Training your feet to work in pointe shoes often starts long before you even go up in them.
There are many hours of preparation that go into strengthening your feet so that you can make the transition from demi pointe to pointe more easily.
When a five year old starts her ballet training, one of the first things that she will learn is good toes naughty toes where she will start working her feet by pointing and flexing them.
The exercises gradually get more complex so that by the time she is around twelve or thirteen the feet have strengthened sufficiently to allow her to gradually start pointe work.
In the first year of pointe training, the girls only wear their pointe shoes for short amounts of time, perhaps at the end of a regular class when the feet are warm.
It is often not until the second year or later that dancers can wear their pointe shoes for an entire class.
In the beginning of pointe shoe training, the focus is on attaining the full pointe position correctly and then of course building the strength to stay up there.
Here are where all the fundamental ballet dancing lessons come in of pulling up and engaging your abdominals to enable you to support your weight on pointe.
It is hard work, but with enough practice you can make it look easy and natural.
When first starting out with pointe shoe work, the barre is used continuously with both hands on, as it helps you align yourself while you get acquainted with your pointe shoes.
In the beginning your will normally include slow rises, ankle circles, and gentle stretches for the feet.
There will also be lots of plies, releves and simple exercises in the centre to train the feet to work against the resistance of the stiffer shoe.
You will also have to practise your regular exercises such as tendus, rond de jambe and fondu to get used to dancing in the pointe shoe.
Once your feet are stronger you will practise relieves on one leg, first at the barre and then in the centre.
As you progress you will start only holding the barre with one hand and doing more in the centre.
Allegro in pointe shoes will prove quite a challenge in the beginning, as accomplished dancers are smooth, light and quiet in their landings.
In pointe shoes the feet will have to work harder to push off the floor and even harder to land with graceful control.
Ultimately you work to do everything on pointe that you normally do on demi pointe.
In this way the study of pointe work will greatly improve your existing technique.
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