By: Tim Burton
Ballet dancers have a secret. It is hidden under satin, and we are further distracred by the grace and the beauty of a dancer's body in motion. Insiders are hesitant to reveal the secret for fear of embrassing the dancers, but the truth remains. Dancers have ugly feet. The years of pounding and strain that their feet endure create crooked toes, discolored nails and skin rubbed raw. Not to mention calluses, corns, and bunions. The wear and tear is endured to achieve performances that appear graceful and effortless. "It looks so beautiful but it's physically brutal," says Lisa Hansen about the ballet. Hansen is one in a group of physical therapists from Orlando Regional Rehabilitation Services who completed baseline screening for the Southern Ballet Theatre last week. Along with an orthopedic physican and an athletic trainer, they donate their expertise to measure and record the dancers' basic range of motion and fitness as a background for an future injury treatments. The first stop for the dancers in the afternoon of measuring everything that bends was to step on a large protractor. They pointed their toes outward, toward ballet's "first position." The dancers casually swivel their toes toward 80 or 85 degrees. the extra push to a perfect 90 degrees is easy. The dancers can bend so easily, says Hansen, because they have all started stretching out pliable limbs as childern in early dance classes. As adults their overall range of flexibility is off the charts, even compared to athletes the therapists normally treat. The dancers have superb strength. Usually, the therapists see either strength or flexibility in athletes, but not both. The dancers, says Hansen are in better shape than almost any football player. The dancers also can bend their knees slightly backward into hyper- extension. It's a talent that may come back to haunt them. "It's good for ballet," concedes Hansen, "but it's bad when you're 60.'
FEET
BALLET PASSION