Key Things to Make Pointe Shoes and Work more Comfortable | For Beginners
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| Diagram of parts to a pointe shoe |
So today I thought I would share with you some keep things to have for making your pointe shoes and pointe work more comfortable and which options you can get, and one thing that is definitely true when doing pointe work, the more comfortable you are, the better you will be able to dance. Some of these tips or tricks are obvious but this is mainly for beginners starting pointe work, but you are free to read it if you want to. I am not a professional and this is just my views, experience, opinions and suggestions.
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| Here you can see my pointe shoes with my Ouch Pouches inside them and how they fit smugly |
Firstly, a bit of an obvious one here, protection for your toes. Pointe work is not completely comfortable and never will be, but nowadays there are other alternatives to making your shoes more comfortable to wear than just lambs wool for example (which in my opinion isn't the best as it pushes against my toes when I go on pointe) I use Bunheads Ouch Pouch toe pads (or Ouch Pouches for short) and they are so comfortable. For anyone who doesn't know what ouch pouches are, these are fabric covered gel pads that cover all of the toes and you simply slip them onto your toes before putting on your pointe shoes. Ouch Pouch toe pads are great, they offer coverage for bunion areas, a deep cut vamp to match the line of the pointe shoes and have a sleek shape to them which hugs the foot and keeps them from sliding and bunching when worn, so they won't interfere when dancing or doing barre work. Another useful thing about the Ouch pouch toe pads is that their gel formula helps to prevent 'wear spots' or 'bottoming out' on your pointe shoes. Plus Ouch Pouch toe pads can be cut to size and can be hand washed. However there are other types of gel toe pads as well, such as just gel toe pads with no fabric covering them such as simple gel toe pads that you can purchase from your nearest dance store or Happy Toes gel toe pads, all depending on which you may prefer or how much you want to spend. You can buy these from www.dancedirect.com like I do, as my local dance store doesn't sell any pointe shoe accessories. I also buy most of my stuff from this website but there are other websites as well such and it's your choice entirely if you prefer to use a different site :)
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| Bunheads Jelly Toes |
Following gel products, you can purchase fabric covered gel toe socks such as Bunheads Jelly Toes to help make your pointe shoes more comfortable to wear and protect your toes. These gel toe socks are made of a soft flexible fabric with a cushioning gel lining. They can be cut to the right size for the best protection
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| Here is a picture of how you would use toe tape |
Toe tape can also help. If you want to you can purchase toe tape from your nearest store or a dance website and you just wrap the toe tape around each of your toes before putting on your pointe shoes and this helps to prevent blisters and chaffing. I don't use toe tape as I use Ouch Pouch toe pads instead to protect my toes, but it's your choice entirely.
Warm up. Yes this is pretty obvious but if you don't completely warm up your ankles, feet ect then you will not only possibly hurt yourself, but you will most likely experience pain or cramping in your feet when doing pointe work. I once hadn't fully warmed up my feet and so when I went on to my toes I had cramping in my foot which was not just very painful, but I ended up hurting myself and had to massage my feet to make them better. Warm up exercises that you can use are rising up and down slowly with your feet in first or second position. Another is sitting on the floor with your feet next to each other and relaxing one foot whilst pointing the other slowly, holding it for five seconds and repeating with the other foot. This also works the muscles in your legs as well. Be sure that your heels are not touching the ground when relaxed or pointing your feet in order to fully work you legs as well. I'm sure however that you already do these or other warming up exercises in class but these are just suggestions. |
| Types of foot |
There you have it, just a few things that I think are key for making your pointe shoes and pointe work more comfortable to do. Hope you found this useful if you are new to pointe work or just wanted to know more about it 😃
Thank you for reading,
Yours truly,
Caris
