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Are You Ready For Pointe?

January 22, 2015 by 4dancers

Photo courtesy of Mararie on Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0
Photo courtesy of Mararie on Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0

 

I’m so pleased to introduce this month’s guest contributor, Selina Shah, MD, a dance and sports medicine physician based in San Francisco, where she is Director of Dance Medicine at the Center for Sports Medicine. A dancer herself, Dr. Shah is the company physician for the San Francisco Ballet School, Liss Fain Dance Company, and Diablo Ballet, among others.  Her article discusses the different factors that determine when a student dancer should begin pointe work. 

We are grateful to her for sharing her expertise on this topic —pass it on! 

– Jan Dunn MS, Editor, Dance Wellness


by Selina Shah, MD, FACP

If you are anything like me, you are captivated by ballet. You love its grace and its gravity-defying, gentle power. You dream of performing as a prima ballerina. In the years of work it will require to get there, perhaps the single most important milestone you will face is when to go en pointe.

Dancing en pointe is an advanced stage of ballet that requires unique skills. The challenge is to place almost all of your weight on the extreme tips of your toes, yet appear as light as a feather. In fact, no matter how long all of your toes are, research has shown that most of your body weight is carried on the tip of your big toe. It may sound very hard, but in truth, it’s even harder!

How Will I Know When I Can Get Pointe Shoes?

Teaching TipMost likely, your teacher will decide when you are ready to go en pointe. Many factors are involved in this decision. One common myth is that there is a mandatory age requirement of 11 or 12. In actuality, having adequate training rather than age is what matters. Usually, this means at least several years of consistent, high-quality training. Often girls are around age 11 or 12 before this happens, but some girls may be ready sooner, some later, and some not at all. Keep in mind the quality of work is more important than quantity.

You need enough flexibility in your foot to rise fully to pointe. One way to test this is to point your foot while sitting down with your legs extended in front of you. Next, place a pencil on top of the ankle and it should be able to lay flat from the tibia to the foot across the ankle joint.

You need physical and technical skills, such as strength, balance, alignment and control. For example, you should be able to hold passé on each leg with arms in high fifth for at least a few seconds. You should also be able to perform a clean pirouette with a smooth landing.

You also need to be able to continuously accept and apply teacher feedback.

Last but not least, you must consistently maintain your discipline and focus to keep your skills sharp and reduce the likelihood of injury.

Barre is where you form the crucial foundational skills on which pointe, and all other ballet movements are built. Listen to your teachers when they give you corrections and apply them until they become second nature. For instance, “working the floor with your feet” in tendus helps build your foot strength, which is essential for pointe. Working diligently on your turnout (and not cheating!) results in proper alignment. Use your core strength (ask your teacher how to do this correctly) to help you with balance and control. Apply these skills in the center and across the floor.

Various Foot Types

261936797_761833106a_z
Photo courtesy of mmarchin on Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0

Knowing your foot type is important when you look for pointe shoes. Most people fall into one of three categories.

  1. The “Giselle” or peasant foot shape is one where the first three toes are of equal length, making this ideal for pointe because the big toe gets assistance from the other two toes in carrying the weight.
  2. The “Morton’s” or “Grecian” foot, in which the second toe is the longest, is more prone to developing callouses, pain, and stiffness in the big toe. Most of the body weight is still carried by the big toe in the Morton’s foot.
  3. A narrow “Egyptian” foot, in which the toes taper in length from the big toe which is the longest, usually requires a cap on the second toe so that it can assist the big toe with weight bearing.

Finding The Right Pointe Shoe

Pointe shoe fitting is complicated because of the variability in shape, size, strength, and flexibility of each dancer’s feet. Most dance stores will have specialized pointe shoe fitters on staff. Your first visit to the store will take some time as you try on a number of shoes until you find the one that feels good and fits properly. As you gain experience in pointe, you will likely change shoes.

With hard work and dedication, one day you may be fortunate enough to hear the words “You are ready for pointe!”


Selina Shah
Selina Shah, MD, FACP

Selina Shah, MD, FACP is a board certified sports medicine and internal medicine physician and the Director of Dance Medicine at the Center for Sports Medicine in San Francisco, CA and Walnut Creek, CA. She has lectured nationally and internationally on various dance medicine topics and has published papers in medical journals and books including her original research on dance injuries in contemporary professional dancers. She is the dance company physician for the San Francisco Ballet School, Liss Fain Dance Company and Diablo Ballet. She is a physician for Berkeley Repertory Theater, Mill’s College, St. Mary’s College, and Northgate High School. She takes care of the performers for Cirque du Soleil and various Broadway productions when they come to the San Francisco Bay Area. She has taken care of several Broadway performers (i.e. American Idiot, South Pacific, Lion King, Book of Mormon, MoTown, and Billy Elliot). She is a team physician for USA Synchronized Swimming, USA Weightlifting, USA Figure Skating and travels with the athletes internationally and nationally. She is also a member of the USA Gymnastics Referral Network. As a former professional Bollywood and salsa dancer, Dr. Shah is passionate about caring for dancers. She continues taking ballet classes weekly and also enjoys running, yoga, Pilates, weightlifting, and plyometric exercise.

Filed Under: Dance Wellness, Foot Care, Pointe Shoes Tagged With: Ballet, egyptian foot, en pointe, foot types in ballet, grecian foot, morton's foot, peasant foot, pointe readiness, pointe shoe fitter, pointe shoe fitters, pointe shoes, pointe work, selina shah, toe shoes

En Pointe! An In-Depth Look At The Pointe Shoe

March 5, 2013 by 4dancers

The National Museum of Dance has an exhibit about pointe shoes that dancers and dance-lovers will want to check out…

We reached out to Assistant Director Sarah Hall Weaver to learn more about it and are excited to share some of the details with you here…

national dance museum
Photo by Daesha Devón Harris

Tell readers a bit about your upcoming exhibition, En Pointe!

En Pointe! is an exhibit that explores the pointe shoe from many different angles – how they are made, how they are designed to suit individual feet, how they came to be what they are today, and how they are integrated into the lives of both amateur and professional dancers.  We know that the public is fascinated, and even sometimes daunted by these unique shoes.  For a lot of people they are the very symbol of everything they love about dance but for others they can be very intimidating if you have never experienced them on your own feet or had someone give you the opportunity to get closer.  The exhibit will suit both audiences – we want young dancers to learn more about their shoes, and we want people that know nothing to learn to love them as much as we do!

pointe shoe exhibit
Photo by Daesha Devón Harris

Where did the idea for this particular exhibition come from?

The idea for this exhibit came from one of our Board of Directors members, Leslie Roy Heck.  Leslie is a former soloist of the New York City Ballet and during her time with the company she was privileged to work with George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins.  Leslie now owns a dance retail store in our city of Saratoga Springs, NY called Saratoga Dance, Etc. where she and her staff fit shoes for students of all ages.  She is also the founder of Bunheads Dance Accessories, a product line that was acquired by Ballet Makers Inc., the worldwide distributor of Capezio footwear and apparel.  What can I say?…We couldn’t have asked for a better expert to lead this project!

pointe shoes
Pointe shoes from left to right: Merrill Ashley, Alicia Markova & Moira Shearer, Photo by Daesha Devón Harris

What was the process like of getting the items together for this exhibition?

Every exhibit is its own unique experience, but this one was pretty intense.  We worked with six sponsoring pointe shoe companies [Bloch, Capezio, Freed, Gaynor Minden, Grishko, and Suffolk], over ten different dance companies, six individual principal dancers, dozens of national participants in our pointe shoe decorating contest, several fine artists, and a slew of other collaborators.  There was a lot of communication and organization back and forth but the overwhelming positive responses we received assured us of how important this project was.  If anything, the hardest part was making the decisions of where to draw the line.  There is so much to say about these seemingly simple, little, pink objects, we could probably have filled the entire Museum.  We just had to keep in mind our mission to explain the essential basics to pointe shoe newcomers, and to present some new ideas to pointe shoe pros.

pointe shoe
Photo by Daesha Devón Harris

Would you share some of the highlights of the exhibit?

One of my favorite sections is the interviews from five principal ballerinas from five different American companies.  I think it’s really important for pre-professional dancers of all ages and levels to hear from their on-stage heroes.  The advice they give can’t be said enough and it is so encouraging for young students to hear that these stars had similar struggles when they were beginning dancers.  I also love the section that talks about men dancing en pointe.  It’s very forward thinking in terms of strengthening and training, and it is always interesting to see on stage.  My favorite thing about the exhibit as a whole though is that the shoes and accessories that are attached to the text boards are there for guests to actually touch.  Just being able to feel the texture and strength of the items is a great way for people to become familiar with the strange world of ballet.

Can you share a few of the other exhibitions that you will have coming up this year?

We have a lot coming up for our 2013 season!  We will be welcoming an incredible bronze sculpture and pastel exhibit from artist Andrew DeVries, and this year’s Art in the Foyer photography exhibition will be a selection from Jordan Matter’s Dancers Among Us series, which has become a national sensation.  Like many other organizations all over the world, we are also joining in on the celebration of the Rite of Spring’s 100th anniversary with a special exhibit spanning the history of Nijinsky’s original ballet and the dozens of choreographers since that have braved Stravinsky’s brilliant score.  And perhaps one of our most highly anticipated projects in the last several years is the complete renovation of the Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame.  The new space will honor its forty-eight amazing inductees with more video, more images, and more artifacts than ever [though there will be fifty by August as we will  be inducting two HUGE dance icons in coming months].  It’s going be an exciting season, and we can’t wait to share it with you!

En Pointe! is scheduled to run from March 20, 2012 through November 24, 2013 and is sponsored by Bloch, Capezio, Freed, Gaynor Minden, Grishko, and Suffolk.

Filed Under: Pointe Shoes Tagged With: andrew de vries, en pointe, george balanchine, jordan matter, leslie roy heck, national museum of dance, pointe shoes

Teaching Adult Ballet Class

March 25, 2012 by 4dancers

Today we have an adult ballet teacher with us to share some thoughts about her experience with this demographic….

Adult Ballet Instructor Leigh Purtill

1.      What are you currently doing in terms of teaching adult ballet class and how did you wind up doing that?

Right now, I teach at two studios in Los Angeles and Pasadena, California and I do a lot of private coaching. At one studio, I have a program of beginner, intermediate and advanced ballet technique and pointe classes for adults which is very successful – and fun! I also choreograph the spring show and Nutcracker for that studio, both of which allow ample opportunities for my adults to perform, no matter their skill level.

When I got out of college, I taught young children and teens but now that I’m older, I find that I relate better to adults and older teens.  My approach to technique is based on kinesiology and I give corrections that are primarily bio-mechanical. Students who can understand how to access certain muscles and how bones and tendons relate to each other will be more likely to apply my corrections successfully.

2.      What do you like most about teaching adult ballet?

I love being witness to breakthroughs, whether it’s a beginner who finally understands how to lift up her abdominals and rotate from the top of her hips or an advanced student who hits a triple pirouette en pointe. I often wish I had a camera to capture the moment on their faces – the looks of surprise and elation are priceless.

With my beginner students, I become absurdly proud of their advances!  I make sure to point out to them and to the rest of the class when these things happen so they can appreciate their progress and be recognized by their peers. I encourage them to celebrate the smaller moments because they all add up!

3.      What are some of the special considerations when it comes to teaching adult ballet? [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, 4teachers, Adult Ballet, Teaching Tips Tagged With: en pointe, leigh purtill, teaching adult ballet

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