The Foot

By Hazel Fish MSc, BSc (Hons) CertEd (PCET), DipHSW, AISTD

The foot is an essential part of the body, and its shape, flexibility and control are essential to the dancer.

The foot has several functions, which include:
• Acting as a base of support that is stable for us to stand on with minimal muscular effort.
• The large number of joints within the foot allow it to be flexible and adapt to an uneven surface.
• The number of joints within the
foot also allow it to provide shock absorbency when landing from
a jump.
• Acting as a lever as the foot pushes off the ground, which depends on the muscles working within the foot and across the ankle joint.

1st Metatarsophalangeal joint you need 90-100º of extension here to get on to 3/4 pointe. Few non-dancers are able to achieve this		Phalanges These bones make up the toes
		Metatarsal bones These are where the transverse (‘metatarsal’) arch lies across the foot
Talus This is where the angle joint articulates		Calcaneus This is the heel bone and is where the Achilles tendon attaches
Illustration of the bones of the foot

There are a total of 26 bones in the foot, and it is the 33 joints between these bones and the large number of muscles and ligaments that give the foot the qualities it has. The ideal foot for a dancer is one where the first four toes are of a similar length, which provides a stable platform when working on 3/4 or full pointe.

Initially young children appear flat-footed. This is because there is minimal development of the arch on the inside of the foot and a fat pad found in the arch at this age. As the child grows, the fat pad gradually reduces in size and the muscles develop, so the arch becomes more obvious.

A young child will also stand with their feet apart to help them balance, and often the shape of their legs means that the feet are slightly turned in until about 3 years of age.

If you draw the imprint your wet foot leaves on the ground it should look something like this...

If you draw around the outside of your foot on the floor, it looks something
like this...

If you combine the two sketches you get...

The difference between the two outlines shows the parts of the foot that do not bear weight, that is do not make contact with the floor when you are standing.

The inside of the foot (the medial side) arches up between the heel and the ball of the big toe. The dance world often refers to this as ‘the instep’ but its proper name is the medial longitudinal arch. The shape of this arch is held and changed by muscle control (with a little help from ligaments). The muscles here can work like a spring to provide propulsion to take off when jumping or running, and help absorb shock when landing. If the muscles are weak, the ligaments will eventually stretch and a ‘flat foot’ will result.

There is often a smaller arch on the outside of the foot – the lateral longitudinal arch. This is supported mostly by ligaments with help from muscles.

Across the foot is the ‘metatarsal arch’, more correctly called the transverse arch. This is mostly supported by ligaments.

Do not think of the arches as being fixed structures, because they are actually dynamic in nature, changing their shape to meet the demands and stresses put on them.

Some dance students are described as having ‘flat feet’ and others as ‘high arched feet’. Let us have a look at how different foot shapes are designed for dance:

The flat foot
A flat foot is one where the inside of the foot is in contact with the floor or there is only a low arch when the foot is relaxed in standing. If the shape of the arch does not change when the foot is working (for example, pointing the foot to the side, or rising on to 3/4 pointe) then it is said to be a fixed flat foot.

The fixed flat foot is not an attractive one to the dance world, and would create problems if the student tried to get on to pointe. Because it is the arch that works like a spring to provide propulsion, jumping can be poor. And because it is the arch relaxing that provides some of the shock absorbency when landing from a jump, excessive jumping could cause the foot and lower leg to develop an injury.

However, if the foot is flat when relaxed but its shape changes when the foot is working, then this is a different matter - this is a mobile foot.

The mobile foot
When standing, the medial side of the foot is often low to the ground with a small arch. However, when the foot becomes active the shape of the arches changes, often considerably.

The greater the change in the arch, the more mobile the foot is.
The mobility in the foot means that the change in the arch can work like a spring to give the propulsion to jump, and the relaxation of the arch allows shock-absorbency when landing.

This is an adaptable and relatively safe foot for dance.

This type of foot is a good all-round foot. But the more mobile the foot, the less stable it will be and the more dependent it is on the muscles for stability than ligaments. If the foot is very mobile then it can be a weak foot, and it will need lots of strengthening to support the body weight on pointe and so that it does not flap around when jumping.

The high arched foot
In standing, if the inside of the relaxed foot has a prominent arch then it is said to be a high-arched foot. If the shape of the arch does not change much when the foot is working then it is a fixed high arched foot.

This type of foot does look gorgeous for classical dance, but it can share the same problems as the fixed flat foot in terms of lack of propulsion and poor shock-absorbency.

This foot is well-suited to pointe work, but is not very adaptable to the needs of dance where jumping is important.