Articulate Feet: Expressivity and Obstacles in Dance

Expressive Feet in Dance

  • Feet as a Voice: In dance, feet are crucial for expression, acting as the loudest voice.
  • Reliance on Feet: Many activities, including dance, depend on articulate, expressive, and well-trained feet.
  • Variety in Dance: Diverse dance forms place varying demands on feet, influenced by shoe design.

Tango

  • Shoe Challenges:

    • Leading Role (historically men): Flat shoes with small heels for stability.
    • Following Role (historically women): High, thin heels, promoting a constant on-toes position and engaging the foot, which can be exhausting.

  • Instability:

    • Heels: High heels reduce stability, making it harder to switch between leading and following.
    • Achilles Tendon: Prolonged heel wear shortens calf muscles (ankle flexors).
    • Counterbalance: Dancers should counterbalance this shortening with stretches to maintain longevity.

  • Weight Placement: Weight is placed far forward in tango, necessitating a reaching out.

  • Salsa: Similar heel styles, though sometimes thinner, are used in salsa.

  • Bunions:

    • Exacerbation: Tango shoes can worsen bunions, which can contribute to bone displacement.
    • Counter Measures: It's important to counter extreme situations with extreme measures to prevent long-term issues.

  • Foot Shape: Pointed-toe shoes are not suitable for wide feet, which can cause bone issues.

Flamenco

  • Foot Focus and Sound:
    • Sound: Flamenco focuses on the sound made by the foot, with wider, shorter heels for practicality.
    • Weight: Weight is more grounded compared to tango, reducing the risk of Achilles injuries.
  • Center of Gravity (COG):
    • Lower Heel: Provides more stability due to a lower COG.
    • Higher COG: Higher heels or thick soles reduce stability.

Traditional Japanese Dance

  • Footwear: Traditional Japanese dance uses elevated wooden shoes with a strap between the toes.
  • Uncomfortable Experience:
    • Forward Stance: Requires standing primarily on the front of the foot.
    • Toe Separation: Straps can uncomfortably separate the toes.
  • Physical Implications:
    • Achilles Tendon: Likely leads to a shortened, irritated Achilles tendon.
    • Soreness: Causes soreness in the web between the big toe and second toe.
    • Flat Sole: Lack of cushioning may cause heel discomfort.
  • Shoe Impact:
    • Limited Articulation: Restricts foot articulation, relying more on ankle movement.
    • Minimal Shock Absorption: Puts stress on structures above the foot.
    • High COG: Reduces stability.

Tap Dance

  • Tap Shoes:

    • Metal Plates: Typically feature metal plates on the toe and heel for creating sound.
    • Plate Length: Some tap shoes have longer front metal plates extending further back on the foot.
    • Customization: Dancers often customize tap shoes.

  • Rigidity: Tap shoes are generally rigid, unless a soft sole type, restricting flexibility, especially in the ankle.

  • Sound Creation: Tap involves creating rhythmic patterns and melodies through foot movements impacting the ground.

    • Audio Contribution: Foot creates an integral audio element, unlike ballet, where foot sound is minimized, necessitating different muscle usage.

  • Focus: Tap is more intense on the feet and ankles and requires flexibility in ankle to make sounds.

    • High Stress: Higher stress and focus are placed on the feet compared to ballet or jazz.

  • The focus of the sound is the best thing and your feet, and maybe even when your legs aren't doing much, you'll lose your ankle and feet, so it's higher stress and higher focus on the feet.

Botswana Dance

  • Bare Feet: Performed barefoot on the ground, requiring adjustment to uneven terrain.
  • Percussion Instrument: The lower leg and foot are used as percussion instruments.
  • Weight: Adds burden and exertion to create desired sounds.
  • Natural Foot Use: Possibly utilizes the foot more naturally compared to other forms.

Ice Skating

  • Challenges:
    • Foot Soreness: Can cause foot soreness depending on skate size (too big or too tight).
    • Ankle Pain: Common due to engagement for balance.
  • Blade:
    • Straight Blade: Requires engagement to maintain weight over blade, tiring lateral muscles.
  • Balance:
    • Tiny Surface: Balance is challenging due to the small connecting surface between the skate and ice.
    • Ankle Stability: Ankle stability is crucial for balance; movement leads to pain.
  • Stiffness: Rental skates often restrict foot movement.
  • Compensation: Calves and ankles overcompensate for movements.
  • Over Time could be very stressful for your inversion muscles.
  • Torque on Knee: Knee may experience torque due to restricted ankle movement.

Roel (Dance Grad Student Alum)

  • Roll Fly: Feet interact with a surface sideways.
    *Finding feet is so different from just normal, like, without any, like, harness dancing.
  • Alignment: Altered relationship to gravity affects alignment.

Pointe Shoes (Ballet)

  • Construction: Torture shoes with exaggerated arches.
  • Aesthetics:
    • Alignment: Create unnatural alignment.
    • COG: The COG would be falling in front of the toe.
  • Forced Position:
    • Big Toe: Forces the big toe inward.
    • Arching: Promotes arching for weight distribution over toes.
  • Comparison to Rock Climbing Shoes:
    • Similar toe structure, but potentially less weight-bearing in rock climbing.
  • Weight Bearing: Should be over the box on the foot, the COG is right over her.
  • Bunions: Snug-fitting shoes can cause bunions.
  • Hypermobility: Might balance the hyperextension.
  • Historical Context:
    • Romantic Era: Originated in the 1850s, symbolizing ethereal women.
    • Marie Taglioni: Early pioneer who elicited strong reactions from audiences.
    • Blu rays were created to make it look like I am a woman, and I am not walking on Earth.

Swing Dance

  • Footwear: Flat, worn-down shoes or tennis shoes are common.
  • Movement:
    *Very just like it's just fun and a lot less, like, very particular about the mechanics or, like, the exact position of your body. It's more about how how you're moving and the quality of your energy and that
  • Worn Shoes: Necessary to reduce friction and prevent torque on knees and feet.
  • Suede Soles: Some use suede to protect knees.
  • The primary thing you want to do is make sure that you don't have friction and torque going on.

Contemporary and Modern Dance

  • Bare Feet: Modern dance traditionally involves bare feet, with calluses and taping issues.
  • Socks: socks are kinda necessary because I have sweaty feet.
    • Expressive Element: Crystal Pite maximized sock use as an expressive element.
  • Contemporary dance a big distinction for what you're saying modern, is typically barefoot.
  • Conventions: Common in contemporary dance conventions for turns and slides.
  • If there are turns and slides, socks are kinda necessary because I have sweaty feet.
  • Competition dance for performance.

Mexican Folkloric Dances

  • Footwear: Heels are used to make percussive noises, leading to high impact.

*Lower leg trauma: Is suspected to be high. Also, the fabric involved makes viewing feet difficult.

Native American Powwow

  • Attire:
    • Fabric and Doo Dah: Fabric and doo dah around feet increase the potential for injury.
  • Shoes are quite soft.

Irish Dance

  • Technique: Primarily on toes, landing from jumps in the same position, with minimal knee push-off and crossing as far as you can and turning out as much as you can all that.
  • Percussion: Hard shoes are used to create loud sounds, stabbing the floor on pointe with lots of just really tight positioning.
  • Arms: Minimal arm movement.
  • Impact: No joint shock absorption.
  • Injuries: Occur from toes to the low back.
  • Cartilage: Cartilage at the base of the metatarsal joint is commonly worn out.
  • Treatments: Doctors often recommend cessation of dancing.
  • Surgeries: Surgeries, like bone grafts, can be attempted.
  • Pain: Daily pain, localized where I had the problem.
  • Warm-up: Consists of fast-twitch exercises and toe walking, with calf stretches after.
    *Extreme plantar flexion: And never plie.

Aerial Arts

  • One Foot Hang: Involves extreme dorsiflexion.
  • Challenges: Body must hold one's full body weight, upside down several feet off ground. Then also an altered relationship to gravity.

Traditional Indian Dance

  • Technique:
    • Forced Arch: Standing on half-toe with flexed phalanges.
    • Knees: Bent, causing compression force.
  • Movements: Feet move quickly, especially when turning, with a lot of impact and using them to make noise.
  • Heavy bells are on the foot.

*Deep Knees: Lots of them.

  • Forced Arch: Adds compression force, really hard on zero gravity environment.

Street Dance

  • Movements: A lot of eversion and inversion.
  • Injuries: Rough on lower leg joints, often involving deep knee bends.

Anatomy and Movement Potential

  • Muscle and Joint Count: Over 100 muscles and 31 joints in the foot, with expressive potential.
    • Unique: The most expressive potential, except perhaps the hands.
  • Weight Bearing: The expressive range while weight-bearing and responding to surfaces is astounding.
  • Limited Exploration: Few dancers fully explore the expressive potential of the foot and ankle.

Skeletal Structure: Bones and Joints

  • Tibia and Fibula: The tibia is more medial, while the fibula helps with orientation.

    • Malleoli: Lumps of bone at the distal end.
      • Medial malleolus: End of tibia.
      • Distal malleolus: End of fibula.
        *There's a synovial joint. Distal, there isn't as much movement.

  • Talus:

    • Articulation: Articulates with the tibia, fibula, calcaneus, and tarsal bones.
    • No Muscle Attachment: Moved by surrounding structures.
      *ankle joint: Is the taller joint. Tibia, Fibula, and Talus make up this joint.

  • Sagittal Plane: Described in the sagittal plane though angled, stability is created by the clasping of the tibia and fibula.
    *The tibia and fibula grasp or clamp over the talus bone.

  • Calcaneus: The heel, with fat pads for shock absorption.
    *heel, calcaneus, and the joint inferior to the talus is the subtalar joint.