An exaggerated arch is one thing you can’t miss in a dancer. But if you find yourself without a natural one, there are steps you can take to improve your arch.
Most dancers have experienced ankle envy, unless you’re the one on the receiving end of it. The higher your arch, the more prominent the instep, and the instep is what creates the beautiful top line of the foot, enhancing those crunched toes.
The instep is the bony arch on the top of the foot. There are some dancers that are just born with gorgeous ankles and know exactly how to use them. There’s no question about whether they are arching, because you literally can’t take your eyes off of them, mesmerised by the beautiful lines. Luckily, for those that weren’t born with the gift of malleable feet, there are ways to help enhance the shape of the instep and the arch.
Sickling ankles
A common ailment dancers face is a sickling foot. That’s when toes are facing inwards with a pointed foot, breaking the line from your leg to your foot. You can work with a trainer or with YouTube videos to start retraining your ankles natural movement to achieve that line we’re all aiming for. You can do this through resistance bands exercise and stretches.
Stretching
For the stretching, it’s important when researching exercises to make sure they are placing importance on the part of the ankle you’re supposed to be stretching. If you stretch the ankle incorrectly, you can actually start causing weakness and promoting sickling. You want the top of the foot to be stretched – the line from the big toe straight up to the ankle. If you stretch this standing, you may notice a natural tendency to roll the ankle in (we do need this flexibility for rocks), but that’s the opposite direction you want to point.
There are many foot stretchers to be found on the internet, with the most dance specific being The Ballet Foot Stretcher. Variations of this tool are available on Amazon for around $50. You’ll notice there are a lot of foot stretcher tools, but this one is recommended. You’ll notice how much engineering was put into this design to achieve the ideal stretch for dancers. If you’re looking to improve your arches, this is highly recommended. The arch genie you will find at local feisanna, but it lacks the structure that the Ballet Foot Stretcher provides.
Foot Stretchers
A foot stretcher might be a good solution to encourage you to regularly stretch your instep. There are numerous brands you can go with online, but there are important features you want to look for when making your decision.
Sturdy material
Wood is your best choice, but if you want something more lightweight, you could go with plastic, but avoid cloth.
Shaping for the heel
If you watch the instructional video you’ll notice there is an arch that keeps your heel to to one side of the stretcher making it possible to angle your foot a specific way. Make sure they have this!
Sturdy Elastic
You want to make sure that the elastic you’re putting your ankle in is thick, and not very forgiving to ensure a secure grip on your foot, giving you a deeper stretch.
Adjustable features
Look for an apparatus that offers tighter and looser options so you can gradually work towards your goal making sure you don’t cause any injury or over stretching.
This can have a big impact on your dancing, but if you are to use this tool, please make sure you strengthen when you stretch to avoid injury.
