What is sickle feet

First I have to start off by introducing the concept of sickling. It is a funny word and I have no idea where the term comes from, but it is well known in the world of ballet and is the most common error of the feet. One of the biggest places I see this is in students who are beginning pointe work.

Sickling is in the most basic form, when your heel drops behind your leg. This is undesirable, because it breaks the line of the leg in which we very much want in ballet. It can also be unsafe if you are en pointe or in releve because it is very unstable and will likely roll and injure your ankle.

Notice how the line of the leg is broken with the sickled foot. Also, notice how the heel is low. A visual that is always important in ballet is keeping your heels forward.

You will probably hear this a lot, and it is referring to this not sickling , as well as holding your turnout.

The far right photo is the sickled foot. Again, notice how there is not a continuous line following through to the toes. The middle picture is also wrong because all of the weight is pressed forward into the big toe. You ideally want all of your weight to be aligned right over your second toe , like in the first picture.

Footed Convertible Footless Stirrup. Leotards Tops Bottoms Dance Belts. Footed Convertible Footless. Necklaces Earrings Bracelets Socks. Water Bottles Mugs. Notebooks Books Pencil Cases. Ornaments Nutcrackers. Allegro Dance Boutique. Ballet Papier.

Ballet Rocks. Ballet Rosa. Dorian Gray. Elgin Archxerciser. El Petit Ballet. Forever B. Gaynor Minden. Kurt S. Now, demonstrating tendu to the front, notice how the foot is dipped under with the heel close to the ground, while the correct photo on the right shows once again that the toes are behind the inside of her ankle.

Finally, in tendu to the back, the sickled foot practically has its toes pointing straight into the floor with the heel sticking up in the back. On the correct picture, the toes are once again behind the line from the inside of the ankle. As mentioned and demonstrated several times above, the basic idea of pointing your foot is actually not perfectly straight, but with the heel slightly forward and the toes slightly behind the inside of your ankle bone.

If you feel you lose too much of your point by moving your foot slightly out, then just be sure your foot is still straight out from your calf.

One of the main reasons a dancer would not want to sickle their foot is because it is breaking her or his line. Look at how a correctly pointed foot continues the rounded shape more beautifully and looks more strong than a sickled foot. Another major reason is that a properly pointed foot allows the dancer to have more functional technique. After years of training correctly, the muscles in your foot will also adapt and become stronger, making many more advanced steps quite a bit easier because you can transfer your strength from your legs and feet into the floor with more power and stability.

Especially for females, sickling can lead to many potential problems if wanting to eventually dance on pointe.