Ballerinas seem to glide across the floor with ease as if their pointe shoes never existed. Like many art forms, however, the seeming ease of dancing en pointe is an illusion. Young dancers spend months and often years preparing for their first pair of pointe shoes. A great deal of muscle strengthening must first be achieved, most importantly in the feet. There are a number of exercises that can work those toes and make you seem light on your feet.
Instructions
1. Ready yourself for precision pointe. Before you begin to truly tone those muscles in your toes and arch, you need to simply become aware of the minute and precise movements your feet are capable of making. The best way to do this is by isolating and moving different parts of your foot at a time. In order to feel out each part of your foot, try strumming your toes as you would your fingers. Place your foot flat on the ground and lift just your toes off the ground. Then try to place each individual toe on the ground one at a time, moving from your pinkie toe to your big toe. Repeat this exercise until you can strum those toes quickly and easily.
2. Channel your relevee. Before you can rise from standing flat on your feet to being fully on the tips of your pointe-shoe-clad toes, a process called relevee, you need to build the necessary strength and agility from the arch of your foot to the ball to the joints of your toes. Sit on the ground and extend your legs outward so your feet are off the ground and flexed with toes pointed upward. Push your feet toward the ground, but do not point your toes. Keep them stiffly flexed so that the ball of your foot pushes outward. This position is called demi-pointe and, when standing, will be the halfway point between flat and en pointe. Now fully point your toes as hard as you can. Reverse the process, going back through demi to flexed. Repeat several times.
3. Add some resistance. Therabands are useful for all kinds of muscle toning and stretching, but they are particularly helpful when working the feet. Place the middle section of the band around the ball of your foot and toes and grab either end of the band with your hands as if you are grasping the reigns of a horse. Repeat the exercise described in Step 2, but pull the band toward you so that when you point your toe, you have to exert even more strength and effort.
4. Take it to the barre. Now that you have practiced the mechanics of the relevee sitting down, it is time to take it to the next step and try the exercise standing. Stand facing the barre with your hands resting gently upon it. Stand in first position with heels together and toes pointing outward. Rise partially to demi-pointe by lifting only your heels and not the balls of your feet off the ground. Your heels should still be hovering slightly above the ground. Then push all the way to full demi-pointe by shifting all the pressure of gravity and muscle to your toes. The bottoms of your heels should be facing each other and not the ground.
5. Keep up the process. You must complete these exercises daily and frequently for a prolonged period of time. If your feet are weak when you strap on your first pair of pointe shoes, injury will be imminent. Don't forget that for every step a ballerina takes en pointe, she is working ever muscle from the top of her body down to the very bottom--her feet.
