The Perfect Pointe Book

The Perfect Pointe Book
Author: Lisa A Howell B Phty
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006-11-02
Genre: Ballet
ISBN: 9781452857404

This unique book gives you the extra help you need to get strong enough for pointe work. It includes lots of exercises, divided into four simple stages to work on; the flexibility of your feet and ankles, the strength of your little foot muscles, your turnout and your core control. It also guides you through tests for each stage so that you can work out where you problem areas are! This book is essential for any student preparing for, or already on pointe, and any teacher wanting to learn more about safely preparing students for the most beautiful of dance forms!Stage 1 - Fabulous FlexibilityThe first stage includes tests and exercises to make sure that your feet into the best possible position for pointe work. Some people will find this stage easy, others will find it much harder. No matter where you start, the easy exercises and stretches in this section will help you get a great looking pointe. Stage 2 - Marvelous MusclesHere you learn about all the different muscles in your feet, and why it is important to get the right ones strong! Mastering the fine control of your toes helps prevent blisters on the toes, as well as overuse problems in the shins. This stage will transform how you work with your feet forever. Stage 3 - Terrific TurnoutGetting onto pointe is not all about your feet. Find out how to find your true turnout muscles and make them stringer so that you don

The Pointe Book

The Pointe Book
Author: Janice Barringer
Publisher: Princeton Book Company Pub
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2012
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780871273574

Presents an overview of pointe technique and pointe shoes, with basics of pointe readiness, current research on best design for pointe shoes, materials, suppliers, and information on pointe-related injuries and remedies.

The Other Side of Perfect

The Other Side of Perfect
Author: Mariko Turk
Publisher: Poppy
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0316703427

For fans of Sarah Dessen and Mary H.K. Choi, this lyrical and emotionally driven novel follows Alina, a young aspiring dancer who suffers a devastating injury and must face a world without ballet—as well as the darker side of her former dream. Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but then a terrifying fall shatters her leg—and her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it. After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and binging ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the school musical. However, rehearsals offer more than she expected—namely Jude, her annoyingly attractive castmate she just might be falling for. But to move forward, Alina must make peace with her past and face the racism she experienced in the dance industry. She wonders what it means to yearn for ballet—something so beautiful, yet so broken. And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else? Touching, romantic, and peppered with humor, this debut novel explores the tenuousness of perfectionism, the possibilities of change, and the importance of raising your voice.

The Ballet Companion

The Ballet Companion
Author: Eliza Gaynor Minden
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2007-11-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1416595716

A New Classic for Today's Dancer The Ballet Companion is a fresh, comprehensive, and thoroughly up-to-date reference book for the dancer. With 150 stunning photographs of ballet stars Maria Riccetto and Benjamin Millepied demonstrating perfect execution of positions and steps, this elegant volume brims with everything today's dance student needs, including: Practical advice for getting started, such as selecting a school, making the most of class, and studio etiquette Explanations of ballet fundamentals and major training systems An illustrated guide through ballet class -- warm-up, barre, and center floor Guidelines for safe, healthy dancing through a sensible diet, injury prevention, and cross-training with yoga and Pilates Descriptions of must-see ballets and glossaries of dance, music, and theater terms Along the way you'll find technique secrets from stars of American Ballet Theatre, lavishly illustrated sidebars on ballet history, and tips on everything from styling a ballet bun to stage makeup to performing the perfect pirouette. Whether a budding ballerina, serious student, or adult returning to ballet, dancers will find a lively mix of ballet's time-honored traditions and essential new information.

How to Improve Your Pointe Range Safely

How to Improve Your Pointe Range Safely
Author: Lisa Howell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 61
Release: 2018-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9781730736728

Please note that purchase of this hard copy manual does not give you access to the online video course. This must be purchased separately on www.theballetblog.com. Many dancers struggle with achieving a nice line of their foot and ankle, and will often do anything to make it better. Unfortunately, many of the things that dancers do to try to improve their pointe range are potentially harmful. This includes things like stretching your feet under a piano, and using any kind of foot stretching device.In my opinion, pushing your body in the direction you want it to go is usually the slowest and most dangerous way of getting there, and this definitely applies when working with pointe range. Forcefully stretching feet usually stretches what is already mobile, rather than targeting the elements that are actually restricting your range, so will often not give you the result you are after.If you currently have any pain when pointing your feet, I definitely recommend an assessment with a qualified health professional before commencing the program. If you experience any pain with any of the exercises, please discontinue that exercise immediately, and seek help. Often pushing into pain will make it worse, so I DO NOT support the "No Pain, No Gain" theory. This does not work when working on pointe range!To really improve your pointe range and achieve your ultimate potential it is essential to understand exactly where pointe range comes from, and where you are restricted. Every foot is different, and so the techniques that will improve it are different. When I teach dancers the exercises in this program, I recommend that they just do one foot initially, and assess the foot by doing some double leg rises in between each technique. This allows you to work out which techniques really work for you, so that you can refine the process to your individual requirements. As you discover each element that makes your foot feel good, star it on your chart, so that you can work out the most efficient, yet most effective program for your feet.One of the most important elements on achieving your ultimate pointe range is your ability to use it, so please make sure to progressively work on your strength with the exercises at the end of the program. Most people have more range than they can use, so I always focus on strengthening someone's current range before worrying too much about increasing it. You may likely find that as your strength improves - so does your range!

Turning Pointe

Turning Pointe
Author: Chloe Angyal
Publisher: Bold Type Books
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1645036723

A reckoning with one of our most beloved art forms, whose past and present are shaped by gender, racial, and class inequities—and a look inside the fight for its future Every day, in dance studios all across America, legions of little children line up at the barre to take ballet class. This time in the studio shapes their lives, instilling lessons about gender, power, bodies, and their place in the world both in and outside of dance. In Turning Pointe, journalist Chloe Angyal captures the intense love for ballet that so many dancers feel, while also grappling with its devastating shortcomings: the power imbalance of an art form performed mostly by women, but dominated by men; the impossible standards of beauty and thinness; and the racism that keeps so many people of color out of ballet. As the rigid traditions of ballet grow increasingly out of step with the modern world, a new generation of dancers is confronting these issues head on, in the studio and on stage. For ballet to survive the twenty-first century and forge a path into a more socially just future, this reckoning is essential.

I Am Perfect

I Am Perfect
Author: Lydia Emma Niebuhr
Publisher: Teacup Press
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2021-04-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9781952567810

Celestial Bodies

Celestial Bodies
Author: Laura Jacobs
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2018-05-08
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0465098487

A distinguished dance critic offers an enchanting introduction to the art of ballet As much as we may enjoy Swan Lake or The Nutcracker, for many of us ballet is a foreign language. It communicates through movement, not words, and its history lies almost entirely abroad -- in Russia, Italy, and France. In Celestial Bodies, dance critic Laura Jacobs makes the foreign familiar, providing a lively, poetic, and uniquely accessible introduction to the world of classical dance. Combining history, interviews with dancers, technical definitions, descriptions of performances, and personal stories, Jacobs offers an intimate and passionate guide to watching ballet and understanding the central elements of choreography. Beautifully written and elegantly illustrated with original drawings, Celestial Bodies is essential reading for all lovers of this magnificent art form.

The Turning Pointe

The Turning Pointe
Author: Vanessa L. Torres
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2022-02-22
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0593426150

A bold and emotionally gripping novel about a teenage Latinx girl finding freedom through dance and breaking expectations in 1980s Minnesota. When sixteen-year-old Rosa Dominguez pirouettes, she is poetry in pointe shoes. And as the daughter of a tyrant ballet Master, Rosa seems destined to become the star principal dancer of her studio. But Rosa would do anything for one hour in the dance studio upstairs where Prince, the Purple One himself, is in the house. After her father announces their upcoming auditions for a concert with Prince, Rosa is more determined than ever to succeed. Then Nikki--the cross-dressing, funky boy who works in the dance shop--leaps into her life. Weighed down by family expectations, Rosa is at a crossroads, desperate to escape so she can show everyone what she can do when freed of her pointe shoes. Now is her chance to break away from a life in tulle, grooving to that unmistakable Minneapolis sound reverberating through every bone in her body.