Why are toe stands/walks so hard for me?!

I'm 14 years old and I've been competitively dancing for five years. Somehow, I haven't gotten around to learning toe stands/walks until this year! For the last several days, I've been trying to walk around the house on my toes, but for some reason, it's really tough! My ankles wobble and I'm usually off balance. Also, I got my hardshoes "used," but it feels like they're not quite broken in or something... whenever I try to stand on my toes, unless I really concentrate OR I loosen my laces quite a bit, I feel like I'm not really balancing on the platform/box/thing/whatever.
So my question(s) is/are....
Is it normal for it to take this long to learn toe walks/stands?

What can I do to make them better/easier?
Other info that may or may not be helpful: I have pretty strong legs (I have HUGE calves), and fairly high arches and insteps. My toes are of fairly even length. I am prone to really bad shin splints up the side of my lower leg if I'm dancing/running for a long time. My shoes are (lightly) used Fays.
Like I said, when I loosened my laces it seemed like my foot bent more which made it easier. Is this a good solution or could this possibly damage my feet or build bad habits?
Replies would be appreciated!! :)

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hannah on January 6, 2012 at 1:13pm

Hey Emily,

First of all: Don't worry! Toes stands and walks take a lot of time and even when you can do them properly you will fall on your bum a lot! :D *Been there done that*
Anyways, I think it might be a problem if you loosen up your laces as you might overbend them while doing toes and that's not very healthy plus it doesnt look too good either.

To make toestands easier in your heavy shoes take them and bend them together that your toe/block thingi touches the inner heel of your shoes and tape them together and leave them for a day or two and then open them up again!
For yourself to practice I would suggest that you sit down and do toes and slowly try to stand up and sit down again. It of course takes a lot of strenght but also balance! So work on your balance with a couple of exercises and then just try to stand and walk around on your toes as much as possible.

Don't give up too easily- you will be able to do them very soon! Hope this helps.

xHan

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Emily Wilkerson on January 6, 2012 at 3:08pm

Thanks! This helps a lot. :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Hannah on January 6, 2012 at 4:36pm

Happy to hear that :) Keep me posted if it gets better or not! x

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Aisling on January 7, 2012 at 4:41pm

here is really good information on toe stands :)

http://idworkout.id.funpic.de/skripts/technique.html#Anchor-Toestan...

she has a lot of tips for toe pointing and other technique issues as well :D

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Emily Wilkerson on January 7, 2012 at 10:49pm

Thanks so much! :D Haha I didn't realize until I now that when I loosened my laces, I was doing "taco toe stands" :/

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Aisling on January 9, 2012 at 5:05pm

lol i know... its interesting to see how pretty bernadette's toe stands are in comparison!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Emily Wilkerson on January 10, 2012 at 3:41am

I would KILL to have her toe stands! T_T

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Biljana on January 8, 2012 at 8:41am

Hey, the website you've posted doesn't work for me. Could you copy the text somewhere here? I'd love to read it :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Aisling on January 9, 2012 at 5:04pm

ok here it is... but the pictures on the site help...

Yeah I know, not really a basic move, but to do correct toestands you must know about toestand technique! Toestanding is a fairly new move in Irish dancing compared to ballet dancing, where toestands have been known for about 150 years. Though it hurts our pride to do it, it saves our feet to learn from ballet dancers when it comes to toestands. They do have more experience and have developed it into a real science, with the main goal to make toestanding and -dancing safe and healthy for everyone. Ballet pointé dancing and Irish toestands differ in certain technical aspects (rolling up or stepping on it, being as quiet or as loud as possible, different shoes etc…) but in the end, there is much that can be learnt from ballet. The arrogance some Irish dancers have in this respect is sad, because many injuries could be avoided by using the experience of 150 years of toedancing instead of learning by our own mistakes and the resulting pain. First of all, there is a right way and a wrong way toestands can LOOK:
The correct way: a straight line can be seen from the shins to the toes. FROM THE SIDE. Oh...and the front too of course. This toestand is straight, centered, well-supported and looks effortlessly strong. The dancer stands merely on the tip of the shoe, and does not allow her toes or her feet to bend over, giving a weak, bent, crooked look, a so-called “taco toestand”. It's Bernadette Flynn's toestand by the way.
THIS is a so-called „taco toestand”. It is bent, hence the name. Note the curve from the shins to the toes. People who do toestands like this can actually break their feet. Less serious but still nasty injuries are likely to occur, and also, it looks really lazy and sloppy, though the dancer is very likely nothing of the sort. The arch is badly supported. The front ankle muscles are weak. Dancers with toestands like this should not be doing toestands until they have strengthened up.
Irish dancing DOES NOT adequately prepare your feet for toestands. People with weak arches and ankles need to do extra work or they should not be permitted to do toestands. In ballet, pointé dancing is an honour and a reward for hard work. In Irish, dancers should at least fulfill the basic technical requirements needed for toestands, such as turn-out, strength, good alignment and the will to do them properly instead of fooling around, standing on their toes while talking to other dancers. Snap goes the ankle, rip goes the ligament. Toestands are not for fun, they require concentration. Basic requirements dancers must fulfill before attempting toestands: Core strength and good alignment Strong feet and toes that do not buckle under pressure Stable ankles with a good sense of joint alignment…your ankles must not wobble even the slightest bit when standing on your toes!!! Excellent turn-out (works as a stabilizer, try doing toestands without it, they are less stable) Good balance when standing on the ball of your foot (on one foot, turned out!) Correct toestand technique Age: Dancers U12 should not be on their toes because the bones in their feet are not completely hardened up yet. If toestands are done at this stage, they can lead to injury and even deformation of the foot bones, causing painful problems later on. What is correct toestand technique? The dancer needs to pull up through the insteps, not lean on their toes. This even goes for tapping on your toes, loudness is not achieved unless your feet are strong enough to hit the floor and still be stable. To achieve loudness you need to bend your knees a little when lifting the foot off the floor and bring it down with force. This force you need to catch by having very strong feet and concentrating on pulling up through your entire body. Do not allow your toes and feet to buckle when your toe hits the floor so that your toes and knuckes bear the weight of your body. Pull upwards to take the weight off your toes, tighten up your entire body, legs tight all the way up, knees straight, abs tense, shoulders back, head upwards. A loud toestand is really not worth breaking your foot for. Don’t overdo it. Many Irish dancers assume incorrectly that because they can dance high on their toes and do wonderful jumps they have arches that perfectly support toestands. This is wrong. Yes you are strong, but toestands require a very specific form of strength in specific muscles…similar to doing a Rock or a Butterfly for the first time. Even champion dancers can have wrong toestands, because the awareness of toestand technique is only slowly beginning to develop in the Irish dancing world. There are talented dancers who have ruined their feet and whose wonderful careers have been cut short because of wrong toestands. So, check yourself in the mirror: are your toestands straight and strong or do they need work? Don’t underestimate this! The list of injuries caused by wrong toestands is long and depressing: Sprained ankles, broken ankles, broken foot bones and toes, arthritis, overstretched and torn muscles... Take the time to correct them. Some people also believe that a different shoe will help correct wrong toestands. It is however always the case that your feet need to be stronger. You should never rely on your shoes to do the work for you and correct your foot alignment problems. Different shoes can, at best, be an aid to correcting toestands. They are not the solution.