Common Physical Therapy Exercises Applicable to Ballet

Warm/loosen up your foot by rolling it forwards and backwards over a golf ball. Although the small hard golf ball helped me for physical therapy purposes, I’ve seen many dancers use a tennis ball before and after class to massage their feet.

Place a towel flat on the floor. Starting on the closest end, curl your toes to pick up the towel. Lift the towel slightly off the floor and pull the towel a little toward yourself. After putting it back on the floor, place your toes a little further away on the towel and repeat until you reach the other end of the towel.

Pour a cup or bowl of marbles on the floor but keep them in one place.
Using your toes, pick up the marbles one by one and place them back in the cup or bowl.

Pretend your big toe is a pen and draw the alphabet A-Z (either uppercase or lowercase) with your foot.

Slowly rotate your foot and ankle in a clockwise direction and then in a counterclockwise direction.