Editing Pointe technique (section)

===Placement and alignment===
En pointe dancers employ pointe technique to determine foot placement and body alignment. When exhibiting proper technique, a dancer's en pointe foot is placed so that the [[Instep#instep|instep]] is fully stretched with toes perpendicular to the floor, and the pointe shoe's [[toe box#Ballet|platform]] (the flattened tip of the [[toe box]]) is square to the floor, so that a substantial part of its surface is contacting the floor.

Proper technique is also evident from a dancer's body alignment, by visualizing a straight line that extends from the center of the hip through the toes. When a properly aligned dancer is viewed from the side, the line passes through the knee, ankle joint and [[hallux|big toe]] joints. When viewed from the front, the line passes through the knee, ankle joint and the joints of the [[long toe|second toe]] or [[middle toe]] or the area between those toe joints. In cases of unusually high instep or metatarsal joint flexibility, it is sometimes necessary to flex the toes to achieve proper alignment.