First Pointe Class
First Pointe Observation: Pointe is hard!
I did it! My first pointe class is over and done with. My toes are sore, my arches are sore, my legs are sore, my entire body is sore.
After technique class, we all put on our pointe shoes. At this point(e) I'm slightly terrified. What if I suck? What if I break my ankles? It really doesn't help that my upstairs neighbor just fell down and severely broke her ankle and sprained the other. She's pretty messed up right now, and its on the front of my brain when I'm doing ballet these days. I'm being cautious in my flat class too, I find myself failing to push into full releve when I'm doing pirouettes and other turns. I'm getting over that setback, but it's still a little scary to see how seriously out of commission you can be when you hurt your ankles.
Sorry, back to the class. There were only 5 of us in pointe class tonight. It's a little daunting to know that everyone else has been working for several weeks, and I haven't. We started at the barre obviously, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had no problem doing any of the exercises, but for some reason despite having very flexible feet and ankles, I could not get over my box fully. My teacher thought it was really strange, she said the shoes were a little odd on my feet. They looked great on flat and did not hurt a all on pointe, but something is a little strange.
(sorry, I know the ribbons are awful and my drawstrings aren't tucked in!!)
You can kind of see what I mean in the picture above. The shank looks really strange, it almost bulges out after the bend instead of arching with my foot. My left foot isn't over the box, and it looks like I'm standing on an angle and my foot is almost "S" shaped. My feet are completely straight in the shoe. The shank almost looks broken! I do have strong feet and ankles, but this is weird.
Anyways, I did all exercises with ease, despite not being fully on the box. The class moved to the center, and I tried some of the exercises. I was a bit unstable because of the shoe issue though. The teacher said I could stay for the full class, and I did.
I just have to say here, that it's not really normal for someone to just pick up ballet at the same level they were at 8 years ago, or maybe even 5 years ago. Part of it is the school I'm at. It's not an extremely strict ballet school that turns out professional dancers. It's a small city dance studio that offers a wide variety of classes rather than strictly ballet. I'm taking intermediate/advanced technique class. It's the highest level ballet class in the school, and it really is an intermediate level class. It could be split into the more advanced dancers in the class, and the rest below them. There are some extremes in both direction in the class, but I'm definitely at the upper level in my technique class, and mid level of the pointe class already. I would not compare our school to a strict school, it wouldn't compare. There are some really good dancers in my class though!! I think it's important for dancers to have more advanced students to watch and learn from in the classes, lets face it, many teachers don't do every exercise with the class. I'm not dancing at the same school I was when I was younger, so what's considered advanced at this school would be intermediate at my last school.
Second Pointe Observation: I think I have the wrong padding!
I have these pointe pads. The store sold them to me, and I definitely should have tried on other options.
These are wool pillow pockets. I found that they compress down easily and don't offer much cushion for me personally. I got blisters and started bleeding in them pretty badly, but that was very likely more of a result of my strange shoes. I'm going in to the shop again to try on a few other kinds of pads. I think I'll most likely need to start taping my toes in some spots, so I'll experiment with different kinds of tape. Maybe I'll add a products review section!
Well, I loved my class, I love pointe-- it's fulfilling a dream I've had my entire life!! I don't love my shoes, and I suspect they are NOT the perfect shoe for me, but I'll keep trying them for a couple of more classes before I look into other ones. I will do research on other shoes and foot types though.
Happy Dancing!
I did it! My first pointe class is over and done with. My toes are sore, my arches are sore, my legs are sore, my entire body is sore.
After technique class, we all put on our pointe shoes. At this point(e) I'm slightly terrified. What if I suck? What if I break my ankles? It really doesn't help that my upstairs neighbor just fell down and severely broke her ankle and sprained the other. She's pretty messed up right now, and its on the front of my brain when I'm doing ballet these days. I'm being cautious in my flat class too, I find myself failing to push into full releve when I'm doing pirouettes and other turns. I'm getting over that setback, but it's still a little scary to see how seriously out of commission you can be when you hurt your ankles.
Sorry, back to the class. There were only 5 of us in pointe class tonight. It's a little daunting to know that everyone else has been working for several weeks, and I haven't. We started at the barre obviously, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had no problem doing any of the exercises, but for some reason despite having very flexible feet and ankles, I could not get over my box fully. My teacher thought it was really strange, she said the shoes were a little odd on my feet. They looked great on flat and did not hurt a all on pointe, but something is a little strange.
You can kind of see what I mean in the picture above. The shank looks really strange, it almost bulges out after the bend instead of arching with my foot. My left foot isn't over the box, and it looks like I'm standing on an angle and my foot is almost "S" shaped. My feet are completely straight in the shoe. The shank almost looks broken! I do have strong feet and ankles, but this is weird.
Anyways, I did all exercises with ease, despite not being fully on the box. The class moved to the center, and I tried some of the exercises. I was a bit unstable because of the shoe issue though. The teacher said I could stay for the full class, and I did.
I just have to say here, that it's not really normal for someone to just pick up ballet at the same level they were at 8 years ago, or maybe even 5 years ago. Part of it is the school I'm at. It's not an extremely strict ballet school that turns out professional dancers. It's a small city dance studio that offers a wide variety of classes rather than strictly ballet. I'm taking intermediate/advanced technique class. It's the highest level ballet class in the school, and it really is an intermediate level class. It could be split into the more advanced dancers in the class, and the rest below them. There are some extremes in both direction in the class, but I'm definitely at the upper level in my technique class, and mid level of the pointe class already. I would not compare our school to a strict school, it wouldn't compare. There are some really good dancers in my class though!! I think it's important for dancers to have more advanced students to watch and learn from in the classes, lets face it, many teachers don't do every exercise with the class. I'm not dancing at the same school I was when I was younger, so what's considered advanced at this school would be intermediate at my last school.
Second Pointe Observation: I think I have the wrong padding!
I have these pointe pads. The store sold them to me, and I definitely should have tried on other options.
Well, I loved my class, I love pointe-- it's fulfilling a dream I've had my entire life!! I don't love my shoes, and I suspect they are NOT the perfect shoe for me, but I'll keep trying them for a couple of more classes before I look into other ones. I will do research on other shoes and foot types though.
Happy Dancing!
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