In professional ballet, the female dancer often appears light and airy and seems to float lightly into the air without effort performing en pointe (on the tips of the toes). By contrast, the male dancer appears to be quite powerful, executing larger dynamic athletic movements which require a grounded, earthy strength to push into the air and rarely (if ever) performs en pointe. So why then train men en pointe?
Imagine the kind of strength it takes to spend one to two hours doing continuous quick jumps in the air. That is what it is like executing a pointe training class. Pointe training builds aerobic endurance and builds strength in the legs, feet and torso because, though pointe shoes enable dancers to stand directly on their toes, they must use their own strength and technique to achieve a full-pointe position from a normal standing position. Once they reach a full-pointe position, they must continually contract the muscles of the feet, ankles, legs and torso in order to pull up and out of the shoe. The weight of the body is not placed down onto the toes but rather up into the hips. This skill is complicated and demands serious dedicated training in order to gain the strength and technique required to achieve proper pointe execution. Dancers must train in soft ballet slippers for several years, at least three days a week, before attempting to wear pointe shoes.
Despite the fact that women's feet and legs are oftentimes more flexible than men's, according to professionals in the field of dance medicine and science, there is no physical or medical reason that men should not perform en pointe. It is purely an aesthetic choice.
Sierra Nevada Ballet's new director of marketing and development, Nicholas-Martin Kearney, performed en pointe for several years with Les Ballet Trockadero De Monte Carlo (a professional ballet company of men specializing in presenting a playful, entertaining view of classical ballet in parody form.) "Men dancing en pointe takes extreme sports to a whole other level," Kearney said. "It is the perfect blend of physical strength and pride."
Proper training en pointe builds core strength, body alignment, balance, proper muscle memory, a strong work ethic, and emotional stability and maturity. Pointe is hard work, and beginning pointe classes are demanding on the body and can sometimes be quite painful especially in the area of the legs and feet. In addition, pointe shoes are complicated and demand a certain level of responsibility to maintain. Training sur les pointes is a serious athletic endeavor.
Many ballet teachers only require female dancers to train en pointe, and for that reason pointe shoes are made in pink satin to blend with ballet pink tights worn by female dancers.
Having taught ballet for over 40 years, I find that training all ballet athletes sur les pointes produces the best results, and so I raise each student en pointe on an individual basis-regardless of gender. Since the men will rarely perform en pointe (except in an occasional comic role) and most of my male students do not care for pink satin, I allow the male dancers to paint the pink pointe shoes different colors according to their individual taste. Their artistic expression in this area is often quite interesting in itself: some boys paint their shoes a simple black while others opt for vibrant colors and patterns.
I have found that training men en pointe makes them much better, stronger all-around athletes and also helps them to be better at partnering the female dancers en pointe. By the same token, I find that giving female dancers large dynamic jumps such as double tour en l'air (usually performed only by male dancers) helps build their strength in a different way.
In short, a good athlete should have a well-rounded training regardless of gender, and there is nothing in ballet that builds strength of body and mind quite like training sur les pointes.
Rosine Bena is the artistic director of the Sierra Nevada Ballet.
