My left foot is very weak, but my right foot is nicely arched. help?

[missmeg193]

Hey everyone.

I'm sure many of you have had the same problem, but I have trouble on pointe, but only on my left foot. I tend to put all of my weight on my right foot instinctively, since that is my stronger foot. Does anyone have any tips on how I can make my left foot stronger? I have a foot stretcher, but I didn't know if there were any other techniques or exercises that could help improve the instep of my left foot. Thanks!

-missmeg193

Edited December 23, 2007 by missmeg193

[Victoria Leigh]

Hello missmeg, welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers

 

I moved your post here to the Young Dancers board, as it is really about feet and technique, rather than about pointe shoes. If you are not in the 13-16 year old category, please let me know and I will move it to the correct forum for your age level.

 

Your question seems to me to be confusing improvement of the arch, or more likely, instep (top of the foot), with strength. Stretching is for improving flexibility, which is needed to make the foot look better and be more articulate. But strength is obtained through the work, such as relevés, elevés, tendus, dégagés, frappés, pas de chevals, etc. So, if one foot is less flexible, work harder at your stretches, and if one foot is not as strong, then do twice as many strengthening exercises on that foot!

[missmeg193]

Thanks Ms. Leigh for the clarification. I guess I want to improve the instep of my left foot. Does anyone know any exercises to help with this that worked for them? Thanks

[Victoria Leigh]

missmeg, that would be Ms. Leigh, and I have changed your post to fix that.

 

To improve the instep on your left foot, do what I said above, in terms of more stretching of the left foot than the right. Tendus and all the other things I mentioned work for flexibility as well as strength. You can add exercises with a theraband outside of class.

[missmeg193]

Thank you, Ms. Leigh.

I'll try some of those exercises

-missmeg193