Pointe question

[pasdedeuxmama]

I saw the most peculiar thing while attending a nutcracker this weekend, to watch the daughter of a friend. Most of the dancers were from one particular school. Nearly all the older dancers on pointe had developed a very peculiar position of their foot and ankle while en pointe and I was hoping you could tell me what it is called and why it happens. It's very difficult to describe it! The best way I guess is to say that it almost looked hooked like this http://www.dancespirit.com/2011/04/hop_to_it_/ but their legs were straight and their feet were severely arched and definitely sinking into their pointe shoes. They looked like they were gripping with their toes to hoist themselves onto pointe. I've seen a lot of young dancers struggle on pointe, but this was a new one to me! And to see nearly all of the older ones had the same position, it made me wonder what it was.

[pasdedeuxmama]

The front foot on this phone case is a great example of what I saw http://www.zazzle.com/feet_of_ballet_dancer_en_pointe_case-179037022208020706

 

Now picture being en pointe on one leg with a foot position like that!

[Victoria Leigh]

The first link did not work for me as it just went to the home page of Dance Spirit. The second one is an example of a poor foot to begin with, and then poor training. She has no instep, she is not over the top of the platform, and she is pushing down into the shoes.

[pasdedeuxmama]

Sorry about that - it's a link to an article about hopping on pointe and the sort of hooked shape the foot is in for hopping. That's what I thought - sinking into shoe and not really over the box.so lack of training rather than something they'd been purposefully trained to do. It looked exhausting.

[Victoria Leigh]

The foot is in a different position for hopping on pointe. Because one is hopping the knee is bent and the foot has to hold back from going all the way over. One should still be all the way on the platform of the shoe, but not pushing the instep like when it is fully pointed with a straight knee.

[pasdedeuxmama]

Thank you, I appreciate the information!