How to Prepare For Pointe Shoes and Prevent Dance Injuries

Prepare, prepare, prepare, for dancing ballet in pointe shoes. Learn how to prevent dance injuries like a sprained ankle or a ballet knee injury years before you, or your child is looking for exactly the right fit in pointe shoes. Even recreational dancers who may leave ballet classes for hip hop, jazz, salsa, cheer leading or any other style of dance, benefit from learning how to do basic classical ballet technique correctly.

The basic ballet movements and ballet positions can be executed correctly by almost any dance student. Students who do not have the physical attributes of turnout, flexibility, long legs/short body, long arms and long necks, can still learn to do ballet correctly enough to advance.

In some ballet schools, teachers actually believe that a student will never be able to do certain ballet movements because they lack "X" physical attribute. Unfortunately some students absorb this negativity whether the teacher voices it or not. It's a shame.

If you feel like you are not progressing and you do not get the coaching you need in ballet class, read, read, read. There is detailed information available about ballet technique and also there is plenty of help in the area of anatomy and anatomical correctness in ballet movement. The all too common sprained ankles and knee injuries of ballet/sports/fitness can be avoided, for you.

The trick is how to get YOUR body to do THAT. If you are a few degrees too many from the ballet ideal, your teacher may not be able or may not be willing to help you. However, you can learn what you need to do to develop the correct application of for instance, a demi plie, onto a correctly postured releve with a correctly stretched arch and ankle.

If you aspire to become a performer in another dance style such as jazz or hip hop, your longevity in dance will depend on the correct use of your body. If you aspire to dance ballet in pointe shoes, you need to be sure that your time and effort and the thousands of plies, degages and battment tendus are not being practiced with errors that will lead to injury.

Your basic dance movements imitate the advanced and sometimes intricate classical choreography. Modern ballet and modern dance choreography often cannot be imitated by basic ballet movements, but you are more prepared for that if you know how to move and prevent injury.

Take advantage of the wealth of information available at The Ballet Store in books (print and downloads)and on DVDs. You can learn what you need to know to prepare to dance in pointe shoes and prevent ballet injuries.