How is MDM different?

Here are just a few ways the MDM range of dance equipment is different:

The Drawstring – While it seems a purely cosmetic change, by reinforcing the heel MDM are able to dispense with the pull-in drawstring. While there are indeed many cosmetic reasons for doing this and some that are simply irritations, the most important reason is that the majority of the public have protruding heels. This means the heel is susceptible to inflammation if too much pressure is placed upon it. For this reason MDM have replaced the drawstring with a pre-tied elastic that snugly fits the heel to avoid undue pressure on the bursa.

The Hybrid Sole – A full sole shoe is important for the muscular development of the foot. Having a full sole, in contrast to a split sole, provides resistance to the metatarsal area of the foot ensuring that it must work harder through tendu, thus building the necessary strength for more advanced movements. While the MDM Elemental and Intrinsic may at first glance appear to be standard split sole shoes, and do provide all of the aesthetic benefits of split soled shoes, functionally they are full soled shoes providing resistance to the metatarsal areas of the foot to build strength – hence the name “Hybrid Sole.”

The Bones – Our feet start as cartilage and don’t fully develop into bone in most people until our late tween years. And as young people go through the process of growing spurts their bones thin slightly, adapt and change before thickening and strengthening again, repeating until they stop growing. And like any involved in high intensity physical activity dancers can be susceptible to over-training and muscle fatigue. For this reason MDM have added a layer of EVA for impact support and protection to their range of shoes, which cushion the landing to absorb some of the stresses away from the muscles and bones.

Arch support – Landing from jumping, running or even walking on hard surfaces places strain upon the foot up to 5 times our body weight. In an ideal world where we all had optimal posture and technique 100% of the time we wouldn’t require arch support. We would land, naturally pronate a little to absorb the landing stresses, before rolling back into the middle of the foot to take off again. Most people however do not have optimal posture or technique, and even for those with great technique they too are susceptible to fatigue which means a disengagement of accurate technique at certain times. In such cases we land and pronate, yet fail to activate the musculature of our foot accurately and take off from a position of non-alignment which puts stress on the feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back leading to injury over time. It is for this reason that MDM added arch support to it’s Jazz Protract and Sheer Dance Sneakers making them the most comfortable and also the most valuable piece of equipment in your dance bag.

Pronation – As discussed above some pronation is inevitable and indeed desirable. Pronation helps absorb the natural stresses of landing. But as importantly, the foot must also move back from the pronated position to the middle neutral position and take off with the weight evenly distributed across the toes to ensure correct alignment and avoid injury. Dancers with flatter feet or weak feet (and we all start with weak feet) tend to continue pronating and take off from this position, putting undue stress on the skeletal system which can result in the development of a non-aligned musculature. For this reason MDM developed the Dance Base Support which provides feedback to assist in developing the muscles of the feet to provide correct foot position.