Pointe Shoes – Page 8

Best Ballet Shoes Blog – How I got started

February 21, 2011 by 4dancers

Today we have a guest post from Lara–the editor of the Best Ballet Shoes blog….

My name is Lara and I recently began a website and blog all about the best ballet shoes. Having a low arch and a longer second toe, finding ballet shoes that fit was a bit of a challenge for me. But, it was worth the hunt – a great fitting shoe makes all the difference in your confidence and ultimately, your performance.

It must have been hard for my mother to drive me to ballet classes 4 times a week and buy me new shoes all the time. My mother had always dreamed of being a ballerina, but her immigrant parents didn’t have the money to send her to classes – so the dream continued through me, her first daughter. I felt I owed it to her to indulge in her dream for a while, and then I learned to love it. [Read more…]

The Freed Pointe Shoe

January 6, 2011 by 4dancers

Today I’m pleased to announce that we will be doing a series of posts about Freed pointe shoes in the coming weeks on 4dancers. Brenda Neville is a professional fitter and works in retail management at Freed’s boutique store in New York, and she was kind enough to walk us through some of the history, as well as talk a bit about fitting pointe shoes properly and other pointe shoe-related topics. You’ll hear more about these subjects soon…

I admit to having a certain “soft spot” for Freeds. Although I started with Capezio Pavlova’s back in the day, I always was fascinated by the unusual color of Freed pointe shoes. As soon as I was able, I switched over—and never looked back. Freeds were the shoes I wore for the rest of my time as a ballet dancer. And I loved them.

I can still recall going to have them fitted with my Mom in some old building downtown. We would get into the caged metal elevator and ride up to the level that the store was located on. It always seemed like there were no other people in the building when we were there. Instead of that being a spooky experience, it was almost magical. I always enjoyed going to get new shoes… [Read more…]

About Pointe Shoes

November 8, 2010 by 4dancers

Today I’m dedicating a post to pointe shoes.

Like all the other little girls out there, I couldn’t wait to get into a a pair.

And, as anyone who has had their feet in a pair knows–once you do–it becomes a whole other story…

My feet actually survived pretty well–I have little permanent damage from years of pointe work, unless you count the fact that my second toe used to be slightly longer than my big toe, and now they are the same length. I don’t feel it is particularly noteworthy…especially considering what could have happened to them.

After trying several brands, I wound up in Freed pointe shoes, which had an unusual, almost orange cast to the color of the satin. Very pretty. I can still remember going to buy them with my Mom. The place that sold the shoes was in an old building in downtown Chicago. If memory serves, you had to take a cage-style elevator up to the little store, and it always seemed like there was no one else on the floor when you got out. I remember it as a little spooky; but kind of exciting too.

I have always found it interesting, the different ways that ballet dancers prepare their pointe shoes. I didn’t have much of a special routine to break them in, although I always did wrap my ribbons nicely around the shoes after I took them off.

As for protecting the feet, after a while I didn’t bother with lamb’s wool or toe caps. Once in a while I would wind some paper towel around my toes if they were feeling particularly tender. My feet always felt sore to some degree, but you just learned to live with it, and oddly, it simply became normal to be in pain.

I was just telling this story the other day…after my feet toughened up, I was walking through the house without shoes or socks on and suddenly heard a clicking noise each time I took a step on my left foot. When I looked, a tack was stuck into the bottom. I felt nothing, and when I pulled it out, I didn’t bleed either. Kind of funny…

What about you? Any peculiar stories to share? Any preference in terms of pointe shoes? I’d love to hear from you…

Tying Your Pointe Shoes

June 4, 2010 by 4dancers

If you are new to pointe shoes, learning how to tie them so that they stay looking pretty is a part of the package. If you are a ballet teacher, you’ll want to be able to show your students the proper way to tie ribbons. This video on YouTube is a good one for going over the basics.

I used to use hairspray to keep my ribbons tucked in for performances. Every dancer comes up with their own tricks for keeping things neat and tidy. Feel free to share if you have something to add…I love hearing how each dancer does things. It’s always a suprise to see what other people come up with!

History Of Pointe Shoes

November 4, 2009 by 4dancers

Have you ever wondered about the history of pointe shoes?

It is interesting to see how they evolved into what we use today. Modern pointe shoes are a very far cry from what they were many years ago. It’s fascinating to think about what they will be like in the future…

When I was actively dancing, I used lamb’s wool to wrap my toes when I first started out on pointe. I found it to be miserable–it shifted around like mad, and wadded up in all the wrong places inside my shoe. As soon as my feet toughened up I switched to paper towel. A rather unorthodox substance, but it worked well for me. Some dancers I know used nothing, or toe pads… [Read more…]

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