When I explained
this concept to my Pointe students, they were blown away! Some of them are
taking pointe for the first time this year, but others have been on pointe for
three years now and have never been told how to correctly place themselves
while dancing in pointe shoes.
No matter your
type, every arch should allow for the toes to make contact with the
floor at exactly a 90ยบ angle. Again, using the illustrations from Ruth
Brinkerhoff’s “Pointe 1: An Introduction to Pointe Work“,
we can see exactly how that is accomplished.
This illustration
shows correct bone placement en pointe.
High Arches
The first drawing
is of a student with high arches. Sometimes the tendency for this type of student
is to push too far over the box of their shoe and put unnecessary weight
on the toenails. Brinkerhoff’s solution: “High arches will need to make a
slight dorsiflexion at the metatarsal-phalangeal joint (note the arrow) in
order to get the weight exactly on the ends of the toes”* The dancer
with high arches may need to be reminded that thought she is making a slight
dorsiflexion, she is still “pointing” her foot and stretching her
ankle, just like everyone else.
Average Arches and “Flat Feet”
The second and
third drawings show that the ankles and feet are fully stretched and the toes
are pointing directly down towards the floor. Pressure must not be
placed on the knuckles of the toes or on the toenails. Even for those students
that are “flat footed”, it is still possible, with some strengthening and extra
conditioning at the barre, to bring weight over the tops of the toes en pointe.
This drawing shows
the feet as they would appear in pointe shoes. [Ask your teacher] what types of
arches [you have] so that you can [get] personalized advice based
on [your] musculoskeletal needs.
Correct Weight Placement
en Pointe
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You may also be interested in the following videos that are on the www.esbdance.com and www.vimydance.com websites regarding fitting pointe shoes and sewing and tying your ribbons.
Pointe Shoe Fitting Links -
Pointe Shoe Sewing and Tying Links -
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