Feet and their Feats

studentsteachers

Nov 8

☙ I just know that when I go onstage, I give everything I have, not only my feet, not only my legs, not only my body. I try to tell a story. Sometimes I am able to cry because I feel like it. Sometimes I am able to love because I feel like it. ❧
~ Sylvie Guillem

There is this look of the foot in dance, especially in the ballet world, where the ankle extends past the line of the lower leg, and the arch of the foot creates this deep curve. It's often referred to as the 'banana foot.'

*Sylvie Guillem photographed for an advertising campaign for Rolex, June 1993.*

Sylvie Guillem is a highly revered French ballet dancer. She worked mainly with the Paris Opera Ballet before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London, England. Later, she spent a lot of time with the Sadler's Wells Theatre, where she switched her focus primarily to contemporary dance.

She is known for her physical virtuosity, as it appears she can do almost anything. She is blessed with an incredible range of motion in her joints coupled with profound strength.

Sylvie Guillem has ‘banana feet’.

Foot envy is real. I have spent an embarrassing amount of time wishing I had different feet. Preferably the feet of Sylvie Guillem.

Now, this envy still resides in my heart, but not nearly as loudly as it did when I was going through my training. Over time, and with a concerted effort to love my body as it is, I have accepted that genes have a lot to do with the way feet look.

*My foot, photographed for a self-love campaign for myself, January 2021*

The structure of the bones in my lower leg and feet, and how they join together at the ankle, will never shift into a position that gives me the look of a banana foot, no matter how much I wish it so.

However, I can appreciate my physiology and work with it kindly to use the best of my potential.

And, in the end, using what you’ve got, as imperfect as is it may be judged, to the best of your ability is always better than wishing you had something else and not doing what you love at all.

That said, it's in my nature, as it is in dance, to continue working with what I've got and striving always to get a little better than the day before.

And not everyone struggles with my lack of mobility and range. Others have so much mobility in their ankle and feet joints that they can feel steady or balanced. Hypermobility can make the lines of the banana foot look gorgeous, but the unpredictability of their stability is frustrating and sometimes a little scary.

Well, good news! Our feet are so important in our dancing that we will all benefit from strength training and active release work no matter how we're built.

When we get to know our feet and gently ask them to grow into their best selves, we are improving not only an aesthetic but the ability to stand our ground, balance, move quickly, and be ready for anything.

Here are a few ways to work on your feet, safe enough to do every day, that will leave you feeling more connected to the ground, to your body and your dancing.