You CAN Dance en Pointe!

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1

For even more ballet and diabetes stuff check out my blog at A Diabetic Ballerina

I've had several dancers emailing me telling me that as diabetics they were told that they weren't allowed to dance en pointe. What do I have to say to that? They were misinformed! Of course you can dance en pointe. There are many dancers including myself that have danced en pointe and still have healthy feet. Zippora Karz for one of them! So there you go, living proof!

The one disclaimer I have is that if your A1C is out of control it probably is best to wait until it's a bit lower before you pull those pointe shoes on. The reason I say this is that pointe work beats up your feet...a lot. You want to give your skin the best fighting chance to heal from all the abuse. So the better your A1C, the better your feet will feel and the better your pointe work will be!

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Typical ballerina feet, take good care of them!

So eat healthy, keep active, watch your A1C, keep a close eye on your feet and tie those ribbons!

-Exit Stage Left

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That is sound advice to all dancers. As a stage manager, I would add to have some comfy slippers handy to slip over those pointe shoes while walking around back stage. They will help protect both your feet and your shoes from injury.

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Like you I think it is important to stress that potential health problems are caused by uncontrolled diabetes and not diabetes itself. It would be a nice move to always use "uncontrolled diabetes" in association with the complications of diabetes. This kind of mental hygiene is important for ourselves and can educate the public.