Web of muscles OR: Why we wear slippers instead of socks

Under your foot is a web of muscles we call, collectively, the intrinsic muscles. They do so much work for us!

By Henry Vandyke Carter - Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body

There is both dorsal flexion and plantar flexion of the foot (top and bottom, respectively). The easy way to remember which is which is to think we "plant" our foot on the ground and that is the plantar side of the foot.

We definitely need both types of flexion to do ballet but when it comes to releve, pointe work and just basically pointing our feet, we rely on the muscles on the bottom of the feet and toes. The problem with this is that we tend to think of them as one muscle when they are in fact, dozens (almost a hundred!). The result of this is that we grip the bottoms of our feet and toes when we dance rather than activate and lengthen them.

One way to do that is to wear slippers with soles rather than socks.

"But I can articulate all the muscles of my feet and my toes when I wear socks!" you say. "Plus they're so comfy!"

Both of these things are true. However, when you wear slippers that have some sole (and nowadays, people only wear split soles rather than full), you give your feet some structure and you give your muscles something to work against and in turn, help strengthen them.

Another reason to wear slippers instead of socks is to give the foot a shape that finishes the line and helps guide the toes inside. Not everyone can point their feet and have their toes look like a perfect point; ballet slippers help the toes find that shape and train the muscles to keep the toes in their place.

A ballet slipper will also lift the medial longitudinal arch of the foot which is the long arch on the inside of the foot that, when active, domes the foot (hollows it out) and lifts it off the ground. Strengthening these muscles and this arch is critical to pointe work and to maintaining a high releve in demi-pointe for multiple turns, etc.

Happy dancing~

A million tendus

If you're an experienced dancer with years of classes behind you, you've likely done thousands of tendus, thousands more degages, and perhaps a million demi-plies. As a teacher I try to structure my combinations so you don't realize you're doing the same tendus you've seen a bajillion times but honestly, there are just so many ways to combine steps at the barre.

But there's a very good reason for this: muscle memory. Just as baseball players and golfers practice their swings over and over and over again, we dancers must practice the same steps over and over and over again until they are so much a part of our bodies that we don't think about them.

cc lic Paul L Dineen "Big Swing"

 If we had to think about every muscle and every bone that must move and coordinate in order to do a grand jete developpe, we would never get off the ground!

Take a look at this breakdown of a baseball player's swing - and he's not even propelling his body into the air!

Baseball Swing Anatomy

Today I want to talk about the tiniest little things that have a BIG impact on your turns, your jumps and your lines.

Your toes.

cc lic melalouise Sous Sous

Ten tiny parts of you that really sell you as a polished dancer, no matter how many years you have been taking class. Your toes do so many things!

--they keep you on the floor
--they push you off the floor
--they start your pirouette
--they finish your lines
--they form the platform upon which you balance
--they are the basis of your pointe work
--they shape your foot and guide your leg through the air no matter what you do

cc lic Quinn Dombrowski, A Leg Out of Nowhere

 And they MUST be STRETCHED. This is an absolute MUST.

Teachers always tell you to point your toes but instead, think STRETCH, not point. We don't want to grip our toes or feet - we want to lengthen them. With the stretch/lengthen imagery, we will spring ourselves up to retire for a turn; we will spring to glissade and brush every jete.

Without exception, your toes must be stretched to a fully extended position EVERY TIME they come off the floor (unless the choreography calls for a flexed or soft foot) and they remain stretched until the foot returns to the floor. From the very first exercises at the barre (typically a plie combination), think about the toes adhering to the floor; think about them when you balance flat or en releve. Think about them as you articulate the foot during slow tendus. The more you engage the toes, the more you articulate them, the more muscle memory you're gaining. Soon it will feel weird for you to not point your feet.

Happy dancing~