Ballet dancers number walls and corners in the ballet room (from point 1 to point 8), with point number 1 facing forward towards the audience. When we face the front, point 8 is on our left side and points towards the front left corner of the room.
Point 2 is on the right side and points towards the front right corner of the room. We rotate the body to point 8 and the head to point 2. The right leg is the standing one. The entire foot may be placed on the floor. It may be demi-pointe, which is like being on tip-toe, or it may be fully en pointe. Ballet dancers use special shoes, called pointe shoes, which have a flat, hard box at the tip of the shoe. When the dancer stands on the box she is standing on the ends or the tips of her toes, which is why this technique is called “on the points”.
The left leg is the working one. We cross the working leg over the right leg behind us at a 90 degree angle. We put the left arm into the second position while gently bending the arm at the elbow and moving it towards point 8. We must hold it at such a height that if we had a drop on our shoulder it would run perfectly down to our index finger. We have the right arm above our head in the third position, as if holding a balloon.
Our gaze moves to point 2 towards the elbow.