Pointe Ballet Shoes, YIKES!

[Kitzka]

Very, very good point about the local shops. Of course, that bit me in the butt a couple years ago when DH was out running errands with me and I popped in for tights, only to be greeted with, oh hi, Mrs. Cabanafrau, what were you looking for today? DH kind of stopped, then gave me "the eye" when I said the girls needed ballet tights and she turned around & pulled the correct sizes and styles off the rack without another word. Heaven help me if he could have been a fly on the wall when I called a few months back to check if they had gotten in a new supply of DD's pointe shoe, "Your voice sounds familiar. Well, my daughter X -- oh, yes, the Bloch Serenade, we have two pairs at the counter for her." Come to find out they now hold 2 pairs at the counter w/ her name on them at all times. They even bring in the dual-shanked style or whatever it's called, especially for her now. No extra cost to me, just trying to make her shoes last longer. Where can you get that kind of online service?

Both DD's are now instructed that dad is to remain in the car if he needs to run them up there for anything.

LOL this is a great story and how it is at my local dance store. the owner and a few of the employees know DD and I very well. Occassionally i will call before i head in to see if they have a size in a leo or whatever and when i come in sometimes other leos will be pulled "becuase last time you came in you said the straps on the mirella leos were too long for kailey so she should try some of these." and they will sometimes pull other items for dd to try on and will try out new things as a test on DD. it honestly doesn't get better than that.

lara

 

[MichelleinMaine]

besides which no one would be willing to come in contact with a ballerina's used shoes, assuming there's anything left of them beyond a few threads of satin & some mushy "cardboard".

Au contraire- my friend's 9 year old danced in our city production of Nutcracker and was thrilled-to-pieces when Clara gave her the pointe shoes from the performance. Yeah, they were pretty skanky!

 

[smschex]

My DDs have every pair of pointe shoes they have ever worn! Some are really worn out and nasty, but they are all "badges of honor" to a dancer.

We are down to one dance store in town and they certainly know they are the only choice. Their customer service is terrible. The attitude is "this is what we have and you will have to deal with it because we are the only game in town." When DD number 2 needed to be fitted for her first pair of pointes, they brought out 3 choices. I seemed to know alot more about how they should fit than the person helping us (that is not much) and she was the most knowledgeable person in the store. When none of them worked she didn't offer to special order anything, just "I guess we don't have anything for you." We went home and with her teacher's help DD number 1 and I did online research, ordered several pairs and found one that worked well. That is definitely not the way it should be done. However, later a professional fitter complimented her on the fit of her shoes!

And not to burst anyone's bubble, but the search for the perfect pointe shoe is like the search for the holy grail. It is never ending. At least with my daughters, one shoe will be perfect for a while (or a couple of pairs), then something changes and they are on the hunt again for the elusive perfect fit.

 

[Maridw]

This has been one of my favorite pictures since I was a teenager and before I ever got into dance.

I agree that pointe shoes need to be fitted properly in a store before buying them online. Tinker'n'fun had the best list of how to "fit" shoes. But if your DD's teacher can come with you that would be better.

Some kids have very strong arches and break the shank in the toe shoe very quickly. Once that is broken they are not good to dance in. Some shoes offer an additional shank to be able to put in the shoe. Or can be ordered with a double shank.

If you ever have to dye your pointe shoes, get a 1/2 size to full size bigger, because the dye will shrink the shoes. My BF is the owner of a dance studio and one year when she was in her teens, she dyed her shoes and did not take that into account. She danced in them, but did not realize that the red had gotten darker because her toes were bleeding badly.

DiscountDance.com and DanceDistributors.com are both good online companies. Another thing that the dancers chose is the type of insert/pad. Some like the gel pads, others like lambs wool and others like ouch pouches. You need to see which ones your daughter likes the feel of in the different shoes she tries on. She could try each shoe with each type of pad. Sometimes it isn't the shoe,but the pad itself that makes the difference.

I tried pointe for 1 year with my DD and I don't have the strength in my arches or ankles to do it. My D was the same, plus she had a problem with her knees - too much elasticity in the ligaments around her knees. We did one pointe number together in the recital.

Good luck with getting the pointe shoes.

 

[smschex]

If you ever have to dye your pointe shoes, get a 1/2 size to full size bigger, because the dye will shrink the shoes. My BF is the owner of a dance studio and one year when she was in her teens, she dyed her shoes and did not take that into account. She danced in them, but did not realize that the red had gotten darker because her toes were bleeding badly.

DD number 2 was a "Big Mouse en pointe" for our company's recent Nutcracker. The costume required black pointe shoes, so her teacher had the girls use Sharpies to color the shoes and ribbons. It worked really well.

 

[bananda]

2 of my sisters have pointe shoes. my older siser also has demi-pointes. they do need to be fitted properly of they can wreck your feet. dancing on pointe has made her feet shrink and she also has really strong feet so she breaks in her shoes realy quickly. they need replacing pretty often.
my younger sister is still growing and so are her feet.

fortunately for my parents, my older sister just got a job at a dance wear store so she can get staff discounts

 

[Schmeck]

DD16 is on her 3-4 pair of pointe shoes - and each time, they have been a different brand and size. Fittings take over an hour, but maybe she just has odd feet? (Actually, she does have odd feet, narrow and high, and there's an advanced pair of pointe shoes the fitter is anxious to get her into when her feet have gotten strong enough). Shoes have cost from $55-$85.

Have also done the figure skate route with older DD - she did synchro, so didn't need anything too expensive, as she only had to land single jumps. $600 a pair, with blades, usually replaced every 12-18 months. Younger daughter used to brag that all of her dance shoes combined didn't add up to one of sister's skates (so could she have this and that too, to be fair, LOL?)

 

[barkley]

i just want to share that for dancer supplies a good resource can be the outlet stores that some of the companies have.

even if you don't live near one some will allow you to order from the store over the phone. and if you do have one nearby but they don't have the item you are looking for ask them to call any others within their chain to see if they carry the item you need. the thing with some companies is if they have authorized retailers of a product or a certain line of their products, their outlet stores (or even other authorized sellers) may be precluded from selling the item you need if they operate their buisness within so many miles of the seller who has the exclusivity contract. the other outlet stores or retailers in nearby areas may carry the same identical item at a fraction of the cost.

i was friends with the manager of a danskin outlet who made these kinds of calls for customers all the time (she was a dancer who was very sympathetic regarding the cost of supplies).