First year pointe student asks...

A Pointe in the Right Direction Designed by Meshea Cook

  
...how can I strengthen my ankles for pointe work? Are there any exercises I can do at home?

Answer: There sure are! And you don't even have to do them in your pointe shoes.

(And by the way, I caution all new pointe students when they are wearing their shoes at home. Be very, very careful! Until you know the proper way to rise up and come back down from pointe, don't! Get a few lessons under your belt first and then do a few eleves and releves at home, but nothing more or you run the risk of injury.

Okay, rant over.)

1. In bare feet or socks, stand in parallel at a barre, chair or counter and rise up and down (eleve) on both feet 16 times. Be sure to keep your toes flat on the floor and don't knuckle them.

2. Repeat the above on one leg, keeping the other leg in parallel coupe and not allowing the knee to swing in and turn in. 16x, repeat both sides.

3. Do both 1&2 in parallel with releve (demi-plie and press straight up, then lower back down to bent knees.) Again, 16x.

4. Do 1, 2, & 3 all turned out in 1st position.

5. Add a Theraband to your ankles, tying it loosely above the ankle bone, rise up on both legs in parallel and then while en releve, stretch one leg out against the band and back in (sort of like a parallel degage). Do this 16 times on each side. Repeat it in a turned out first position. If your calves hurt, you can do these flat.

6. Sitting on the floor, stretch your legs in parallel in front of you, wrap a towel or Theraband around the sole of your foot and lift it slightly off the ground. Point and flex your foot against the towel/band, increasing the resistance as you feel necessary. Try to keep your back straight so you also work your core. Repeat 16x with both feet.

These are some basic exercises you can do without your shoes. Once you feel more confident, you can repeat 1-4 with your pointe shoes on.

Happy dancing~

New "Ask me a question" feature! Possibly involving zombies...

Every day it seems I get a new subscriber to the YouTube channel where I have my short videos about ballet (thank you!).  Often I will get questions from people about more specific issues they are having. I try to answer them on the channel but then only the questioner gets the feedback.  Sometimes it's a response that could be helpful to others. 

But a few weeks ago, I got a laptop that has a webcam so now I am thinking about adding a new feature to the channel and to my blog here, 

Ask a ballet question! I'm considering calling it "Ask a Zombie Ballerina" but we'll see...

So start sending in your questions about ballet to my email: LeighBalletLA@gmail.com. They can be about technique or classes or stretches or anything you have problems with: turns, allegro, adagio, performance, pointe, etc. I have limited knowledge about injuries (not a doctor!) but sometimes I can offer a suggestion that will help with alignment.

Happy dancing~

From the mailbag...

In the comments section below, Kelly asked the question, "Canvas or leather? Which do you prefer?"

Personally, I love canvas slippers because they're A) washable and B) cheaper. They work well on both marley and wood floors and for the price of a single pair of leather shoes, I can own 2 pairs of canvas. I like Sansha Pro 1C. Capezio Juliet II are also nice but they tend to grow holes too fast. I usually alternate between the pairs, so I always have a clean pair. If you go barefoot in your slippers, instead of wearing tights over your feet, canvas is great because when they get smelly (the shoes, not your feet!), you just throw them in the wash and hang to dry.

Now, those are the pro's. There are some cons to canvas:
--they wear out faster, often getting holes or tears in the toes within a couple months of daily wear (but you can sew them up to get a little extra life out of them)
--the effect of rosin on the shoes. Leather takes the build-up of rosin well but rosin on canvas gets hard and clumpy (but you can scrape it off and wash them so that's some compensation)
--canvas doesn't fit as closely to the foot as leather. You can get a nice tight fit from leather while canvas tends to stretch out (but canvas does get snug again when you wash it)

In the end, it's a matter of what you prefer, what fits you best, and what surface you dance on most often. Thanks for asking, Kelly!

And now, to prove I do indeed teach, here are some photos of a recent Level 4 class that the parent of one of my students took. Thanks to Claire Vorhis! That's her daughter, Sarah Jo, the lovely redhead I'm instructing on the ecarte line: