OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD OMIGOD GUESS WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL???
 |
| LOOK AT THEM THEY'RE SO PINK AND PRETTY AND NEW |
NEW POINTE SHOES!!! :D I don't know if you can tell, but I'm pretty excited. And by pretty excited I mean really excited. Now I can start leaving my old pointe shoes in school and break the new pair in in dance. And I can also use the new pair as performance shoes. Aagghhh this is so perfect!
In the picture I hadn't really touched them yet, so they're still the way they came with one shoe inside the other. These shoes are the same as my previous ones (but newer and shiner and prettier!): Grishko 2007s with a medium shank.
While I'm at it, I might as well get to explaining the anatomy of the pointe shoe. Modern pointe shoes (like the ones I have) were invented by ballerina Anna Pavlova. (Some of you might remember that I did my Inventor Project on her last year.)
Here’s a short list of important words:
shank - supports a dancer’s weight as she’s standing en pointe, varies with ankle strength. Dancers usually start with the softest shank and work their way up from there.
wings - the sides of the box
box - the hard part of the shoe, wraps around the toes
platform - flat part at the end of the box that helps dancers balance
“dead” - when a pointe shoe no longer has the strength to support a dancer’s weight. The shank gets soft and the wings cave in.
I’m currently working on sewing the ribbons and elastics on my pointe shoes. Hopefully by next week I can break them in and put my old shoes away!
~NicoleResources:
http://theshoeroom.nrostores.com/media/wysiwyg/anatomy_of_a_pointe_shoe_1.png
Hey Nicole! I really like how you included all of the information on proper technique. It shows me what to look for and the comparison with the Free People's ad to the under armor commercial was really cool. This all seems very painful to me, and I am really impressed that you can do it. Good luck to you and your feet as you work together to be the best you can be!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kyle! I'm pretty sure you commented on the wrong post, but that's okay. Ballet is so much more technique than people realize, and it doesn't get its recognition as a sport that it deserves.
Delete