Ballet, En Pointe?

Question:

Ballet, En Pointe?

I have that En Pointe damages your feet, is this true? If so, what kind of damage does it cause?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Dancing en pointe sure does cause damage. At least if you do it for your living and for a couple of decades. I used to have a teacher - a former prima ballerina - who sometimes could hardly walk from the damage made by dancing en pointe. And that was not because she did something wrong! It was because of the form of her foot. She had a very beautiful, high arch, and long big toes. Her big toes were gradually turned so much towards the other toes that the joint was inflamed and grew huge. (The same result you can possibly get from always wearing high heeled shoes.) After that happens to your toes there is no wearing pretty shoes again, ever. You might also consider sandals and flipflops twice because of the grim looks of your toes. But the worst would of course be the pain that keeps you from moving freely. The toe can be operated but the result is not secure. If you really love dancing en pointe, you can always hope you will be one of the luckier ones.

You have to consider how people are put together, and how we stand and move around. We usually walk, with our feet rolling against ground from heel to toes. We do not put our whole weight onto the tips of our toes normally. The bones in feet and toes are very small and delicate. They are not meant to carry our whole weight vertically! If you are into physics you will understand how much "heavier" your weight is on a tiny spot (tips of toes) than spread on a larger surface (the sole of your foot).

I have seen a few dancer's toes in my life, since not only have I trained ballet extencively, but my mom used to be a ballet dancer. Her toes are all almost the same length, and they still looked almost ok at the end of her career. I don't dance en pointe anymore myself, since I concentrated on an other genre. But I still remember how much fun it was!

If ballet is a hobby, a few years pointe work should not ruin your feet if under professional supervision. If you have chosen ballet as career, I would pamper my feet as much as I can...

I wish you painless dancing!