Ok, so due to popular demand, I decided to start a little article on pointe shoes – for the beginner. Well, I figure that the intermediate to professional dancer already knows exactly what they’re looking for so they wouldn’t need any help, so this review is mainly aimed at the dancer looking for their first pairs of pointe shoes. Onwards!
Getting your first pair of pointe shoes or toe shoes is often THE turning pointe (ahaha geddit?) of a dancer’s training. A lot of dancers will decide then if they choose to turn their years of hard ballet training into a career, or perhaps move on to other dance disciplines such as lyrical or contemporary that don’t employ pointe shoes. They’re not for everyone, some people don’t like the feeling and others might not have the ankles for it, etc etc Suffice to say, a perfect pair of first pointe shoes will help you in making an unbiased decision that will not be based on accidentally getting an ill-fitting pair and not knowing how they’re supposed to feel. Enough babbling! Moving on.
One way I’ve found in getting good pointe shoes is to get them online. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of choice in brand makes or models and even sizes were limited, most dancewear shops catering to the bulk of dancers with foot lengths and widths that fell into the median category. If you had longer or wider feet, getting fitted for pointe shoes wasn’t so fun. Whereas shopping online, you have all the makes, models and sizes at the tips of your fingers! An added bonus, if you shop smart, you will find certain stores willing to shave off 15 – 30 percent off retail prices and most even have a money back policy!
My favourite pointe shoe brands are, in order of favouriteness! – Freed, Bloch and Chacott. I have also used, Grishko, Sansha and Gaynor Minden and will be reviewing all those shoes here today.