I need help getting all the way on pointe?

Question:i am a 13 year old pointe dancer. I have been taking ballet since i was three and this is my second year of pointe. I can dance in my pointe shoes off the barre relativley well, but my teacher says that i'm not getting all the way up into them, and i can see that. but how can i really get up? she told me to push my heels and ankles against my toes, but how do i do this? please help! i'm desperate!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i am a 13 year old pointe dancer. I have been taking ballet since i was three and this is my second year of pointe. I can dance in my pointe shoes off the barre relativley well, but my teacher says that i'm not getting all the way up into them, and i can see that. but how can i really get up? she told me to push my heels and ankles against my toes, but how do i do this? please help! i'm desperate!

This is a hard topic to help with if I can't see your feet, but I'll try.

First off, it's important that your shoes be correctly broken in. I have high arches, so this often my problem. My solution is seperating the shank from the outer sole of the shoe so it is easier to bend (I have hard shoes that don't like to form to my foot otherwise.) For me, I have troubles getting up and onto my box (not over, but squarely onto it so that my weight is distributed all over the platform, not too far to the front or back or to one side) if my shoes are not ideally broken in: to a point where in a tendu the shoe is close to touching my arch, but not pressed up fully against it.

When you go up onto pointe, thing of the top of your arches going out in opposite directions. Since you're turned out, that's how your feet should be facing. Pull up through your stomach and out of the shoe. It took me a while to understand that idea, but imagine that you are actively pointing your foot, and not just letting the shoe take its weight and shape it. Visualize pointing your foot so much that your arches bend further and push your weight fully onto the platform. I really hope that makes sense.

An excersize that helped some people that I know (including myself. It can also help form your shoes to your feet without making them to flexible): releve (at the barre) in first, then, staying on pointe, plie and let your arches go out. This will push you off of your platform, but that's okay for now. Straighten your knees, still on pointe, and try to keep your feet in the same position they were in when your knees were bent. They won't be, but the image often helps. For more of a stretch, try this excersize in second position also

Hope this helps! =D

eh?

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You want to be balanced on the tips of your toes - NOT going over too far. Your ankle should be lined up right above your toes. Get your teacher to move your foot into the correct position so you know what it feels like, and then practice until you master it.

Just roll right on top of ur toes, you will feel like ur falling but just BALANCE! good luck!

Do you try other brand of pointe, sometimes the box of the pointe is not the right one for you?

Maybe if you work the sole of your pointe shoe to make it softer or getting a shoe with a lower vamp will help.

It is one of two things.
1) You lack the ankle flexibility to get your heel froward over your toes. Work on forced arch plies and have someone stand on your feet slightly below the center, toward the toes, until you get more flexibility.
2) Your feet and calves are weak. Practice slow, one foot eleves and really push over the toe. Use the barre for support.
I suspect your problem is a little of both. Good Luck!

What kind of shoes do you use? That may be part of the problem if you have a shank that's too stiff and hard for your arch. Also you may have too long of a box.

Flexibility is probably also part of the problem. If you're not on your box you should work on strenthening your ankles and making them more flexible.

i think you probably need to make your feet more flexible. to do this, you can pointe your feet and have somebody sit on them. this is what i did and now when i point my feet and im sitting on the ground my toes touch the ground. dont have the person sitting on them put to much pressure on them, just enough that it hurts. trust me, it helps!! :)

i had the exact same problem. my dance teacher told me i needed to stand on my box and and completely get on pointe. it means u roll ur ankles forward and feel like ur going to fall. you'll get used to it. :)

you want to be right on top of your box. it might be that you need a difrint brand of shoe. you should get them fitted by a profesional. allso you might be leaning back of keeping your knees bent. try to straightn up and you might find it eiaser

This is what i find helpful. First find something you can use as a barre if you don't have one at your house. Go up into demi pointe. Then go up into pointe but keep your knees bent. You should be all the way up. I find when I start to straighten my knees thats when im not all the way up. So slowly start to straighten your knees it you see yourself comming off of pointe fix it. Do this about a million times everyday. I don't know if it will help you but its what my teacher taught me and I find it helpful.