Hello!
Anyone besides me feeling the fast descent into fall? I remind myself to enjoy every moment of the sun and warmth during this busy time. I have a request. When I was recently in New York at the Dance Teacher Summer Conference (great workshops:) there were a few teachers who said they found good online sources for pinkie balls. If you have a source, or a website where you have found the pinkie balls - will you email me? I will post them in an upcoming newsletter. Sometimes they are hard to find - and since I'm one of the lucky ones whose local store carries them - I need your help to find out where you are purchasing them!

Onto the question of the week......

My name is Yekta, 22, and I'm a sociology student at the university of Toronto in Canada. I'm really interested in dance and I did Persian dance and ballet when I was in Elementary school. I restarted my ballet at the university from May. I have very good dance instructor because she really understood my hyper mobility particularly my hyper extended knees and she really does not push me to do lots of work. She gave me some kinds of exercises to strengthen my muscles, because, I have lots of problems in maintaining my balance in passe, arabesque and this kind of things although I'm very good at pointing my feet. I want to get your hints for making my feet muscles strong in order to maintain my balance well and less painfully. What shall I do right now? Regards, Yekta

You bring up a good point that sometimes dancers with extreme flexibility have to work harder in order to stabilize their movement. My suggestion to you would be to begin doing a lot of balance exercises. You will see definite improvement in both your balance and alignment.

The first exercise is a simple one – whenever standing in one place for a minute or so, lift up one foot and balance. Standing at the bathroom sink brushing your teeth, and waiting in line at the bank are examples of when you can get a quick practice session in. Make sure that when you are standing on one leg you are NOT hyperextending. I realize that it will feel as if you are standing with a slightly bent leg, but you want to make sure your hip, knee and ankle are in alignment. Standing and balancing will also strengthen some of the weaker muscles around the knee and ankle.

Then take your shoes off and try standing on your bed or a sofa cushion placed on the floor and toss a small ball between your hands for up to 3 minutes. If you don't have a ball available do port de bras, including head movement. Standing on one leg and turning your head right and left will be hugely challenging for many people.

If you want to focus on improving strength as well as balance, practice doing small demi plies on one leg! These are baby demi plies – smaller than your normal demi plié. You should not feel any strain at your knees while doing them. If you do feel strain it means you are not in alignment. Always monitor your feet to make sure the weight is even between the pads of the big toe, little toe and heel.

Good luck!

Deborah

"Education is the key to injury prevention"