Even if you are never going to dance ballet in pointe shoes because of gender, casting, dance style or because you are starting ballet at a later age, how to improve pirouettes is important. Pirouettes are fun, showy, and prominent in classical ballet choreography as well as other dance styles.
The postural plumb line is where you start, in looking at what is going to make a pirouette succeed. Firstly, can you stand with good posture?
If so, can you rise up and down, firstly in a cou de pied position, on one leg, without losing your postural plumb line? If so, can you do a series of releves holding a good position, without neck or shoulder strain?
If you do lose it, correct your posture, then see if you lose it going into your demi plie. Is your weight sitting back? Do you lose any placement at the hips? Do you lose any turnout?
If any of the three things above occur, you need to get those fixed and forget about pirouettes until you build strength to maintain the basics of posture, turnout and a correct demi plie. You will still do your pirouettes in your ballet class, but for your daily practice routines, you need a step-by-step approach to get stronger.
If everything is good so far, raise your leg into a retire position and check that no placement gets lost at the hips. If this occurs, you need more stretching in the hip and pelvic area. Or, perhaps you need to rearrange the tension at the hips and you will find that you can get your hips level after all.
While the feeling of the spin is important and not to be lost for the sake of good technique, it is still vital that you be able to do sixteen, twenty-four, and then thirty-two strong releves in retire on both sides, without strain. You need a relaxed neck and shoulders to spot properly in multiple turns.
Especially in pointe shoes, you need to do these repetitive releves, to see that you can stay on one spot and not travel around. If you have trouble with this, use the barre. Check your balance at the bottom of your demi plie, as well as in the releve position. Seeing where your weight wants to go tells you where the weakness, or excess tension is. To build strength is important, and to train the muscle memory properly is too.
The reason why I recommend back-peddling to basic exercises in order to correct or build on an exercise, is because practicing things incorrectly is a waste of time. Asking your teacher for help or getting another student to buddy with you on practicing and correcting each other, is really worth the while.
It is more fun just doing turns, but technical inaccuracies will catch up with you and hold you back. Instantly, when you put on pointe shoes.
On your rest day, be sure to relax, stretch out the tired and tense muscles, using a rubber ball for the tight and tender spots. Ice the sore spots for 15 minutes, two or three times a day.
If you have worked so hard in ballet class or rehearsal that your legs are throbbing, lie down and stick them straight up the wall for a few minutes. It is easy to fall asleep that way...
Whenever you find yourself thinking "how can I improve..." just go back to the basic, slow motion movement to discover what classical ballet principle of technique is missing. Regardless of your dance style, simple ballet exercises done well, build strength. And then it is even more fun.
Click here to get the definitive home practice manual written by an expert dance medicine specialist, The Perfect Pointe Book.
Shoe Dilemma...
Ok people, I need your help!! There's a shoe devil afoot!
I bought these amazing shoes that I just can not afford right now. They're kind of a rip off to be honest. Even for Louboutin. If you haven't seen them already, (check 'um out here) they are a super high florescent pink heel and double platform with a cork upper.
Now I've never been a huge fan of cork uppers before, but this one is just perfect. Super sexy and fun.
Now the dilemma. They just arrived at my doorstep from the nice people at FedEx. Do I keep them and suffer the financial kick in the ass... or do I do the "right thing" and return them?
Of all the addictions on Earth, WHY must I suffer from such an expensive one? I mean, according to Whitney Houston... crack is cheap. Maybe I'll look into it. I hear it does wonders for your figure.
Tacky? Fabulous? A Little of Both?
So, I always have mixed feelings about bold logo stuff. It seems like, I dunno... almost an overstatement. Like, LOOK! I'm wearing Chanel! Am I cool now!?
Ok ok, I know I'm a hypocrite because I'm not even going to pretend like I buy those Christian Louboutins for any reason other than the red sole. If it were the shape I was after I'd have gotten the Steve Madden knockoff, right? ;)
But I digress. I do think there is a difference between logo shoes and distinctive shoes. Most logo shoes look tacky to me but for some reason- I love this one. Maybe it's that it is so tacky that it goes back to fabulous? I dunno. It obviously screams Chanel but I think its in a bitchy, sassy way thats a fun play on fashion. What do you guys think?? Come on people, I'm ready for some comments. I'm not writing this blog for myself you know...
Athlete's Foot
re-post
An unpleasent fungal infection.
A lot of people mention Athlete's Foot as an argument against people having a shoes-off policy. However, this is a quite unnecessary concern.
Athlete's Foot is generally associated with swimming pools and changing rooms. It is possible to catch Athlete's Foot on one's barefeet at a swimming pool or in a locker room. However, recent research indicates that this is not so likely as was previously thought.
Most importantly, the reason people catch Athlete's Foot in those places is not because people there are barefoot, but because the fungus needs a warm and wet environment. People get exposed to the fungus in the damp conditions. If they fail to dry their feet, the fungus is very comfortable and even more so if the victim puts on sweaty socks.
The fungus will not survive long on the clean, dry floor or carpet of a person's home and so you are very unlikely to catch Athlete's Foot in somebody's house, even if the owner has the condition.
What is more, people who are not wearing socks are likely to put on sandals when they leave, as opposed to closed shoes. Thus, they will not create the right environment for the condition to thrive.
Of course, if you are worried about it, you can always bring some slippers or socks when you visit a shoes-off home.
People who have a shoes-off policy ought to let their visitors know in advance and be willing to lend a pair of clean socks, if not slippers.
An unpleasent fungal infection.
A lot of people mention Athlete's Foot as an argument against people having a shoes-off policy. However, this is a quite unnecessary concern.
Athlete's Foot is generally associated with swimming pools and changing rooms. It is possible to catch Athlete's Foot on one's barefeet at a swimming pool or in a locker room. However, recent research indicates that this is not so likely as was previously thought.
Most importantly, the reason people catch Athlete's Foot in those places is not because people there are barefoot, but because the fungus needs a warm and wet environment. People get exposed to the fungus in the damp conditions. If they fail to dry their feet, the fungus is very comfortable and even more so if the victim puts on sweaty socks.
The fungus will not survive long on the clean, dry floor or carpet of a person's home and so you are very unlikely to catch Athlete's Foot in somebody's house, even if the owner has the condition.
What is more, people who are not wearing socks are likely to put on sandals when they leave, as opposed to closed shoes. Thus, they will not create the right environment for the condition to thrive.
Of course, if you are worried about it, you can always bring some slippers or socks when you visit a shoes-off home.
People who have a shoes-off policy ought to let their visitors know in advance and be willing to lend a pair of clean socks, if not slippers.
Weak Sauce.
So I was at Neiman Marcus the other day when I saw these shoes. If you saw the runway pictures (right) you'll recognize these as a dumbed down version of their runway gladiator sandal.
Ok, I get it. Designers do this all the time, usually because the runway version is too extreme. I think they did a pretty good job of interpreting the sandal for the masses... BUT... this shoe is over $2,000!!! WTF? How lame is that? Sure there are a lot of details, but two grand? Weak sauce.
If I'm paying two grand on a shoe, it better make me breakfast or something. Pshhh.
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