We have had many subscribers tell us they are beginning pointe work, and ask for some tips. After working both with teens and adults, I feel there are some common mistakes. If corrected, these can make a big difference!
As always, make sure that you keep your pointe work to your class time with your teacher. Unless you are quite advanced, it can be dangerous to work on this at home, and even advanced dancers can risk injury working on a non-ballet floor at home.
The first thing I want to discuss is placement over the shoe. We want to be all the way over the platform of the shoe, pushing over the first three toes.
Also make sure you are still lifting through the ankles the entire way down. It's easy to let the ankles go first, but try not to give in!
So, those are our tips! Proper placement over the shoe, 3/4 pointe, and strong ankles will help your pointe work improve overall.
Have you found anything else that has helped you with pointe? Is there anything else you are struggling with? Let us know in the comments below!
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As always, make sure that you keep your pointe work to your class time with your teacher. Unless you are quite advanced, it can be dangerous to work on this at home, and even advanced dancers can risk injury working on a non-ballet floor at home.
The first thing I want to discuss is placement over the shoe. We want to be all the way over the platform of the shoe, pushing over the first three toes.
You do NOT want to be back towards the pinky toe.
You always want to feel like the ankle is lifting you up, and that you are not sinking down into the shoe.
You do NOT want to be back on the platform of the shoe.
If you are pulling back, even just a little, your achilles tendon might begin to engage, like this. You DO NOT want this! Not only is it not attractive, your achilles tendon is being put at risk for tendonitis, and that is bad, bad news. You are not building the muscles in your ankle that you need in order to lift out of the shoe properly.
The next thing is about the descent from pointe to flat. Sometimes it is not enough to think about moving through the demi pointe. Especially in dancers new to pointe, I see a lot of collasping. This is completely understandable! It takes a lot of strength to roll through the shoe properly, and it takes time to build that strength.
Collapsing - the ankles are not lifted and the toes are not engaged.
But, intellectually, one thing you can think about is moving through a 3/4 demi pointe before arriving at the full demi. This will help you really engage the strength of the toes as you come down.
3/4 demi.
Demi.
Also make sure you are still lifting through the ankles the entire way down. It's easy to let the ankles go first, but try not to give in!
So, those are our tips! Proper placement over the shoe, 3/4 pointe, and strong ankles will help your pointe work improve overall.
Have you found anything else that has helped you with pointe? Is there anything else you are struggling with? Let us know in the comments below!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin