Pre-professional Pointe 1 Workbook

Collected by Haley Mathiot

Table of Contents
The Foot On Demi-Pointe On Pointe Pronation and Supination Exercise: Avoiding Pronation and Supination Exercise: Strengthening the Ankle The Knees ACL and PCL Hyperextension Exercise: Avoiding Hyperextension Exercise: Strengthening the knee extension The Pelvis Turnout Superior Iliac Spine Tucked, Flexed, and Lengthened Hip Socket Exercises: Strengthening the deep lateral rotators Exercises: Stretching the turnout Pointe Starting Pointe and Requirements Getting Fitted Resources

The Foot

In order to get en pointe, your feet must be strong enough to support all of your body weight. Allignment and technique are very important because if ballet is done incorrectly--especially pointe work--you could suffer from an acute or chronic injury.

a. This is what your bones look like when youre on three quarter pointe, or Releve. Notice the Tibia is right over the Tarsus. b. This is what your foot looks like en pointe. Again, notice how the Tibia is straight up over the foot, and the foot isnt leaning back.

a
c. This is the foot en pointe from the back. The heel and the toe are lined up in a straight line, and the leg is over the middle of the foot. d. This is the foot en pointe from the back in an incorect position. The foot is more outside than the leg bone, and the bones are not lined up. e. This is the foot en pointe from the front. Notice that most of the weight is over the big toe, and her ankles are straight, not leaning out.

Pronation: when the ankle pushes inwards Supination: when the ankle falls outwards These positions are dangerous because they throw your bones out of allignment, and can result in serious ankle, knee, and hip injury.

Pronation and Supination en pointe are even more dangerous than when youre off pointe. Other possible dangerous foot positions include pulling back and pushing forward. These can all lead to injury. This is why its important to strengthen your feet before you get en pointe: so that you will be strong enough to resist working in these positions.

Exercise: Avoiding Pronation and Supination by Strengthening

Perform the following exercises with a Theraband:

Flex your foot against the pull of the band, releasing slowly. Dont let your ankle wobble at all! Go very slow.

Pointe your foot against the theraband, releasing slowly.

Exercise: Strengthening the Ankle

Perform the following exercises with a Theraband: While holding the theraband, write the letters of the alphabet with your feet. Try not to let your ankles wobble.

The Knee
ACl and PCL
The ACL and the PCL crisscross in-between the thigh bone and the shin bone, under the knee-cap. They keep the knee cap from slipping forward and backwards.

Hyper Extension and the PCL

This is an X-ray of a hyper-extended knee. Hyperextension stretches out the PCL, which is a ligament. Ligaments arent supposed to stretch, because they dont stretch back without physical therapy, or surgery. If The PCL becomes too stretched, the thigh bone and the shin bone will grind against each other, the knee cap could pop out of place, and the ligament could tear.

What Does Hyper-Extension Look Like?

Image a is hyper-extended. Notice the knee doesnt fall into line with the middle of the femur to the ankle joint, instead it is behind the line. Image b is a straight leg. Notice there is a straight line that runs right down the middle of the thigh bone, the middle of the knee, the top of the shin, and down through the ankle joint.

Exercise: Avoiding Hyperextension

Stand in rst position in front of a mirror. Practice slow releves without letting your knees lock back.

Exercise: Strengthening Knee Extension

From passe, developpe to a la second by lifting from the knee. Make sure it gets all the way straight, but not locked. Also, make sure youre pushing down (but not locking back) in the standing leg.

The Pelvis
Turnout

The pelvis is the source of the turnout. Think of Turnout as a verb: its not something you do or dont have, its something you do. Before you can understand how the turnout works, you need to understand the parts of the pelvis. A. Ilium: the wide fan-shaped bones B. Sacrum: The bottom section of the spine. This is where your center of balance is. C. Acetabulum: Hip socket, where the head of the femur sits. D. Pubis: two hard bones on the front of the pelvis E. Symphosis Pubis: the knob in the middle where your two pubis bones join F. Ischium: the back/bottom bones of the pelvis. This is where your sits bones are. G. ASIS: Anterior Posterior Iliac Spine: Two lumpy bones right on the front of your hips.

The Superior Iliac Spine, and the Turnout

The ASIS and the PSIS are two locations on the pelvis. The ASIS is in the front (Anterior) and the PSIS is in the back (Posterior). You can feel the hard knobs on your body.

If you drew a line from your ASIS to your PSIS, the line should be straight. That is as far tucked or dropped as your pelvis should be while you dance. When you are in this correct position, you can turn out more easily, and you are protecting your knees and ligaments from straining.

Tucked, Pushed, and Lengthened

This is a correct pelvic position. The ASIS and PSIS are in a straight line, and the tailbone is looking towards the oor.

This is an anterior tilted pelvis. The ASIS is lower than the PSIS, and the tailbone is not facing the oor. Her hips are coming forward and her back is curved, not straight.

This is a posterior tilted pelvis. Her tailbone is too far tucked under and her PSIS is lower than her ASIS. This position puts signicant strain on the ligaments in the hips and fronts of the legs and knee.

Standing with your feet in parallel position, try to stand in each of these positions. Dont spend too much time in them, but try to feel them and recognize which one is which on your body. Then, nd the correct position, and practice standing in it and keeping it while you do some basic steps like plie and tendu.

The Hip Socket

See the blue ball that ts in the socket? That is where turnout happens. There are 4 things that affect your turnout: 1. Size of the head of the femur 2. Shape of the head of the femur 3. Size of the socket 4. Flexibility of the tendons around the hip socket In order to turn out your legs, you mostly use your Deep Outward Rotators. These are muscles that are very strong, but buried very deep in your hip. You cant see them from outside your skin, like you can your thighs or hamstrings. Remember, turning out is something you do in ballet. How much you have doesnt matter as much as how hard you do it.

Exercise: Strengthening Deep Outward Rotators

Tendu to the front, and ex the foot. Relax into parallel position, and then turn out the whole leg from the hip. Repeat this movement multiple times, making sure the movement comes from the hip, not the ankle.

Exercise: Stretching the Turnout

Stretch the external rotation: Lay on your stomach with your legs behind you, knees bent, and feet together. Try to relax until your feet touch the oor.

Stretch the internal rotation:

Support your weight on your arms, or hold a barre above you. Keeping one leg straight out in front of you, bend the other leg at the knee, turn it in, and gently ease yourself down until you can sit in that position. Do this one leg at a time until youre loose enough to do it with both.

Pointe

Before you get en pointe, you should be able to: Stand in a high releve in rst position, fth position sousus, or parallel without the barre for about a minute Do one minute of crunches, or a Pilates abdomnal series Be able to maintain turnout through your daily barre exercises. If you cant do these things, you need to work on whatever your weaknesses are. Pointe is more than the feet: you need strength in your whole body.

Getting Fitted
Please bring this page with you to the tting! Student: Call the store before you go! Some stores only t by appointment, and some require you to be there by a certain time. Shoes should t tight around the foot. They will be hard and uncomfortable, but they should not cause a pinching or searing pain. Your toes should be secure in the box, but not scrunched up against the bottom or sides of the shoe The shank should end right before the edge of your heel. Avoid getting a shoe thats shank extends the whole length of your foot if at all possible, unless its the best t. Cut your toenails two or three days before your tting. If the skin is still tender, use a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and rub the skin to dry and toughen it. Do some warm-ups before you get tted, or wear tennis shoes for a few hours. Dont t shoes with cold feet (dancing makes your feet swell, and if you get a tting with cold feet, they may not t when you try to dance in them)

Fitter: No Gaynor Minden shoes please! Fit the shoe for their foot now, not for their foot when it grows. It is okay if they grow out of their shoe. They are to use Gellows toe pads (Pillows for Pointe) unless their shoe ts best with a different pad. No super-soft shanks or super-hard shanks. Soft or medium is ne. Inch-wide ribbon and elastic waxed or upholstery thread The student is responsible for sewing their own shoes. Please do not sew their shoes for them.

Resources
Below are some websites and books that you can check out if you want more information Books Basic Principles of Classical Ballet by Agrippina Vaganova Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet by Cyril W. Beaumont and Stanislas Idzikowski New York City Ballet Workout by Peter Martins Optimal Dietary Intake: The basics for sport, for life by U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Pelvic Power by Eric Franklin Relax your Neck, Liberate your Shoulders by Eric Franklin Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet by Gail Grant Websites http://beyondthebarre.blogspot.com http://michaelminn.net/andros/site/ http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/index.html http://www.the-ballet.com/ Youtube Channels http://www.youtube.com/user/haleymathiot http://www.youtube.com/user/lisahowell2