{"id":5012,"date":"2014-06-22T09:46:47","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T13:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=5012"},"modified":"2014-06-22T10:12:49","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T14:12:49","slug":"tippy-toes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/22\/tippy-toes\/","title":{"rendered":"Tippy Toes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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So this happened yesterday:<\/p>\n

\"IMAG0696\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the first time in a long time, I not only took a ballet class<\/a>, but I did the class en pointe!\u00a0 Pointe work has always been my \u201cthing.\u201d\u00a0 My ballet teacher growing up was very particular about pointe work.\u00a0 She ensures not only that her dancers have solid technique but also makes sure they are extremely strong before allowed to start pointe work (she even has a strength test she administers that every student must pass before being allowed to buy their first pointe shoes.)\u00a0 Because she was so stingy about letting us start pointe work, it came easily to me and once I was awarded my pointe shoes, she still jokes that I never took them off.<\/p>\n

I was the only dancer I grew up with who wore pointe shoes for every single call (every.single.class, and the whole class!)\u00a0 Even in college I wore my pointe shoes for every class in which it was allowed.\u00a0 After graduating, when I began dancing in Oklahoma, I still wore my pointe shoes every class though I only put them on for center work (partly because that was the norm where I was dancing and partly because pointe shoes are expensive and my meager pre-school teacher salary didn\u2019t allow for new shoes every 3 weeks as I needed through high school and college.)<\/p>\n

My pointe shoe wearing days slowed down when my dancing did after I broke my foot and though I\u2019ve been in and out of the studio in the 7 \u00bd years since, I\u2019ve been in my pointe shoes even less. \u00a0I did some work en pointe during my residency at Dance Ireland and I don my shoes every time I return to my \u201chome\u201d studio but that\u2019s about it.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t wear them during my regular classes while pregnant since I was out of pointe shape and my balance was constantly changing.<\/p>\n

But this week when I walked into my third ballet class of the week (in addition to teaching 7.5 hours of ballet this week) I decided it was time, my body and technique was ready. And while the class was successful (though I did take them off for jumps at the end) there were a few things I had forgotten about dancing en pointe:<\/p>\n