foot problem

[Guest haylee]

You know when you are en pointe and the fron part of the foot has to be arched over your toes. Well mine isn't if doinf a demi-plie then it is but as soon as I straigten my legs then it is not well over. What can I do. Should I give up pointe.

[Mel Johnson]

I really doubt that you should give up pointe. You can do stretches that increase the flexibility of the foot over the instep, and some good results will come of them. Bear in mind, though, that as an adult, there are structures in the foot which are more or less fused after about age 20, and progress with the stretches will be slow and gradual. There are lots of instep stretches on the YD Stretches and Exercise archive, and some mention of them on the Pointe/Method... archive. For the best selection, change your viewing preferences out to "view all threads". You'll see a lot more things, and the page doesn't take any longer to load than when the setting is at the default.

[citibob]

The stretch over my instep has improved quite a lot as an adult, but as Mel said, gradually and with a lot of work on the exercises.

[Xena]

You know Haylee,I think its great that you have actually noticed it and want to do somethign about it. Quite a few of the adult dancers I see en pointe definatley need to work on that, but they seem oblivious to it and when they have trouble just doing a simple pique,they wonder why.

 

ONe great thing to do is do a demi-plie in first or second,probably facing the barre at this stage, move through the foot into demi pointe and then up onto pointe,trying not to let the heels move. You have to pull up through the inner legs rather than through the knees, you don't ever want to lock your knees.

 

Even whenyou are doing class in your slippers, whenever you go up onto demi pointe, really make a big effort to push over,so the inside of your heels are facing front as much as possible, and to keep them there in the same position as you lower them. Thats the trick really. Also, this is where working in beat up old pointe shoes or soft pointes or full soled ballet slippers do help.

 

Jeanette

[pleiades]

I can speak from experience that it comes gradually. When I first started pointe work I understood the concept, but couldn't 'do it.' Then all of a sudden one day I went up, pushed over, straightened up and felt this wonderful lenghtening and stretching in my instep. It's worth hanging in if only for the feeling you get when you over and stretched out like that!