A Pointe Shoe Exercise For Perfect Ballet Positions In Press Ups Or Rises For

A pointe shoe exercise for perfect ballet positions can be practiced sitting down. And by perfect, I mean the best you can do today, right now. Do not compare what you can do to your favorite ballerina and what she can do. Press ups, or rises, can be done perfectly by you, now.

As long as you understand the form and the movement, you will do it right. Sitting in a chair, you do not have your body weight on your foot. Repeating the ballet movements exactly as you will do them in pointe shoes, you prepare your brain and your feet to do these actions precisely, safely, and in a way that you will get stronger and prevent dance injuries.

Start sitting straight in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, resting evenly on the ball of the foot, the heel, and the little toe joint. In other words, no rolling ankles or pronation, or leaning to the outside of the foot.

The purpose of this exercise is to train your foot to perform it perfectly, in a way that develops strength, and prevents over-use of the shin and calf muscles. (painful shin splints).

Your arch muscles should be "on", meaning ready to move, but not clenched.

One foot at a time: peel the foot slowly off the floor, working and controlling the muscles and keeping the foot/ankle angle in a straight line. No leaning to the inner side of the foot, or the outer.

Lift the foot off the floor, as though you were completing a jump or releve movement. Stretch the toes long, but do not curl them. This is the top of a jump, or where your toes will be positioned in pointe shoes.

Touch the tips of the toes to the floor.

Pressing the heel back down, with resistance through the sole-of-the-foot muscles, resume your starting position. Repeat twenty times. Simple yet very effective - this is one in a series, a wonderful pointe shoe exercise.