How to Fit Pointe Shoes

Pointe shoes, more commonly known as toe shoes, are the hard-toe
shoes you wear during ballet performances that make you look like you're floating on air when you are actually balancing on an area no larger than a silver dollar.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pencils
• Pencils
• White Paper
• Pencils
• White paper
• Toe padding
• Lambswool

Fitting a Pointe Shoe

1. Find your most comfortable pair of street shoes. Use this size as a guide.

2. Stand on your feet on a piece of white paper.

3. Look at the shape of your foot and decide what it looks like to you. Is it wide? Is it narrow? Does it turn in? Determine if you have long toes, short toes, crooked toes; if your foot is long or short; if you have a high instep or low instep.

4. Trace the outside of your foot.

5. Decide which of the styles of pointe shoes that you like matches the shape of your foot. As a general rule, look for a wide box if you have a wide foot and a long box if you have long toes.

6. Choose a shoe 1 1/2 to 3 sizes smaller than your street shoe size. You should have 1/2 inch of space at the tip in a proper-fitting pointe shoe - before application of padding.

7. Apply toe padding (see Section 2).

8. Step into the pointe shoe you chose. You should have a full fit with no gaps.

9. Rise on pointe.

10. Try a smaller or narrower shoe if your foot slides too much forward and the back is not in place against your heel. The shoe is either too wide, too long or both.

11. Try a larger shoe if the heel of the shoe cuts into your heel and feels too tight.

12. Continue to try on shoes until you find a pair that fits properly. With a perfect fit, you don't have to tighten the drawstring, the tips of your toes fit almost to the tip of the shoe, your heel stays in place and you rise with no slippage forward.

Applying Lambswool

13. Take fresh, fluffy lambswool from the box.

14. Divide it into two sections.

15. Work with one fluffy ball at a time and pull the lambswool apart to make a fluffier oval wad.

16. Stretch the lambswool wad and make it as wide as your toes' width. The wad should look almost like an oblong bird's nest and should stay on your toes. Make sure that most of the wool is in the center of the nest.

17. Now place your toes in the center of the long "nest."

18. Pull the wool up to protect and cushion pinky toes if necessary.

19. Use the second section for your other foot.

20. Put your shoes on.

21. Stand on pointe to make sure the cushion is in place. If not, redo the process.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose a long box if you have long toes or even toes; a shallow box with a wide pointe if you have heavy legs, short crooked toes, or want more stability; a deep vamp if you have a high instep; a rounded vamp if you have a shallow instep or a damaged foot; or high box wings if you need stabilization.
• Choose leather toes for practice if you are heavy or want greater longevity for your shoes. Satin toes don't last as long.
• Do not squeeze your foot into too short a shoe, no matter who tells you to. This will cause reduced blood flow to the foot and injury.

[Saimon]

on 5/31/2008 One of the best file centers is Megaupload! For a proper search and downloading use http://megauploadfiles.com/

[dance4life]

on 9/20/2007 Has anyone heard of PointeShoeGlue? One of the dancers at my summer intensive had a bottle and it works great. Better than jet glue. I can't find it in the stores but you can order online. They even have a myspace account with a lot of dancers.

[Gumbigirl114]

on 5/27/2007 although your "how to" is very knowlagable, as a dancer myself, you should leave the fitting up to the professional at the dance stores.

[mspointe]

on 4/27/2007 I highly recommend that one not only look at the shape of their feet but also evaluate their feet in 6D. Does the person have low arches/flat feet, average, or high arch/instep? Does the person have a thick, thin, or average thickness feet? Does the person have any physical/medical reasons to require the use of spacers? And so on. All of this makes differences between the best pointes shape, style, cut, and even shank needs. Hard shanks are not neccarily best or even good for newpointees. Some are better with redboards and others not.

I recommend for all my dancers The Pointe Book (http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=dancinghomesc-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=087127261X&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr ).


Sincerely,
Ms. Pointe
http://DancingHomeschool.com
[e-mail]
Dancer, Choreographer, Dance Technologist, & Advisor

[Dancer4Life]

on 2/23/2007 Quote: "Pointe shoes - I have only been doing pointe work for a couple of weeks now. In our dance school we are not allowed medical tape or padding of any kind. It's very hard work, but this is making our feet a lot stronger and now I can hardly feel any pain."

I COMPLETELY agree with you. Good for your school! Dancing without toe pads or tape can be a wonderful thing. It may seem harsh but it helps SO much.
Toe pads can be incredibly bulky. They sometimes leave inches of padding between you and your best friend(the floor). This can be very dangerous. Also, the advantage of comfort spoils us!
Without all the extra padding or tape you will become much more disciplined, that's a plus! ;) IT encourages you to get ALL THE WAY on pointe and over your arches. It won't even seem like a big deal after a while. It just becomes routine. I find it very rewarding and I love the results!
Keep dancing--it's worth it. Never give up a dream...EVER! =)