Feet Together, Feet Apart

 

There are five basic positions of the feet in ballet.  People arrange their feet in many more positions since they stand in a variety of ways -- feet close together, spread far apart, placed crisscross, or one foot pointing almost opposite the other. When they are seated, the parameter of the positions of the feet is more limited.  Still, they range from close together to wide apart, and the subway ride is where this is best observed, especially in those trains where long seats are placed facing each other.  Some men take up three seats by opening the knees and placing their thighs at 150º; some women occupy two seats by sitting at an angle with their knees together.  Women, more often than men, sit with their knees and feet together keeping themselves within the boundaries of one single seat.  The feet may be parallel, sprayed, or pigeon footed. Both men and women also cross their legs, with one dangling foot getting in the way of passengers passing in front of them.  Habitually, I sit with my knees and feet together on the subway.  One day, I was surveying the feet peeking under the stall doors of a public lavatory while waiting in line, and saw one pair of feet with lovely shoes neatly together, and the legs, too.  The sight caught my attention and its gentility appealed to me, and since then I adopted the posture when I sit on the potty even in the privacy of my bathroom at home where no one will ever see me.