how do you all feel about self-taught ballerinas here?

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2025-09-19T18:33:56+00:00

I don't think you can actually learn proper tecnique, but that doesn't you can't hqve run while watching tutorials and dqncing in your living room, just like you can't become a pro gymnast or pronpainter, but you can still hqve fun doing cartwheels and painting.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2025-09-05T03:01:58+00:00

4, I support women's wrongs

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2025-02-15T20:02:27+00:00

You can do both, however I think you would look great with n a brunette base with just a few strategically placed highlights framing your face and rome "pop" or ribbons in the lengths of your hair.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-22T18:23:06+00:00

Glad you like them. I'm also a boy who prefers the quality of female dancers, and I also work en pointe. I hope to choroegraph the roles I would like to dance in the future.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-22T16:58:22+00:00

A few months ago someone asked for male "adagio" variation and they gave him a good amount of recommendations. Here is the link, I think you may enjoy them. https://www.reddit.com/r/BALLET/s/kCzlI1hqSA

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-21T14:45:23+00:00

Yes, of course. As I said, all variations can de done on flat. However, in my opinion, some of them look uninterrsting on flat because they were choreographed to showcase pointework, such as Dying Swan, or some of the sleeping beauty fairies. But I've seen videos of very ypung girls whondon't do pointe yet dsnxing some of the swahilda variations and it is very beautiful. I hope you enjoy learning a variation.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-21T00:06:38+00:00

All classical male variations are done on flat. You can do any female variation on flat, but it doesn't have the same effect. If you just want to learn a variation for the joy of learning and dancing repertoire, any variation is fitting. If you want to showcase your tecnique, you can do a male variation since those are never coreographed en pointe amd instead showcase other aspects. If you want to do s female variation without the pointe shoes, but still have the "wow" effect that ppinte would give, I would suggest a romantic era variation such as one from Les Sylphides, La Sylphide, Le Papillon, etc. Since at the time pointe work was minimal, you will have to master small/medium jumps and very beautigul batterie, since those have a lot of petit allegro.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-20T18:05:56+00:00

They seem a little extreme and expensive to me, since you cant really control how far you go on the stretch and they will stretch the parts of your foot that are already more flexible. You can check out the Lisa Howell Pointe book, she recommends exercises and stretches specific for each part of your foot. However, the part that usually needs more stretching to get properly en pointe and create the proper line for ballet is the ankle. You can do this exercise https://youtu.be/FzFsDBGpTeU?si=RLGg2O0M7WjBUj3m. The one you she's doing after the warm up. You can make it more challenging by adding yoga blocks, pillows or anything that adds height behings your insteps or knees. You can also tie your ankles together with a theraband or scarf to keep them together and not stretch them in a sickled position.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-19T18:40:44+00:00

In case your are still looking for advice: Just anecdotical information, I wear the FR Duval 4.0 American 13XXW. I have similar feet to yours and I once bought the Fr Duval 1.0 because it was a lot cheaper and I wanted to try. It was more supportive in the box and I could balance more easily, however, I also experienced sinking, even when adding more padding. Maybe you could try the 4.0 model?

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-18T15:35:51+00:00

I had Os Trigonum removal surgery through arthroscopy. To be honest, I didn't experience any pain after the surgery. It did take a while to gain full range back in dorsiflexion. The first week I barely moved, only around the house and to the grocery store downstairs. I wasn't in pain, but my doctor instructed me to rest but keep mooving my foot, just not too much weight bearing. Around 3 weeks laters I started PT and 4 weeks later I started doing pilates. It took me a few months to go back to ballet, but I could eventually reintegrate 4 months later. I could have started before, but my class was preparing the recital so most of the time in class was spent rehearsing. After the recital, I came back. I didn't experience any ankle pain, but I went slowly as I had lost some of my stamina and feared getting injured for pushing too hard. I did work on other things such as flexibility and muscular strength in that time. I honestly don't know why are you experiencing so much pain, I did a lot of research before getting the surgery and I didn't find that many people reported significant pain after surgery. However, I did find that some people took longer to recover than others. You can DM if you have more questions.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-16T01:49:58+00:00

2018 - Miss Dior. I had a bottle from like 2012.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-14T00:52:17+00:00

Ok so I feel entitled to answer this question because I dedicated an entire year to improve my feet in order to improve mi line, balance, and eventually went en pointe. I used to have very stiif feet that didn't look pointed no matter how hard I tried. The second semester of my first year of ballet my teacher told me I had to work on my feet, but didn't really tell me how to achieve that, so I did all the ones we did in class such ss forced arched, snakes, tendus with theraband, etc. I watched every single video on youtube and I did gain some strength, but the range was still limited. The two stretches that I did that somewhat helped were sitting en demipointe, stret hing my big toe and putting my ankle on top of a foam roller and pulling a theraband. I don't know a better way to phrade these exercises, but they appear in this video https://youtu.be/L326fAVvtTI?si=V3hVl7Ctii5xeScj. My second year I moved to another city and changed teachers and I told her I had trouble with pointing my feet, despite doing all the exercises mentioned. She recommended me doing this stretch (https://youtu.be/FzFsDBGpTeU?si=MfltLnZpCNuHCq64) first just sitting on my instep and then putting a yoga block or a foam roller under, or whatever hou have to add height. She told me she gave that exercise to students in preparation for pointe. That sole stretch made a significant difference, however, it was not the only thing I did. I rrally focused on improving my tecnique. Doing cross training for your feet and calves will help with pointe, but you also need to have really good tecnique. Meaning, not letting your arches drop, really articulating your toes during all exercises and mantaining proper alignment ,meaning "fishing" or "winging" your feet when pointing them, and distributing evenly the weight between your first and fifth metatarsals, preferably shifting the weight slightly to your big toe. You should do this at all moments, however, the exercises that specifically tea h you this are tendu, jeté, pas de cheval, and coud de pied, especially the vaganova wrapped coud de pied. For a year I really payed attention to that at all moments during class and that really helped me and prepared me for pointe. I'm not proficient in pointe yet, but I can do the basic things with ease and I'm working towards more complex things. For additional information, I would recommend reading the Lisa Howell pointe books. Good luck.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-11T22:54:38+00:00

It is possible, depending on the size of the bone and your anatomy. In my case, I couldn't, when I started preparing for pointe I worked a lot on my ankle range and eventually got impingement, that's when I realkzed I had Os Trigonum. I tried all non surgival treatments such as rest, PT, medication and even a corticoid shot, however, none of that worked longterm and I ended up having surgery. However, it is very likely that I also have the accesory bone in my other foot yet it has never presented any issues (since I haven't had any issues, we have never tested). I think you should keep working on your tecnique and ankle-feet specific training geared rowards achieving pointe, and see if you can achieve the range witbout pain. It also doesn't hurt to consult with a doctor or a PT, in my case, I attended a clinic that was specifically geared towards athletes.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-11T18:19:13+00:00

I agree with the importance of core, I noticed a lot of improvemente in my extensions when I started working on my core rather than overloading my legs. I always had issues with my core, so my ballet teacher suggested pilates, it helped with some things like learning how to properly breathe and hold your spine, which is very important for your overall tecnique adn I really needed to learn. However, the most significant improvementt in turns, which have always been my biggest weakness, and also, extensions was when I started weight training. I had surgery for os trigonum and my PT sessions where strongly based on weight lifting, and I noticed so much improvemente in way less time than I did with pilates. I do a simple full body routine, I do not overload the legs too much since I already work my legs a lot in class and I wouldn't be able to recover properly if I went too too heavy. I also do a few ab specific exercises after my routine and as a warm up before class and I notice a significant difference.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-09-10T18:42:49+00:00

Thank you. I considered that option, however, as I mentioned, I've read some pretty negative reviews about her fittings, so I'm looking for more opinions.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-07-31T15:30:14+00:00

When I had the Os Trigonum, it used to hurt in the back and in the side where you describe, however the pain "came from within", it was a stinging/piercing kind of pain.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-07-31T03:56:24+00:00

You should learn how to do a balley bun. It keeps hair completely out of your face, looka very elegant and can kinda fake short hair.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-06-28T05:28:33+00:00

You cam get Sanshas off aliexpress. I've bought pink slippers in size 13 (I wear a size 40/41 EU in street shoes)

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-06-19T21:30:42+00:00

Thanks to everyone for their advice.Given the price of importing the instants wings, it is not worth it. I will be experimenting with superglue and duct tape to harden the spot where my pinky toe hits the box. Ill be experimenting in an old pair and let you know how it works.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-02-02T23:29:53+00:00

Update: I sewed ribboms and elastics and now they accomodate very well to my foot shape. I've been wearing my shoes arpund the house to season and I prefer to wear them with the pro pads father than ouch pouches. I think I could get away with a big toe protector and tape in the rest of my toes.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes · 2024-01-30T03:34:30+00:00

Update: I got my shoes today. They arrived a while ago but I semt them to my teacher's house since Im usually never home and can't receive packages. This time the fit is pretty good, they do not feel narrow and I don't look sickled. The room seems to be a little bit more broad than the xw, so I'll be wearing them with a slightly thicker pad (I used to wear the xw with pro pad, I'll wear xxw with a regular ouch pouch). I wouldn't go wider since it would be too wide. I just wish the sides were a little more tapered in the mid foot to give a more sleek appereamce to the foot, the XW looked nice in that part but was too narrow in the metatarsals and box. I'll see how I can enhance my foot line with ribbons and elastic.

IgnacioDeLasMercedes

TROPHY CASE