I am teaching a girl who has really gorgeous flexible feet but she is finding it hard not to go too far over on pointe. Her arch is...
Hi Lisa,
I am teaching a girl who has really gorgeous flexible feet but she is finding it hard not to go too far over on pointe. Her arch is wanting to and is able to go well over her toes! She is aware of the problem and I have shown her the correct position to try and stay in, we are really working on strength in her ankles and making sure that she isn’t going too far over, but I just wondered if you had any further advice or exercises that may help her. She is currently wearing a Capezio shoe.
I have the perfect pointe book which is brilliant by the way, but I can't seem to see any references to this problem.
I hope you can help
Kind Regards,
Louise
Dear Louise,
xThank you so much for that question. While many girls struggle for adequate mobility in the front of their ankles, many others have the often harder task of controlling excessive mobility. There are several things that you can do to help these students, and I will make sure to add a section dedicated to the hypermobile foot in the next review of The Perfect Pointe Book. However there are two things that I suggest you try immediately.
The first is making sure that her shoes are broken in correctly so that the shank sits flat along the under surface of the front part of the foot and curves out to cup her heel when en pointe. For the girl with very mobile feet this is very important. If the shank of the shoe is still stiff from the tip of the shoe to the heel, her arch will sit too far forward and she will constantly feel that she is falling forward out of the shoe. I also suggest having the ribbons slightly further forward than usual, to allow the shank to be held flush with the sole of the foot when en pointe. Watch the video on this site by clicking HERE.
I also use a taping technique to help control excessive hypermobility en pointe until the dancer develops enough strength to control her mobility. This can also be used even on very strong dancers who are doing a lot of rehearsals en pointe (prior to performances and exams etc). This helps reduce any inflammation of the ligaments at the front of the ankle that often get irritated in the hypermobile dancer. I will upload a video demonstrating how to do this as soon as possible.
I hope this helps, and keep an eye out for when the update of the new book is available (as usual, if you have already purchased The Perfect Pointe Book, you will get this update for free).
