Point Your Foot
No matter how basic your beginners dance class is, you are going to have to point your foot. There's simply no dancing without it. But, there's even a right and a wrong way to do this simple task. It's not hard, though. Just follow these simple steps... Firstly, sit on the floor with either one or both legs straight out in front of you. Now follow the process below and you will be able to point your foot beautifully in a matter of seconds. Relax your foot.
Tighten your leg muscles. See how your heel is off the floor?
Now, keeping your muscles taut, push the ball of your foot away from you - as if you are pushing very hard on the gas pedal. Your heel will come into contact with the floor again, but don't loosen those leg muscles. Try to feel them elongating - making your whole leg longer.
Now, still keeping those muscles nice and tight, slowly flick your toes away from you. There's your point.
This ugly thing is NOT a point. It's what you get if you don't keep your muscles tightened and elongated, but flick your toes away from you anyway. Not very pretty, is it? It looks like a claw, with the toes bent over but a relaxed foot. So always make sure that your whole foot is engaged in the point, not just your toes.
This is called a 'Sickle'. The term sickle means 'in the shape of the crescent moon'. What's happened here is that, instead of keeping the foot in a straight line with the leg, it has curled around and inwards. This is bunching the muscles in the foot too much. Remember to keep your leg and foot muscles elongated and you'll prevent this from happening.
Back to BALLET STEPS AND POSITIONS
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Mistake 1
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