengthened before poise, arm position, etc., is of any concern. Also, take note that you are holding your turnout muscles even in this parallel position, as most knees roll in a little if not held in line. Once you are sure that you can feel that your ankles are in exactly the right place, go back to first position for your slow motion releves.
Pointe shoes don't matter yet, as you can injure yourself or begin acquiring tense and awkward work habits if you are not ready to do pointe work.
If you cramp right away, on your first rise, then your muscles are weak. Relax and do a demi-plie (none of this should be torture). Cramping has other causes also such as dehydration and loss of electrolytes. Calcium and magnesium deficiency will lead to cramping too. You need all 12 of the cell salts to maintain your electrolytes. A good sea salt will help, kelp, other sea weed, or homeopathic 'bioplasma' or 'all 12' tablets. And of course, good proteins, lots of raw or lightly steamed green vegetables and salads, and fruits are mandatory. Did I say mandatory? Yes, I did! Your bones and muscles are MADE from what you eat. And so is your nervous system that your bones and muscles depend on.
Take a look at a wealth of information on ballet positions, ballet technique and ballet movements.
Do you have any difficulty maintaining your correct posture and turnout?
Do your ankles wobble toward your big toe or your little toe?
Do you cramp right away?
Can you keep your shoulders and neck relaxed?
Can you do some simple port-de-bras without losing balance?
Can you slowly press down through flat to a demi-plie, and then do several of these slow-motion releves maintaining your poise?
If you have any trouble with this, ask your teacher what you need to work on, to get stronger for future pointe work. Have her/him watch you and correct you so that you can work on this at home. I encourage this kind of practice especially for those students who would like to take more classes but just can't. Work for some, school for others, and availability of the right classes commonly prevents full time study. However, you can check the following for yourself:
If your ankles are wobbly, keep the legs parallel, face the mirror, and rise up and down slowly keeping the weight in the middle of your feet, so there is no sickling in or out. This must be strengthened before poise, arm position, etc., is of any concern. Also, take note that you are holding your turnout muscles even in this parallel position, as most knees roll in a little if not held in line. Once you are sure that you can feel that your ankles are in exactly the right place, go back to first position for your slow motion releves.
Pointe shoes don't matter yet, as you can injure yourself or begin acquiring tense and awkward work habits if you are not ready to do pointe work.
If you cramp right away, on your first rise, then your muscles are weak. Relax and do a demi-plie (none of this should be torture). Cramping has other causes also such as dehydration and loss of electrolytes. Calcium and magnesium deficiency will lead to cramping too. You need all 12 of the cell salts to maintain your electrolytes. A good sea salt will help, kelp, other sea weed, or homeopathic 'bioplasma' or 'all 12' tablets. And of course, good proteins, lots of raw or lightly steamed green vegetables and salads, and fruits are mandatory. Did I say mandatory? Yes, I did! Your bones and muscles are MADE from what you eat. And so is your nervous system that your bones and muscles depend on.
Take a look at a wealth of information on ballet positions, ballet technique and ballet movements.
"No Pain No Gain" Myths About Working Our Muscles
Muscle function depends on both strength and flexibility. Clenching any one muscle or set of muscles continuously during a class does not create strength.
Ballet does not follow the rules for optimum muscle work - such as resting at least a day in between heavy work-outs. That would turn professional training into 20 year stints - or so we suppose.
Given that professional training requires daily classes, what can we do to relieve our muscles? Deborah Vogel, author of the Dancing Smart series says on page 111 of "Tune Up Your Turnout, " ...release the tension, stretch the muscles, and strengthen them. It's a three-tiered approach.....Too much tension in a muscle, it will lose its tone. Too much flexibility without the muscular strength to support it is not good. Too much strength and tension without the flexibility is also not good."
To benefit from this wisdom, turn in and relax at every opportunity in class, and relax any aching or hurting muscle as much as you can while waiting to begin the next exercise.
Have a variety of ice packs at home, and use especially after a hot bath or shower. Ice the sore spots while resting, doing homework, etc. 15-20 minutes is the maximum time for this - and don't lie on them or fall asleep on them!
Nutrition, hydration and warming up are 3 essentials. You want to repair muscles as quickly as possible, with good proteins and vegetables, hydrate by sipping all day (water, not other beverages like the popular sweetened, neon-colored, minimally mineralized sports drinks), and warm up before every rehearsal if you have had a break since class. Deborah elaborates on that on page 121.
I would also add real sea salt, the Celtic type that contains all 12 bioplasma minerals, and eliminate the useless table salt from your diet. "All 12" and Bioplasma homeopathic tablets are easy to carry in the dance bag too!
When I was rehearsing all day long in the hot Toronto summers fellow dancer-choreographer Marnie Cooke and I would prepare a large jug of water, freshly-squeezed lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper to keep everyone's electrolytes (minerals in your blood plasma) up.
Professional dancers get routine massages, and other body work to relieve the extremes of their daily work, or heal injuries. Students don't typically think about this care factor until they get an injury or find themselves in chronic pain.
It's not wimpy to start that kind of care in your ballet training, right now! Go for gain with the least pain.
Given that professional training requires daily classes, what can we do to relieve our muscles? Deborah Vogel, author of the Dancing Smart series says on page 111 of "Tune Up Your Turnout, " ...release the tension, stretch the muscles, and strengthen them. It's a three-tiered approach.....Too much tension in a muscle, it will lose its tone. Too much flexibility without the muscular strength to support it is not good. Too much strength and tension without the flexibility is also not good."
To benefit from this wisdom, turn in and relax at every opportunity in class, and relax any aching or hurting muscle as much as you can while waiting to begin the next exercise.
Have a variety of ice packs at home, and use especially after a hot bath or shower. Ice the sore spots while resting, doing homework, etc. 15-20 minutes is the maximum time for this - and don't lie on them or fall asleep on them!
Nutrition, hydration and warming up are 3 essentials. You want to repair muscles as quickly as possible, with good proteins and vegetables, hydrate by sipping all day (water, not other beverages like the popular sweetened, neon-colored, minimally mineralized sports drinks), and warm up before every rehearsal if you have had a break since class. Deborah elaborates on that on page 121.
I would also add real sea salt, the Celtic type that contains all 12 bioplasma minerals, and eliminate the useless table salt from your diet. "All 12" and Bioplasma homeopathic tablets are easy to carry in the dance bag too!
When I was rehearsing all day long in the hot Toronto summers fellow dancer-choreographer Marnie Cooke and I would prepare a large jug of water, freshly-squeezed lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper to keep everyone's electrolytes (minerals in your blood plasma) up.
Professional dancers get routine massages, and other body work to relieve the extremes of their daily work, or heal injuries. Students don't typically think about this care factor until they get an injury or find themselves in chronic pain.
It's not wimpy to start that kind of care in your ballet training, right now! Go for gain with the least pain.
Ballet Pointe Shoes Depend On You Building Strength and Understanding Ballet Technique
Gaynor Minden pointe shoes are preferred by some dancers. The platform and box are built so that they will not soften and allow the dancer to go up and down from flat to pointe while sickling the ankle. The most common ballet injury is the sprained ankle.
Of course, not every sprained ankle is pointe shoe related. Nor does every dance student work well in Gaynor Minden shoes. Good for some, not for others.
In ballet, there is a fashion of line in arabesque, of sickling out the working - the raised - foot. It may also be sickled out in devant or a la seconde. The sickle out emphasizes the turned out foot. As long as this never happens to a supporting foot on demi pointe, or pointe, this is fine.
Especially for those dancers with hypermobile ankles and feet, they must be careful not to sickle out as they come down from pointe, while rolling through demi pointe. Even when the weight is being transferred from the foot, to the other leg, the ankle and arch should be in line with the leg, not sickled out.
A foot in correct alignment can be sickled out the second after the weight has left the foot - but not even at the last nano-second when the pressure of weight can go onto the inner side of the pointe shoe platform, should the ankle/foot sickle out.
This takes exceptional concentration in training. But, so does every correct finer detail of technique.
Pre-pointe training involves checking for alignment of the ankles in slow press ups - starting parallel. If alignment is correct, turn out, and practise press ups in first, second, and fifth. Check for alignment of the ankles.
Practise press ups on one foot, parallel, and observe the ankles. Strength follows with repetition. Repetitions done incorrectly set you up for injuries.
So while a shoe like Gaynor Minden has been crafted to help the dancer, like any brand shoe, it cannot prevent injury if your working habits are not technically correct.
The pointe shoe is only as good as the foot that wears it! Hopefully you'll never have a sprained ankle. Paying attention to the finer details of your ballet technique will help you build strength in the pointe shoes of your choice.
If you would like more information on correct pre-pointe training, go here for The Perfect Pointe Book.
In ballet, there is a fashion of line in arabesque, of sickling out the working - the raised - foot. It may also be sickled out in devant or a la seconde. The sickle out emphasizes the turned out foot. As long as this never happens to a supporting foot on demi pointe, or pointe, this is fine.
Especially for those dancers with hypermobile ankles and feet, they must be careful not to sickle out as they come down from pointe, while rolling through demi pointe. Even when the weight is being transferred from the foot, to the other leg, the ankle and arch should be in line with the leg, not sickled out.
A foot in correct alignment can be sickled out the second after the weight has left the foot - but not even at the last nano-second when the pressure of weight can go onto the inner side of the pointe shoe platform, should the ankle/foot sickle out.
This takes exceptional concentration in training. But, so does every correct finer detail of technique.
Pre-pointe training involves checking for alignment of the ankles in slow press ups - starting parallel. If alignment is correct, turn out, and practise press ups in first, second, and fifth. Check for alignment of the ankles.
Practise press ups on one foot, parallel, and observe the ankles. Strength follows with repetition. Repetitions done incorrectly set you up for injuries.
So while a shoe like Gaynor Minden has been crafted to help the dancer, like any brand shoe, it cannot prevent injury if your working habits are not technically correct.
The pointe shoe is only as good as the foot that wears it! Hopefully you'll never have a sprained ankle. Paying attention to the finer details of your ballet technique will help you build strength in the pointe shoes of your choice.
If you would like more information on correct pre-pointe training, go here for The Perfect Pointe Book.
How To Choose A Ballet Teacher
Things to consider: What Do You Want For Your Child?
What does your child want from ballet? Would tap dancing, karate, or jazz be a satisfying alternative, or does it have to be ballet? Ballet is a traditional, technical form requiring commitment and discipline. Sometimes it isn't fun! But many fall in love with it.
What are your needs? Must the studio be close to home, near the public school, within walking distance, or could you go to the best ballet studio you can find? What will you look for if there are several studios you can check out? The following discussion of the most basic requirements to good, safe, ballet teaching, will be helpful to parents searching for a good studio.
A ballet regimen can be used for a weight loss plan, a childcare outlet, health maintenance, or relief for a troubled teenager. It takes a special love, and can fulfill many requirements of the soul. Many ballet teachers, in glamorous and famous settings, or small and out of the way regions, work just to provide an outlet for this broad spectrum of our needs.
Locations and appearances: professional dance studios tend to be in older buildings, which have large rooms with undivided spaces, and sprung wooden floors instead of floors set over concrete. A teacher trained in a professional school would choose such a place over a newer facility in a fashionable district with smaller rooms and a concrete floor. If the neighborhood is safe, don't judge a a studio by its lack of "chic". A teacher who chooses an older, low-rent district studio may be providing pupils with safer flooring, better musical accompianment, and the luxury of smaller classes. If premises have been built especially for dance studios, the best amenities are likely in place.
Music: today's economy will not allow all teachers to have live piano accompaniment. While definitely preferable, it will be reflected in the fees you pay. Recorded music for classes does not necessarily mean lower teaching standards.
Size of classes: for the beginning levels (i.e., younger children) there should not be classes over approximately 15 students without a teacher's assistant, or the students will not get much individual attention.
Hard Floors: floors set directly over concrete have no give, thus creating the potential for injury from falls or repeated hard landings from jumps. This creates stress and wear and tear on on delicate developing joints and soft tissues. Sprung floors are the best, which is wood on wood supports.
For more articles about the world of ballet, go here.
What does your child want from ballet? Would tap dancing, karate, or jazz be a satisfying alternative, or does it have to be ballet? Ballet is a traditional, technical form requiring commitment and discipline. Sometimes it isn't fun! But many fall in love with it.
What are your needs? Must the studio be close to home, near the public school, within walking distance, or could you go to the best ballet studio you can find? What will you look for if there are several studios you can check out? The following discussion of the most basic requirements to good, safe, ballet teaching, will be helpful to parents searching for a good studio.
A ballet regimen can be used for a weight loss plan, a childcare outlet, health maintenance, or relief for a troubled teenager. It takes a special love, and can fulfill many requirements of the soul. Many ballet teachers, in glamorous and famous settings, or small and out of the way regions, work just to provide an outlet for this broad spectrum of our needs.
Locations and appearances: professional dance studios tend to be in older buildings, which have large rooms with undivided spaces, and sprung wooden floors instead of floors set over concrete. A teacher trained in a professional school would choose such a place over a newer facility in a fashionable district with smaller rooms and a concrete floor. If the neighborhood is safe, don't judge a a studio by its lack of "chic". A teacher who chooses an older, low-rent district studio may be providing pupils with safer flooring, better musical accompianment, and the luxury of smaller classes. If premises have been built especially for dance studios, the best amenities are likely in place.
Music: today's economy will not allow all teachers to have live piano accompaniment. While definitely preferable, it will be reflected in the fees you pay. Recorded music for classes does not necessarily mean lower teaching standards.
Size of classes: for the beginning levels (i.e., younger children) there should not be classes over approximately 15 students without a teacher's assistant, or the students will not get much individual attention.
Hard Floors: floors set directly over concrete have no give, thus creating the potential for injury from falls or repeated hard landings from jumps. This creates stress and wear and tear on on delicate developing joints and soft tissues. Sprung floors are the best, which is wood on wood supports.
For more articles about the world of ballet, go here.
Please leave comments, if you like.
AnnRadley wrote...
Dianne, this lens has such a wealth of relevant information for dancers. I think I may print this out and laminate it - so it will be an ongoing reference for my dancing daughter in the coming years!
Posted June 10, 2008
Roving_Band wrote...
What a great lens! I'm happy to be in The Dance Group with you!
Posted March 07, 2008
YardsaleSurfer wrote...
Wow! You sure know your stuff! Right down to the best type of floors! Great Lens!5*s! Yardsale Surfer ~ The Online Marketplace For People Who Know Their Stuff
Posted November 02, 2007
Katco wrote...
Great lens Dianne! Very informative. Definately gave this one 5 STARS!!!
Posted June 29, 2007
Ballet Is Difficult - Prevent Injuries in Your Classical Ballet Pointe Shoes
It is no secret that ballet is difficult. Years of training are carefully planned so that you can prevent injuries and get optimum results from the clever planning that professional teams of teachers assess and re-assess for their students.
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.
Optimum health for dancers is available with the help of chiropractic, physiotherapy, 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. The world of ballet can be overwhelming.
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. You can learn to self-assess for pointe work - even if your teachers don't know. (adult beginners included!). There is nothing to stop you from learning more.
Look here for more professional expertise, ballet wear, pointe shoes, a complete ballet store.
Optimum health for dancers is available with the help of chiropractic, physiotherapy, 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. The world of ballet can be overwhelming.
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. You can learn to self-assess for pointe work - even if your teachers don't know. (adult beginners included!). There is nothing to stop you from learning more.
Look here for more professional expertise, ballet wear, pointe shoes, a complete ballet store.
Musicality In Ballet Class Facilitates The Difficult Aspects of Dancing
There is a lot that is difficult about classical ballet. Musicality in ballet class training makes it easier. What exactly musicality is, can lead to lengthy discussions about music, personality, and more.
I once had a teacher who described it as "technically dishonest" to use or feel the music in any way in order to perform a step better.
You mean we should have been able to train with someone just hitting a pencil on a pot lid to keep us working together? Or have a metronome clicking in the studio?
This same teacher made sure that her pianist played a battement tendu type of music for jumps - a little plonky, a little pedestrian (though there were pianists who, luckily, could not play without feeling). It seemed that inspiration was a way to cheat.
There are dancers who will catch your eye in class, even when they are not the best technical student, and are not among the most physically gifted ones. Their musicality is more than being on the music. Some people describe it as being "in" the music, or inside the music.
In performance, there is an element of phrasing. A soloist or principal dancer can adapt the timing of virtuoso sections in the ballet, to their individual technical highlights or qualities. Some dancers will work this out in rehearsal, and do it exactly the same every time.
And yet, in the less definable area of timing, there is poetry, there is a quality that isn't just good phrasing, that reaches a soulful level. The dancer, the music, the drama, the audience, are all in the same stream.
Such a quality does not require narrative drama to be visible, or tangible. It can occur in abstract choreography as well. It is not just that an experienced performer can "let go". Musicality can be apparent during ballet class when a performer or student is working hard.
Sometimes musicality can be invoked in students as they train. Movement imagery and mental tricks work. For example, giving an allegro exercise in a waltz, and saying "just stay in the air for two/three and land on 1" will bring out a better height and quality of jump. It will not be exactly staying in the air for two beats and landing on the first beat, but it will cause a dance student to reach for that timing and their work gains a quality.
Hearing the "and" between the beats of music is a technical necessity for petit allegro, for battus. But when there are several "ands" in between the beats - where do you choose to put the movement emphasis?
Musicality makes it easier. Of course practice makes it easier, but musicality makes it delicious for those watching, because some can feel what their eyes see and their ears hear, even without drama or emotion.
If you love watching ballet, you know what I mean. If you are extremely musical you may not know what I mean or why I would write about musicality in ballet class. You would ask "doesn't everyone do it like that?"
You mean we should have been able to train with someone just hitting a pencil on a pot lid to keep us working together? Or have a metronome clicking in the studio?
This same teacher made sure that her pianist played a battement tendu type of music for jumps - a little plonky, a little pedestrian (though there were pianists who, luckily, could not play without feeling). It seemed that inspiration was a way to cheat.
There are dancers who will catch your eye in class, even when they are not the best technical student, and are not among the most physically gifted ones. Their musicality is more than being on the music. Some people describe it as being "in" the music, or inside the music.
In performance, there is an element of phrasing. A soloist or principal dancer can adapt the timing of virtuoso sections in the ballet, to their individual technical highlights or qualities. Some dancers will work this out in rehearsal, and do it exactly the same every time.
And yet, in the less definable area of timing, there is poetry, there is a quality that isn't just good phrasing, that reaches a soulful level. The dancer, the music, the drama, the audience, are all in the same stream.
Such a quality does not require narrative drama to be visible, or tangible. It can occur in abstract choreography as well. It is not just that an experienced performer can "let go". Musicality can be apparent during ballet class when a performer or student is working hard.
Sometimes musicality can be invoked in students as they train. Movement imagery and mental tricks work. For example, giving an allegro exercise in a waltz, and saying "just stay in the air for two/three and land on 1" will bring out a better height and quality of jump. It will not be exactly staying in the air for two beats and landing on the first beat, but it will cause a dance student to reach for that timing and their work gains a quality.
Hearing the "and" between the beats of music is a technical necessity for petit allegro, for battus. But when there are several "ands" in between the beats - where do you choose to put the movement emphasis?
Musicality makes it easier. Of course practice makes it easier, but musicality makes it delicious for those watching, because some can feel what their eyes see and their ears hear, even without drama or emotion.
If you love watching ballet, you know what I mean. If you are extremely musical you may not know what I mean or why I would write about musicality in ballet class. You would ask "doesn't everyone do it like that?"
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by dianbee
Dianne M. Buxton writes about classical ballet, ballet shoes and pointe shoes and professional tips and tricks to help you dance ballet better! (more)
