Improve Ballet Technique - Relieve Muscle Pain

Even with good ballet technique, incorrect usage of the feet includes various compensations for classical technique weakness in other areas of the body.

Meaning, other muscles or groups of muscles will over work to make up for a weakness.

As a young dancer, or an adult ballet beginner, you can learn how to relieve muscle pain in the feet. Get The Perfect Pointe Book to understand correct ballet technique.

This applies to contemporary dance classes as well, so if you dance in bare feet without the support of shoes, foot care is of the utmost importance, and will take you through many years of enjoying dance.

How to place the body weight on the feet is often referred to as the 'tripod foot', dispersing the weight on three areas. The ball of the foot, the little toe side of the foot, and the heel. Feeling wise, it is as though there is a little more weight on the ball of the foot area, than the other two areas.

If you stand with your weight held too far back, you usually can see and feel tension in the tendon at the front of the ankle. Placing the body with weight back in the feet also brings the lower leg muscles into play, and will create tension there in the tibia, or shin muscles.

The correct way is more comfortable. It also keeps the weight placed so that you are poised to leave a closed ballet position
and move with ease.

And it is not all about the feet - correct posture and pelvic placement allows you to stand on the feet with no unnecessary tension, ready to dance.

Being aware of this "triangle" on the sole of your foot helps you notice yourself when the knees, hips, waist and upper body are not strong enough, and are getting into misplaced positions.

Incorrect positions then cause awkwardness or require additional effort for ballet movements.

Correct ballet technique helps you prevent or relieve muscle pain. Get The Perfect Pointe Book which has many more dance tips about how to  IMPROVE BALLET TECHNIQUE.

The Grishko "Elite" Pointe Shoe

This toe shoe is described by the makers as:

"This Grishko® model features a broad, flat box which provides an optimal platform. The "Elite" is not pre-arched. It is extra quiet, light, and features Grishko®'s super shank. Available in Medium or Hard shanks; please specifiy when ordering. Now with drawstring."

Personally I wouldn't want a pre-arched shoe, unless it was shaped perfectly for my foot. However, if your foot matched this shoe, maybe that could work. Breaking in your pointe shoes to your own specifications is something you can learn, to ensure that all your pointe shoes support you as comfortably as possible.

Enjoy your dancing!

Foot Muscles For Pointe Shoes - Take a Look!

Here are some illustrations of foot muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Here are some more good pictures of the muscles needed for toe shoes.

I hope this helps with your dancing in pointe shoes!

You can get these great muscles working very well with The Perfect Pointe Book guide! Try it! 

Freed Studio Pointe Shoes

Freed pointe shoes are hand made. Ballerinas can order them custom made, choosing a personal cobbler at Freed's. Especially personalized is the shape of the box, which is hammered into shape carefully for each dancer's requirements.

George Blanchine considered Freeds to be lighter and more flexible than other brands. Yet, Freeds are very strong pointe shoes, available in five widths and twenty sizes.

Freeds pointe shoes provide styles for wider feet, called the Studios II. Both the Studios I (has a more tapered box) and II have longer vamps and very stiff wings (the support coming up the sides).

Frederick Freed opened Freeds of London in 1929. He had previously worked for the Italian dance shoe maker, Gamba.