Are You Ready for Pointe?

It is very important that you are strong enough for pointe shoes before you begin dancing in them. It's possible to hurt or even permanently injure yourself, if you are not. Here are a few things teachers often look for to determine if you're ready for pointe:

1. When you grand plie in 5th position, your body should be properly aligned. You should be able to do a grand plie without wobbling or altering the position of your feet.


2. You should be able to releve in retire and hold a solid balance. The knee on your standing leg must be pulled up and both legs must be completely turned out.


3. When doing echappe en releve, the echappe should be solid and well placed in the releve position.


4. If your body is soft and floppy, not pulled up and well placed with your center strongly held, then you are not ready for pointe work.

In addition, the shape of your foot is considered. God designed each one of us differently. Some students have a great deal of trouble getting up in their pointe shoes while others make it look effortless. Quite often, the only difference is their feet.

To help determine if your feet will be able to push you up and over the platform of a pointe shoe:

1. Sit up as tall as you can and stretch your legs out in front of you about one foot apart making sure your knees stay straight.


2. With your feet parallel to the floor, pointe as hard as you can and then have someone measure from your ankle bone to the floor and then from your big toe joint to the floor.


3. If the measurement is greater from the big toe joint to the floor than the measurement from your ankle bone to the floor then you may have a difficult time pushing up to the platform of the pointe shoe. If the measurement is greater from your ankle bone to the floor than your big toe joint to the floor than you should be able to get up pretty easily in a shoe. If they are the same in measurement, getting up in a pointe shoe will most likely not be a big problem for you.