The Pointe Shoe

A recent question in a forum got me thinking. A little known fact for all of you Ballet fans, Ballet dancers are a very superstitious bunch. Case in point, the Pointe Shoe. That symbol of the ballerina,that lovely pink satin shoe, the thing every little girl dreams of slipping on her foot one day although, not as comfy as the glass slipper some fairy tale beauties get to wear, is the object of many a female dancers obsession. Let me explain. You see, pointe shoes are a funny kind of thing. They are made up of burlap, canvas, paper, and glue, which makes up the tip or "box" of the shoe. The thing we actually stand on. They are encased in a layer of satin, or sometimes canvas. They contain a hard sole, or shank, which comes in a variety of material including cardboard and plastic and give the support needed to stay en pointe. We dancers generally will be fitted several times during our lives and will almost always stay loyal to a certain brand. As a new professional, you get the opportunity to get a special shoe custom designed for you and your foot. It is a wonderful day when your first order comes in and there is your name printed on the bottom of your shoe. It is almost as good as winning the lottery. You now have your very own "maker" and you will most likely be with them forever, unless of course, they decide to retire because of personal reasons and even though you have been wearing the same shoe your whole career, you will now have to search high and low for someone who will make your shoes, in which case you will forever hold a grudge, and yes Mr. )0( I am still mad at you!! Some dancers get to meet their "makers". Freed of London, one of the most famous pointe shoe makers in the world, will schedule a meeting with your cobbler if you are lucky enough.

However, just because they have your name on them doesn't mean they are ready to wear. Oh no, they need to pass a series of inspections and endure rigorous "breaking in" before they will every be danced in. Here is where all the superstition comes into play. Personally, my thing was I always sewed my ribbons and elastics on a certain way. FYI, the shoes do not come with anything on them, we the dancer, must sew ribbons and elastic (some do not use elastic) in order to keep the shoe on your foot as well as offer additional support to the arch. I had my "thing" which just happen to involve the amount of stitches used in attaching the ribbons. Also, if I pricked my finger and got blood on them, they got put aside and used for rehearsal, NEVER a performance. I knew a girl that bit her shoes. That's right, bit them. Another friend would only use a certain thread. It was chaos the day they stopped making that particular thread. Once worn, if you happen to have a particularly good rehearsal in them, they get put aside for performance because it is thought that they have good luck. If you have a really bad rehearsal in them, they get thrown in the trash or sometimes across the locker room.

They are our best friends and our worst enemy. I have known dancers to sit and talk to them before a performance. Yes, you read that correctly, talk to them. It is a strange relationship we have with them. We tend to talk to them a lot. If they are really painful one day, we might choose not the nicest things to say to them. If they are going a bit soft and will not be able to be worn for much longer we try and talk them through it like one of those war movies where the friend is trying to tell the wounded to "just hold on a little longer". If there is one thing we hate, it is sewing shoes. In an average day, a professional dancer will wear 3-6 different pairs of shoes, all at different degrees of newness. Depending on the piece being rehearsed, there are different shoes for different ballets. Classical works tend to need newer, or harder shoes because your are en pointe a lot. A more contemporary piece requires much softer shoes usually, however it will also "kill" them much faster. In a week, on average, I would go through 6-10 pairs of shoes, meaning that they were ready to be signed and sold at performances or donated. I wore more than that, but could usually keep some on life support to see another week. Other things done to our shoes include naming them to help keep pairs together. Personally, I drew pictures on the bottoms. Numbering them also works but is far less creative. Some people scrape the bottoms to help give more traction on the floor. The list can on for days. The thing is, they are our life. Without them we can't do what we do. Although at times we hate them, when you retire, it is one of the first things you miss. So the next time you go to see a performance and you are sitting there watching the girls dancing around in those iconic shoes, remember all the work that went into those shoes to get them on stage, and break out he binoculars and see if you can find out what she is has named her shoes!