Small foot, short toes
Dancing Smart Newsletter
April 15, 2005
This week's question is from Gabriella, in Melbourne,Australia. I love it that thisnewsletter is going international!
Question: I attend the Victorian College of the ArtsSecondary School and I am in desperate need of help. I need to improve mypointed feet. I have a small foot and short toes. How can you help me? Pleaseanswer I need these feet or else there will be no year 8 at my school. Theteachers have warned me about it and I am really worried.
Dear Gabriella, while there is nothing that can be done foryour small foot or short toes, hopefully I can give you a few tips to improveyour pointe. The flexibility ofyour feet is dependent on your ankle structure and the muscle balance aroundthe foot and ankle.
Start by sitting on the ground with your legs in front ofyou, sideways to a mirror, so you can easily see the length of the leg. Pointe your feet and look at the lineacross the top of the ankle. Whereare the toes in relationship to the top of the ankle? If the top of your foot isn't flat across the ankle joint,you may have some tightness in those anterior ankle muscles.
The muscle I want you to focus on is the anterior tibialismuscle. It's the big muscle on the front, outside of the shin bone that definesitself so nicely when you are flexing your foot. It's action is to contractthe foot, so it stands to reason that if you are trying to pointe your foot,that muscle needs to lengthen. My favorite way to release thatmuscle's tightness is through ball work. I'll take my 2 inch pinkie ball,(a dense rubber ball you can find in toy stores, or pet stores) and kneel onthe ground, placing it between thefloor and the front of one calf. If you gently press on that anterior tibialismuscle,especially up closer to the knee, it may be sore. This muscle is ofteninvolved in shin splints, and ball workis great for that problem too! Check your pointe after rolling on the ball,do you have any more lengthto the front of the ankle?
After checking for tightness in the front of the calf, youwant to look at the angle of your toes while you are pointing. You want the toes to stay as long aspossible as you lengthen them down towards the floor. I would have you do exercises to strengthen the intrinsicmuscles of the feet, which are the layers of muscles that are mainly on thebottom of the foot. Start withyour foot resting gently on the floor as you sit. Can you separate the toes and keep the big toe and thelittle toes on the ground while picking up the three in the middle? How about keeping your toes long andimagining strings attached to the base of the toes and lifting the strings sothe foot draws itself into a dome shape. Some physical therapists have you put your feet on a towel and draw thetowel towards you. That is anotherway to dome your feet, but not my favorite, because I see so many people justcurl their toes under as they are pulling the towel, instead of keeping them long.
You will feel the effort in the arch of the foot. In fact, if you have weak intrinsicmuscles you may cramp as you are practicing these exercises. Congratulations! You have found the intrinsicmuscles! If you cramp, just reachdown and massage the foot until it releases. Slowly but surely, you will continue to develop the strengthin the arch muscles.
If you carry any tension in your feet you would want to rollyour foot on the ball before you begin doing any foot exercises. Ball work is a great way to decreasetension almost anywhere in the body!
It is possible, Gabriella, that your ankle structure doesn'tallow your foot to pointe as much as you would like. There may be more or less space in the ankle joint, whichwill influence your pointe. Thatbeing said, if you don't have the most gorgeous pointed foot in the world, Idon't want that to be the reason that you would stop dancing.
Many schools have a certain visual aesthetic they like. I'm glad that I have seen manydifferent dance forms performed by dancers of all sizes and shapes, it makes meaware that there are so many directions one might chose to explore. If you have a passion for dance, thenkeep dancing! It takes much morethan pretty feet to make a dancer.
I wish you the best,
Deborah