Ballet and Bare Toes for Coordination and Mastery

I was in ballet class today, and I had the opportunity to take barre behind a wonderful young dancer who will be performing in the upcoming shows with Lemon Spongcake Contemporary Ballet, directed by Robert Sherl-Machherndl. These will be December 1st, 8 PM and 2nd, 2PM at Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts. What was neat was that she preferred to do barre barefoot! Being a dyed in the wool modern dancer ( who has worked a lot in Contemporary Ballet) I told her how cool I thought that was. She said being barefoot just felt better, and we discussed the need to spread and splay the toes, to counteract bunion formation and related pain and stiffness ( for more info, please see my blog on bunions on this site). It was nice for me to see a young, strong ballerina who was so familiar with her own anatomical and kinesiological needs.
What I notice is that as I functionally balance abductors and abductors around the bunion and whole foot, my awareness and use of my feet in ballet improves, in adagio, jumps and turns. For example, I can feel and control the two way action of pulling up into relèvé and pushing down into the floor through the same foot in pirouettes with more clarity and precision. This is good! The point is, ballet fans, that training your foot to widen between the big and second toes, and to generally increase articulation and widening of the foot will improve your technique and improve the health of the foot and lower leg. That could be pretty important to you, yes?