Breaking In Your Pointe Shoes | My Quick Trick

Breaking In Your Pointe Shoes | My Quick Trick

When you first get a new pair of Pointe shoes, they can be like two bricks. The shoes are made to be so strong to hold your weight as you wear them on pointe, spin in them, jump in them and so on. However this also means that they can be a pain to break in, especially as a beginner when you are getting used to the techniques and creating strength in your feet and ankles in order to break in the shoes. Without strength, the shoes can take effort to break in. Some brands are harder or softer than others. My old pair of Grishko's, my favourites as they tailor to all my needs, were extremely stiff and hard to break in. It depends on the brand. 

So here's a trick I use once to break in my pointe shoes recently, due the issue of having to wait months to buy new shoes and I must start rehearsing in my Pointe shoes a.s.a.p; I can't afford to wait weeks and weeks for them to break in:

1) Simply find a place to use for breaking in the shoes: on a hard surface that is stable, ideally a clean

Step 1- Face the shoes as shown above 

carpet or floor (I use my bedroom carpet as it won't get my shoes dirty with fluff etc). You will need a hard surface as you're going to bend the shoe against it for support to break it. 

2)Take your Pointe shoe in both of your hands. Make sure the shoes face the way that it would when on your feet. Flip the shoe over so the inside of the shoe faces the ground and the suede shank and sole face towards you, as shown in the picture. Place your hands at the front of the shoe as shown, and gently but firmly push the heel of the shoe into the ground with your hands, being sure to evenly bend the shank for a few seconds. When you are done,

Step 2- Be sure to use both hands, however I have
one hand holding the shoe as I had
to take a photo and hold the shoe

the shank (sole of the shoe that helps you to keep standing) may feel bumpy and more flexible than before, that's fine because that's a sign the shoes are broken in and the shoes will have the curved shape of a foot that they should have. 

3) Now repeat the above on the other shoe. Be sure NOT TO repeat too many times, as this could damage the shank and the shoes structure. Also ensure you use both hands when pushing the shoe into the ground, so the shoe
breaks in evenly.

Step 2 and 3- repeat for step 3

  The reason why this breaks in the shoe, is due to the fact that the shank is being bent slowly from being pressed against the hard surface, and being pushed down on by your hands. Of course, the more the shoes are worn, the more they will break in naturally until you will require new
shoes, however Pointe shoes need to be broken in to a certain extent in order to use them properly. 

The result- broken in shoes, that if you look carefully you can see the
shoe is bent to the shape of my foot and is slightly bumpy underneath
the shank in the image; this is the broken in part

There you go, a quick trick I use to break my shoes in and that I have recently used to break in my new Pointe shoes. My dancing teacher informed me that I had broken in the shoes effectively, and now I can move around in them freely.

Thank you for reading and I hope this helps,

Yours truly,

Caris 

The Search For New Pointe Shoes | Pointe Shoe Fitting

The Search For New Pointe Shoes | Pointe Shoe Fitting

My old, no-more worn, Pointe shoes from August 2014
, as I was that delighted I wrote inside when I first purchased
then xD

My beloved old Pointe shoes are no more. They're frayed, too soft to use and just worn down. So off I went in search of my new Pointe shoes. As a result of this long journey in search of actually having my Pointe shoes fitted, I now currently have lovely, bright, lively Pointe shoes, and what a surprise the same brand... And by the way, some amusing photo of me my sister in law took of me during my Pointe shoe fitting, so yes, laugh away like she did haha.

New Point shoes compared to my old Pointe shoes.
 Old shoes left, new shoes right.
You can see some difference in their structure. 

Let me fill you in. I live in a Town near Oxford by roughly 40-60 minutes in the car, depending on traffic. The nearest Ballet Shop that sells Pointe Shoes as well as having a trained individual to fit the shoes for you, is on the outskirts of Oxford. I had multiple attempts to figure out a method of travel to get to the shop. Bus? No I finish college when the bus leaves and would have to wait over 40 minutes when I am busy later on. Train? wait the train goes back to where I live, not where the shoes are. Car? Oh wait, I can't drive without another individual with me as I am a learner driver. Walk? Oh no, that would take probably a day or more. Lift from someone? NO, no, no. Then: how about my brother and sister-in-law? And that's how I managed to get the Pointe shoes I  needed. Thank you to my relatives I appreciate it so so much :)

So on the day, a Monday to be exact, I went to college in Oxford for the hour, the only hour lesson I have on a Monday, travelled back on the train to the town centre of where I live, met my brother and sister-in-law in the train station car park and hopped into their car. We set off towards the dance shop, which took about 45 minutes, finally arriving at the shop which had wooden floors, white wash walls, and a stash of new Pointe shoes of various different brands to the right of the shop's entrance.

Yep, this was taken the moment I couldn't get the shoe
even onto my heel they were so small! 
And yes, my
face says it all haha xD

When starting to try on shoes, we started with a brand that I hadn't heard of before, and annoyingly have forgotten. These were not very wide, and I couldn't even fit my feet into them. The next, the same brand and the next width up, still had the same issue. Next up, we tried the same brand, as this brand offered shoes for those with tapered feet, like mine. We didn't try on any Bloch brands as these are for square feet and unfortunately don't provide for my build of my feet.

After about 20 pairs of the same brand, and 45 minutes of deciphering the right width and length of the shoes best for my feet, I tried on Grishko Pointe shoes; resulting in more hopeful chances of finding the correct shoes for myself.  The first pair of Grishko's was a pair that once again, the incorrect width, and in fact I couldn't even fit my heel into them. The second, had too much length to them, as my feet slipped down into the shoes when on point: definitely not the right size of shoe. The next pair, once on my feet standing and on point, were literally perfect, Right width, length and size. Only issue was that the shank (the part of the shoe that keeps the shoes structure and that you stand on) was too long, it dug into my feet and even after five minutes of wearing them staring to dig into my left foot really badly, ouch! So then the shop owner got another pair of Grishko shoes, the Grishko 2007 's. Once I put these shoes on, I knew they were the right ones. How? Because my feet weren't being crushed to death within a second of wearing them, because they fit snugly, not too tight or too loose. Standing on point felt effortless without pain as I was able to get over the vamp and onto the platform easily to stand.  I had found the right shoes! After an hour and fifteen minutes, I had found them! Finally after waiting months to go and get a Pointe shoe fitting, I had finally got the Pointe shoes that were perfect. So I brought them, £45.50 plus length of four ribbons for £1.50, cheaper than I had ever seen these items on any dancing website that I know.

New Pointe shoes and correctly coloured ribbon for my Pointe
 shoes brand new in their bag. 

 The happiness I get from the fact they are more comfortable than my old Pointe shoes, because they fit me! The fact that my left foot is half a size smaller than my right, that my feet are tapered (or 'somewhat tapered' because of my longest second toe), my arch is high and my feet are slim but wide where the toe bones meet the foot and that I have long toes, especially a longer second toe. All the things that made it so impossible and frustrating to find the right shoes, had resulted in the best, comfiest shoes! And yes, it still hurts to go on pointe and to wear the shoes, but the normal

My new, shining, well-fitting Pointe shoes.

pain to expect with Pointe shoes, and a pain that is so much less than what I experienced from my old pointe shoes.

Now I can finally reherse in my dance school's dance show in June, without struggling to get over the vamp and onto the platform because my old shoes were too small and the vamp was too long for my feet :)

Thankyou for reading,

Yours truly,
Caris