Strengthening

Many of us are experiencing problems standing on the whole platform as we go en pointe. We talked about this in the last class, and one of the most common problems was rolling out towards the little toe. This is known as "sickling", which can also be seen when extending the leg (ex: tendu/degagé). Otherwise known in my class as "banana foot" :) It is important to remember the line running down your leg from the hip joint, through the centre of the knee and the ankle, down to the second and third toes. And as we talked about, engaging the turnout muscles even when we are standing in parallel. Rolling towards the little toe (or big toe - known as "fishing") overstretches tendons and ligaments on the side of the ankle joint, weakening them and exposing them to acute injury should you come off pointe. Below is a short video showing an exercise I highly recommend, and as always I suggest working with a friend for optimum feedback.