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