Pronation
Dancing Smart Newsletter
April 22, 2005
Right to the question for this week!
My daughter's dance teacher says she over pronates in firstposition and is recommending orthotics. Are there any exercises to improve this?
Mari
Kudos to your daughter's teacher for recognizing herpronation and for bringing it to your attention. It is very common for young dancers to over turn out theirfeet in first position. The firstsuggestion is a common sense one - don't turn out so far. She can try to increase her turnoutafter working for a time with her weight correctly placed. What is correct placement? Standing infirst position one should always have equal weight between the pads of the bigtoe, little toe, and heel. Theymust be even with their weight on their foot, otherwise they create a twistingaction at the knees and at the ankles, which leaves them vulnerable toinjuries.
There are wonderful exercises and explanations in IreneDowd's book, Taking Root To Fly in the chapter entitled, "In Honor of theFoot". (For anyone who isinterested, I sell her book from my website, www.dancingsmart.com).
What I would suggest as a beginning exercise is having thedancers practicing pointing without their ballet shoes on. First they are going to extend theankle, and as they slowly point the toes they are going to try and keep thetoes separated from each other and stretching long (not curling under) as theygo into their pointe. The foot isa triangle shape, and as they pointe they do not want to wing the foot, whichwould put the big toe in line with the heel. They can wing if they like once the foot is non-weightbearing, but not during the tendu. Placing the foot in theraband while they practice pointing and flexingadds some resistance to strengthening those foot muscles. It can be a very usefulexperience to take barre in socks instead of ballet shoes every now and then,as it is easier to feel the weight on the feet, and check whether or not thetoes are gripping the floor as you are standing. When you are standing in your first position or even doing ademi pli³, the role of the toes is to help balance your movement - not to lift your arch - not to act as the glue that keepsyour feet in the overly turned out position. While you are standing and working at the barre, the toesshould be resting easily on the floor in their fully extended position. (Meaning that your soft slippersshouldn't be so tight that they crunch up your toes just standing in them) Theoccasional use of socks instead of soft slippers will allow them to feel thearticulation the foot needs to go through as they go through the tendu. A tendu done correctly is a wonderfulfoot exercise and strengthener to the intrinsic muscles.
I encourage my dancers to roll their foot on a ball torelease tension from the arch area before they work on doming or pointing theirfeet. That seems to help wake upthe area before they begin class. This is important whether you are a ballet or a modern dancer, or anyother dance form. Our feet aregenerally our primary connection to the ground and we need to make sure thecommunication channels are open!
A quick note about flip flops and sandals as we go intospring. Dancers who already have atendency to grip their toes as they go into relev³ would be better served bywearing sandals that had a strap that goes around the back of the heel, oracross the front of the ankle. Basically, they don't want to have to grip their toes to hold the flipflop on. I'm not totally againstflip flops – they're great around the pool and for going to thebeach. They aren't wonderful as aprimary walking shoe. If yourdancers have any type of foot or ankle problem, please encourage them to wearsandals that won't complicate their problems.
Happy feet, everyone!
Deborah