How to Tie Ballerina Shoes

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Mikael Monson and I'm a Ballet Instructor for Virtuosity Performing Arts Studio in Camas, Washington and I'm here to teach you how to tie your ribbons on pointe shoes or ballet shoes. Normally when you get your pointe shoes they will come like these. They will have elastics or ribbons on them. You'll be, you'll have to sew those on yourself; but once you've sewn them on, they're going to look some, something like this and you're going to have to tie your ribbons to your ankle. A lot of people think that you tie them and wrap them around your leg like this; that's a common misconception. What you're going to do, there are several ways, several different ways how to do it. I take my outside ribbon first and I'm going to wrap it around here, around the ankle and then I like to tuck it under, that way it's a little more secure and when you're dancing it won't fall out. Then I take my inside ribbon and you wrap your inside ribbon twice; one and then two. You want to make sure that it's really flat there. Then you're going to be tying your ribbons here. Tie them in a knot like this and then I like to go like this and fold them down so it's in a ball, tuck it under and it makes a nice clean little knot. Now the ribbons on your pointe shoes are tied around your ankle so they can support your arch or your foot and feel a little bit more firm on your, on your foot. Another way to tie your ribbons on your shoe is you could do it the same way I showed, but you could tie it in the back and that's about it. I rarely see people tying it on the side. You really want to tie it on the inside of your ankle; that way it just fits right there in the dodge of your foot. And that's how you tie your ribbons on your pointe shoes."