As many of you probably know, at the end of this year I will have been dancing for ten years. And as I'm sure many of you know too, I have only been en pointe for nearly three years.
I had to do seven years of ballet before I could go anywhere near a pointe shoe.
Why? Well, your feet need the strength before you can put all your weight on them. Plus, you rely a lot on them for your balance.
To make your feet strong for pointe, there are some exercises you can do to help strengthen your feet. I know you would have all heard me say this before, but you have to do lots of releves.
A lot of the work you do at the bar, especially the demi pointe work, is set to help prepare you for your pointe.
It's there to strengthen your feet and ankles so that by the time you reach a grade where you need to dance with pointe shoes, you will be well prepared.
Some other thing you can do to help strengthen your feet for pointe is to do ankle circles every day. Twenty-five on both feet in each direction.
Rolling your arch with a tennis ball also helps. Do it 35 times on each foot. Once with your foot parallel and then with your foot turned out.
If you are wanting to get stronger feet, I hope this post has helped you. If you have any questions or perhaps any other ideas on how to strengthen your feet for pointe, be sure to leave a comment.
Thanks everyone.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
New Logo
I am excited to say that 'My Pointe Of View,' has now got a logo! It's it completely pretty? I am in love with it and decided to have the unveiling of the logo today. What do you think of it?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Exam!
Dear faithful followers,
I am SOO sorry I didn't get around to posting sooner. I know I said that I would post on the 18Th. And now it's already the 20Th. *Sorry*
OK, so let me tell you all about Monday and the exam. I'll start from the very beginning, hey?
Well, I got up in the morning feeling surprisingly ..... calm. I had a shower and washed by hair. I didn't blow dry it because that makes it too hard to work with. I let is sort of just dry its self whilst I was having breakfast.
After breakfast I put it into a perfect bun. I was proud of how I did it, actually. For all my other exams my Mom has done my hair for me. This was the first one where I did it myself.
We left our house at about 9:00. Dad took me to Melbourne for the exam. We stopped in Geelong for morning tea. When we got to Melbourne it wasn't nearly time to go into the Opera Center (where the exam was held) yet.
Dad and I just walked around Melbourne for a while. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I love Melbourne - it's such a pretty city. I have only been there one other time in my life.
Eventually it was time to go to the Opera Center. Dad and I had made sure we knew exactly where it was the minute we arrived in Melbourne. We didn't want to be looking for it at the last minute.
Actually, the Australian Ballet Centre is in the same block as the Opera Centre. We ended up going in there thinking that's where the exam might be. ha ha.
The lady there said she didn't think any exams were being held there but we could go up to the 5Th floor and ask.
Dad was like 'well, it was supposed to be at the Opera Centre, so I think we'll keep looking.' So we did.
Anyways. So when we got the the Opera Centre a lady came and took me and three other girls up to the warm up room. I must say, it certainly wasn't as flash as last year. It was still nice, but not as fancy.
We got changed, warmed up and then before we knew it the examiner was ringing her bell for us to enter. It was really weird because I was SOOOO calm!
The exams was ...... well ..... not so good.
In fact, it was pretty awful.
I'll explain.
To start off with the floor was completely .... yeah - wrong. It was this rubbery stuff that hurt your feet so much just to stand on it and it was SOOO hard to dance on.
I would have much prefered to be dancing on thick carpet.
So that was incredibly disappointing. I felt that I couldn't do my best and could feel myself failing by the minute. Stupid Floor.
In the middle of the exam I actually felt like crying. My feet and legs and whole body didn't want to do what I told them to do. And I know this is going to sound lame but I blame it all on the floor.
You really need to be able to trust the floor when you are dancing. And .... if the floor's rubber it's pretty impossible to do a pirouette on it - let alone a double or a double-and-a-half.
Sucked really.
Plus, to go with that, when I got up that morning I had a really sore throat. It got worse during the day. By the time I got home that night I was coughing pretty bad. I went to school on Tuesday, but by Tuesday night I knew there was no way I was going the following day.
So I didn't go to school yesterday or today. Actually - I'm supposed to be at school right now .... in Major Project. he he he. Got out of that one OK I guess.
But I still feel pretty awful. I think it's the flu. I've spent the last 48 hours on the computer, piano, reading and bed.
Sigh.
On the way back from Melbourne Dad and I stopped at McDonald's for dinner. I had ....... a double quarter pounds, medium chips, medium coke and a soft serve ice-cream.
YUM!
That certainly was the best part of the day.
It is good to have the exam out of the way - but I am really really really terribly disappointed at how it went. I hope I passed. I mean - surely she can't fail me. I mean, she can, but you know - there would have to have been SOME good things I did in it.
I think it will be about 1 - 2 months until I get the results back. eeeeekkk. Well, I did the best given my situation and that's all I can do, hey.
I am really sorry I didn't post earlier. Thanks for reading everyone!!
I am SOO sorry I didn't get around to posting sooner. I know I said that I would post on the 18Th. And now it's already the 20Th. *Sorry*
OK, so let me tell you all about Monday and the exam. I'll start from the very beginning, hey?
Well, I got up in the morning feeling surprisingly ..... calm. I had a shower and washed by hair. I didn't blow dry it because that makes it too hard to work with. I let is sort of just dry its self whilst I was having breakfast.
After breakfast I put it into a perfect bun. I was proud of how I did it, actually. For all my other exams my Mom has done my hair for me. This was the first one where I did it myself.
We left our house at about 9:00. Dad took me to Melbourne for the exam. We stopped in Geelong for morning tea. When we got to Melbourne it wasn't nearly time to go into the Opera Center (where the exam was held) yet.
Dad and I just walked around Melbourne for a while. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I love Melbourne - it's such a pretty city. I have only been there one other time in my life.
Eventually it was time to go to the Opera Center. Dad and I had made sure we knew exactly where it was the minute we arrived in Melbourne. We didn't want to be looking for it at the last minute.
Actually, the Australian Ballet Centre is in the same block as the Opera Centre. We ended up going in there thinking that's where the exam might be. ha ha.
The lady there said she didn't think any exams were being held there but we could go up to the 5Th floor and ask.
Dad was like 'well, it was supposed to be at the Opera Centre, so I think we'll keep looking.' So we did.
Anyways. So when we got the the Opera Centre a lady came and took me and three other girls up to the warm up room. I must say, it certainly wasn't as flash as last year. It was still nice, but not as fancy.
We got changed, warmed up and then before we knew it the examiner was ringing her bell for us to enter. It was really weird because I was SOOOO calm!
The exams was ...... well ..... not so good.
In fact, it was pretty awful.
I'll explain.
To start off with the floor was completely .... yeah - wrong. It was this rubbery stuff that hurt your feet so much just to stand on it and it was SOOO hard to dance on.
I would have much prefered to be dancing on thick carpet.
So that was incredibly disappointing. I felt that I couldn't do my best and could feel myself failing by the minute. Stupid Floor.
In the middle of the exam I actually felt like crying. My feet and legs and whole body didn't want to do what I told them to do. And I know this is going to sound lame but I blame it all on the floor.
You really need to be able to trust the floor when you are dancing. And .... if the floor's rubber it's pretty impossible to do a pirouette on it - let alone a double or a double-and-a-half.
Sucked really.
Plus, to go with that, when I got up that morning I had a really sore throat. It got worse during the day. By the time I got home that night I was coughing pretty bad. I went to school on Tuesday, but by Tuesday night I knew there was no way I was going the following day.
So I didn't go to school yesterday or today. Actually - I'm supposed to be at school right now .... in Major Project. he he he. Got out of that one OK I guess.
But I still feel pretty awful. I think it's the flu. I've spent the last 48 hours on the computer, piano, reading and bed.
Sigh.
On the way back from Melbourne Dad and I stopped at McDonald's for dinner. I had ....... a double quarter pounds, medium chips, medium coke and a soft serve ice-cream.
YUM!
That certainly was the best part of the day.
It is good to have the exam out of the way - but I am really really really terribly disappointed at how it went. I hope I passed. I mean - surely she can't fail me. I mean, she can, but you know - there would have to have been SOME good things I did in it.
I think it will be about 1 - 2 months until I get the results back. eeeeekkk. Well, I did the best given my situation and that's all I can do, hey.
I am really sorry I didn't post earlier. Thanks for reading everyone!!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Tomorrow = Intermediate Exam!
Tomorrow is the big day!
I am ...... SO ..... nervous. And also excited in a way, I guess. I mean, I get to go to Melbourne and dance in front of some well known ballerina. Plus, the location of the exam is pretty famous too.
AND I'll have a massive awesome hall to dance in, and get the chance to meet other ballerinas that will be doing the exam with me.
I am fairly confident with all my exercises, dance and pointe. It doesn't mean that I'm not completely nervous to the point of feeling sick.
Later today I am going to pack all my stuff and tripple check that I've got everything.
It's going to be so good to get into bed tomorrow night and know that it's over with for a nother year.
Actually, after publishing this post I am going to go back and read what I wrote on this blog the day before my exam last year.
As completely nervous as I am, I think that I'm just a bit calmer that the day before last year's exam. Although it's still over 24 hours away so that could all change.
I couldn't sleep last night - I just kept thinking of the exam, exam, exam, exam, exam. eeugh. I just want to get it over with right now.
I mean, I love dancing, and I like doing exams. It makes you work on exercises and have them perfect by a certain date. Plus, as I said earlier, there ARE advantages to doing the exam such as getting to dance to live piano music.
Anyways, I'll post on the 18th (the day after the exam). I won't be able to post tomorrow because we'll be getting back pretty late.
Bye Bye To All ....
I am ...... SO ..... nervous. And also excited in a way, I guess. I mean, I get to go to Melbourne and dance in front of some well known ballerina. Plus, the location of the exam is pretty famous too.
AND I'll have a massive awesome hall to dance in, and get the chance to meet other ballerinas that will be doing the exam with me.
I am fairly confident with all my exercises, dance and pointe. It doesn't mean that I'm not completely nervous to the point of feeling sick.
Later today I am going to pack all my stuff and tripple check that I've got everything.
It's going to be so good to get into bed tomorrow night and know that it's over with for a nother year.
Actually, after publishing this post I am going to go back and read what I wrote on this blog the day before my exam last year.
As completely nervous as I am, I think that I'm just a bit calmer that the day before last year's exam. Although it's still over 24 hours away so that could all change.
I couldn't sleep last night - I just kept thinking of the exam, exam, exam, exam, exam. eeugh. I just want to get it over with right now.
I mean, I love dancing, and I like doing exams. It makes you work on exercises and have them perfect by a certain date. Plus, as I said earlier, there ARE advantages to doing the exam such as getting to dance to live piano music.
Anyways, I'll post on the 18th (the day after the exam). I won't be able to post tomorrow because we'll be getting back pretty late.
Bye Bye To All ....
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
News Flash
Well ......
I went to ballet today for an hour, and I've got an hours class tomorrow, and the next day, and on Monday, and on Friday!
ha ha
By the time my exam comes around I'll be very ready for it, I'm sure! It's only 11 days to go!!
The other teacher I went to see last Friday told me that I was not drawing my supporting leg in when I was doing pirouettes.
I practiced around the house, and at ballet today I noticed that it had actually made a HUGE! difference. Now I can do a double pirouette almost perfectly. I just need a little more practice .....
Bye for now!
I went to ballet today for an hour, and I've got an hours class tomorrow, and the next day, and on Monday, and on Friday!
ha ha
By the time my exam comes around I'll be very ready for it, I'm sure! It's only 11 days to go!!
The other teacher I went to see last Friday told me that I was not drawing my supporting leg in when I was doing pirouettes.
I practiced around the house, and at ballet today I noticed that it had actually made a HUGE! difference. Now I can do a double pirouette almost perfectly. I just need a little more practice .....
Bye for now!
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