family, we never thought it would happen to us. Its heartbr

As a former dancer, Ive always tried to imagine which sport ballet might be comparable to, and the most I have been able to come up with is the marathon -- if the marathon required runners to be in character, with full makeup and smiling the entire time. Oh, and en pointe.And by en pointe, I dont mean perfect in the sense that my teenagers use the phrase today. Nope, by en pointe, I mean it in the true French sense of the word -- standing on the tips of your toes, separated from the floor by the tiniest barrier of fabric, cardboard and glue. Those pink, satiny pointe shoes -- and hours upon hours of blood, sweat and tears -- are what separate the women in Thursday night Zumba class from athletes like American Ballet Theatres Misty Copeland.?Anyone can go to a sporting goods store and buy Nike Zoom Lebron Soldier 10s sneakers, and anyone go online and buy Capezio Aria pointe shoes. And that is exactly what Vogue Espana did for a fashion shoot with Kendall Jenner. But owning Lebrons sneakers wont make you an NBA player. And neither will pointe shoes -- voila! -- magically transform you into Wendy Whelan.Reality-star-turned-model Kendall Jenner is a beautiful young woman. At 5-feet-10? and 119 pounds, the 20-year-old slides into haute couture with ease and is an accomplished runway model. And no one could call her modeling skills into question.But those feet! They are like dead fish. They are. Look at them in the Vogue shoot. They just dangle there. In ballet, there is a term for this: the sickled foot, and the dreaded dead fish comment is something ballet teachers say to their students to remind them to point, point, point their feet.Dancers oftentimes resort to medieval torture devices to improve their arches. Dont believe me? Google ballet feet stretcher. Ill wait. I have friends who short-sheet their beds and wedge their pointed feet tight between two sheets and sleep that way to improve their arches. Instagram, which has proved to be the perfect forum for ballet photos, has sparked a whole new movement in dance and is flush with photos and videos of dancers and their footwork. My favorite is Cuban ballerina?Dayesi Torriente Llanes, now a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet. ?I have seen entire ballet auditions go south based on the look of feet alone. I swear my mother, who studied under George Balanchine (he co-founded the New York City Ballet) at the School of American Ballet and danced with the San Francisco and Pennsylvania Ballet companies, worked at pointing my feet while I was still in my crib. So poor Jenner and her dead-fish feet incurred the wrath of every ballerina from the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow?to the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle last week.She had to turn off the comments on her Instagram feed, and her vastly popular account (she has 66.3 million followers) is part of what made her so attractive to Vogue in the first place. Dance Magazine had Ballet West soloist Allison DeBona write an opinion piece about Jenners unfortunate attempt to stand up in pointe shoes after DeBonas Facebook post reacting to the Vogue Espana?photos went viral.DeBona, herself a stunning dancer, had just recently written her heartfelt Facebook commentary?faulting Vogue for exploiting Jenner by posing her as a ballerina.She noted:Ballerinas across the globe are upset that Vogue Spain hired Kendell (sic) Jenner to look like a ballerina in a video shoot. Well, Vogue Italia hired me to look like a ballerina in a video shoot. Some people originally commented on my video about how I was selling out by being too sexual. I was playing a role just like Kendell, except I have technique.There were plenty of comments from dancers who felt that Vogue Espana?should have used a real ballerina and had no business putting Jenner in pointe shoes and having her dance around suggestively in leotards and leg warmers. I agree. The publication is usually pretty good with the ballet accuracy, but shame on them and shame on Jenners modeling agent, whomever that might be, for not trying harder for authenticity.There were a million ways around it: Use a real ballerina for the action and then pose Jenner in the clothes. Or just pick another theme entirely -- such as horseback riding, ATVing, dirt biking, surfing or hiking, which Jenner herself recently listed as her hobbies.One thing I know for sure. Jenners unwitting participation in the ballet shoot fiasco of 2016 legitimizes the dance, if anything, because it once again shows haters that ballet is not just running around like a child just not caring. It is impossibly hard work. Kendall Jenner might have more money and fame than God, but shes not a ballerina. ?ESPN deputy editor Gabrielle Paese is a reformed ballerina who got her start with Maria Vegh at Harkness Ballet. She went on to attend the Pennsylvania Governors School for the Arts and train under the late Merce Cunningham. ? Fake Royals Jerseys . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. Kansas City Royals Store . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. https://www.cheaproyals.com/ . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Wholesale Royals Jerseys .J. -- Seven games into a disappointing season, New York Giants defensive catalyst Jason Pierre-Paul is getting the feeling hes back. Royals Jerseys 2020 . Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. The concern about repeated head trauma in football is filtering from the NFL into the youth ranks and on Sept. 1, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Pop Warner football and USA Football. One of the lead plaintiffs is Kimberly Archie, whose son, Paul Bright Jr., played Pop Warner from 1997 to 2004 and was found to have CTE after his death following an automobile accident in 2014.The New York Times took a look at what the suit could mean for the future of youth football. (Pop Warner did not return calls from espnW for comment on the suit.)Even before her sons posthumous diagnosis, Archie was an activist when it came to safety in sports; her daughter, Tiffani, sustained injuries while participating in cheerleading. Archie, who lives in Los Angeles, talked to espnW about now being at the forefront of the discussion.espnW: When did you become aware of the issue of brain trauma in youth sports?Kimberly Archie: It really happened in August of 2005, when a girl named Ashley Burns, an incoming freshman, died at cheerleading practice. [My daughter and Burns] both went to Medford so when I saw the headline it said 14-year-old Medford cheerleader dies and I thought, that could be our family. It started with cheerleading.espnW: Did you ever see yourself as an activist?KA: Even before my son died I said why us? Why me? I was trying to run from it, and the next thing I knew I was taking legal classes. I heard my calling long before, but do I want to be the face of CTE?espnW: Before your son died, did you suspect that he was experiencing longer-term trauma?KA: I did radio interviews, and because I was a voice out in public I didnt want to say in public I think he has CTE, but I did discuss the hits to the head and how disturbing it is. [As someone working on the issue and talking to NFL players] you learn the patterns, the position they played, the symptoms, the types of hits they took, because they take a lot.dddddddddddd You see the early signs -- is that CTE or some form of neurological dysfunction? The early signs can be confusing. It was something I worried about.espnW: Knowing what you did, did that change how you experienced the worst moment?KA: We were a typical family, we never thought it would happen to us. Its heartbreaking and it takes all the wind out of your sails. It literally sucks the life out of you.espnW: Have you gotten criticism over the years?KA: It shouldnt be a political issue, an age issue or a gender issue. Everyone should want to protect kids and their future. I get called a liberal all the time, but Im not a Democrat; Im a Republican. I was a Republican in fifth grade. Im not some helicopter mom. I have three kids and I was single for part of that and I didnt have time to be a helicopter parent. But I dont want to give them an injury they cant do anything about.If you get tennis elbow, they have a surgery for that, but what can you do with CTE? Nothing is worse than brain damage. Whether we learn its one in 100 or one in 1,000, moms dont want to play Russian roulette with their children.espnW: What is next for you?KA: Right now Save Your Brain is a big focus, right now working with all the families and working to get brain trauma out of youth sports. ... Moms are going to step up and do it. I dont care if its headers in soccer or checking in hockey, kids shouldnt be learning about this from volunteer coaches. ' ' '