Thoughts on Pointe Shoes

Miss Sara and I are starting to contemplate new pointe shoes, lovely dancers! My thoughts on the pair that I currently have (which are important in the new shoe process)…:

• I like the color. Yes, my shoes are perfectly pink and lovely. I couldn’t have asked for more style points!
• After wearing the shoes a few times, I noticed that some adjustments would need to be made. I couldn’t get out of pinky-toe blisters without tape, so that was added.
• My shoes got progressively wider. They widened to the point where I needed to add a pair of nylon socks to my gear. They filled the space, but made it that much harder for me to make the shoes bend, which brings me to my next point…
• The Capezio Tendu IIs are absolutely unbreakable. Indestructible. Invincible. And occasionally I feel very restricted, as if I could be over my arches, but the shoes just won’t allow me to get there. 
• However, when my shoes began dying outwardly, they really started to die. One scuff lead to many scuffs and color changes. 
• On top of it all, my feet grew, leading to the expansion of my laces. Despite the growth, my feet are still not big enough to fill the gap without my nylons. 

Strange– how much you can love your first pair of pointe shoes, yet want a new pair so terribly much.

So, Miss Sara has come to the conclusion that, while my shoes may last me a few months more, they will never make it through this coming year. That stated, I could break in a new pair while killing the other (just as many dancers do). This seems like a good idea to the two of us.

The problem: I’m going on vacation. I am SO excited to travel; however, I will miss out on Miss Sara’s planned “pointe shoe trip.” While working out the details, I found this:

A pointe shoe chart– a graph which tells dancers what pointe shoes they are likely to fit into (no guarantees), based on foot shape. Nice! Thanks to my “Greek-type foot with a wide toe,” here are some styles that the chart recommended:

• Capezio Infinita, Plie I, Tendu I, Odette, Plie II and Tendu II (<— Interesting…)
• Bloch Serenade 
• Chacott Velloneze 2
• Repetto 207
• INNOVATION
• Gumba 93 and 97
• Sansha 202
• Grishko Elite