Do You Know How To Make Your Pointe Shoes Slip Proof?

Here are some ideas to slip proof your pointe shoes.  Often as dancers you will find that the stage or even your studio floor is way too slippery, and there is nothing worse than dancing carefully in order not to have a fall.

If you know well in advance that the stage or floor you will be dancing on will be very slippery, you can take your pointe shoes to a local shoe repair shop.  Ask them to put rubber on the platform and sole of your shoes.  Be sure to specify tan as the color, or they will automatically use black if you don’t.  Ask them to extend the rubber to the place on the sole where the shank bends.  In this way the rubber will cover the platform of your pointe shoe and about three quarters of the sole.  They will be able to use the leather on your soles as a guide. Ask them to put a circle of beveled rubber on the heel side of the shoe about the size of a large coin.

This tactic will work wonders for you when you need to dance on a slippery floor.  You will also be pleasantly surprised at how normal the shoes still feels to dance in.

If all else fails, we have also poured coca cola all over a stage to sticky it up.  This method, although it works well, may not abide well with the owners of the floor space you are renting.

Fitting Your Ballet Shoes

Here is some information on how to fit your ballet slippers and pointe shoes properly.

When you start ballet dancing, you will wear comfortable ballet slippers.  These are normally a full sole, but you also get shoes that have a split sole.  Most people prefer the full soled shoe, as they say it gets you used to the shank of a pointe shoe and that they provide more support, but this point has much debate surrounding it.

The split sole is popular amongst experienced dancers, as they show the shape of the foot better and make the foot look more attractive, as they 'hug' the foot.

The best way to buy ballet slippers and pointe shoes is to fit them on personally.  Sizing is different on different makes of shoes, and can even vary between leather, satin and canvass shoes.  In most cases, your ballet shoe size will be 2 or 3 sizes smaller than your street shoe, as ballet shoes are meant to fit your feet like gloves.

If buying shoes for a growing child it is tempting to buy shoes that are a little big, but this is not recommended, as a ballet shoe that doesn’t fit properly can be dangerous.  Most ballet shoes wear out with a few months of use anyway and will need to be replaced regularly.

When fitting your soft shoe, make sure that you can stand flat in them without the toes curling under.  There should be no extra room at the toes.  When you point your foot, the heel must not slip off, and there shouldn’t be a gap between your arch and the inside of the shoe.

Pointe Shoes are a different kettle of fish to fit altogether.  The shank of the pointe shoe is usually available in different levels of stiffness.  If you need more support, you will need a stiffer shank.  You will also need to look at the vamp of the pointe shoe.  For instance, if you have long toes or a highly arched foot, you will need a longer vamp.  When you go and fit your pointe shoes, there should be somebody qualified there to help you to make the best choice.  The shoe must also fit snugly and not allow too much movement in the toe area.  Again, your toes mustn’t be squashed together.  When you plie in the pointe shoe, the shoe should not come off at the heel.  If you have tendonitis, you must order some elasticized ribbon for extra support.

Unfortunately most pointe shoes do not last very long, as body heat and perspiration break down soften the shoes.  As soon as they are not supporting you anymore, it is time for a new pair.

One last tip - when shopping for pointe shoes, never rush.  Take your time and try on many pairs.  Take your ballet tights with you, to get the right fit.  Ask your teacher for recommendations on the fitting and type of pointe shoe that would be best for you.

As a ballet dancer you should know that it is crucial to fit your pointe shoes properly.  This will help you perform to the best of your ability, and will also prevent you from getting injured which can happen so easily in the wrong shoes or ill fitting pointe shoes.

The Ins and Outs of Pointe Shoes

Have you ever wondered how that itty bitty little pointe shoe can support your entire body when you do your ballet dancing? Advances in female ballet dancing technique owe a debt to the technological advances in pointe shoes over the past few decades.

The pointe shoe is designed to support you with its toe box and its stiff midsole or shank. In this way your weight doesn’t only rest on your toes, but on the entire oval shaped platform at the end of the box. The shank in turn presses underneath your arch to support your forefoot. That is why you should make sure that your point shoe is not too wide and hugs your forefoot, so that the box can do its job and support you properly. The vamp on the pointe shoe also helps by preventing you from falling forward and out of the shoe and enables the shank to do its work by keeping the sole of your foot firmly in place inside the pointe shoe.

At first the shanks were made of stiff leather, but leather alone was not an option when dancers began to demand more from their pointe shoes. Today most of the traditionally made shoes have a shank made from a thin stiff material like fibreboard, cardboard, or other types of specially treated paper products. Fibreboard does break and some dancers deliberately crack their shoes in a certain place to control where the shoe bends, but once broken in the shank starts to deteriorate, and this renders many a pointe shoe unusable after as little as one performance. Steel has been tried, but also not popular due to its lack of pliability.

The block of the pointe shoe is not made of wood as a lot of people seem to think. Most of the traditional pointe shoes are made with strips of burlap, canvas or even newspaper, which are saturated in glue then layered like a papier-mache. With wear the traditional box will soften and conform to the foot. Ballet dancers have developed several ways to prolong the life of their pointe shoes. Some include painting the insides with floor wax or shellac. Ballet dancers have been plasticizing their own shoes for ages, long before the synthetic toe boxes came along.

It does seem amazing in this day and age that the pointe shoe design has remained quite unchanged for so long, especially as everything else has advanced so. The problem is that in ballet dancing the aesthetics must always be honoured.  Nobody dares spoil the sleek delicate look of the pointe shoe.

More and more shoes nowadays are made from synthetics, which do offer the advantages of making the shoe last longer, by retaining their shape and stiffness, however these shoes must be fitted with more precision. Many also argue that use of these shoes by the inexperienced dancer does nothing to strengthen her foot the way a more traditionally made shoe would do, as the dancer would need to break them in by working them in and thus strengthening her own feet.