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What's your favourite pointe shoe and why?


CharlieChuck

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  • 2 weeks later...

It took me ages to find "the shoe" but for me it's Grishko Maya 1 special order. 

My special order usually consists of:
- Maker number 18

- One shoe 4 X one shoe 4.5 X or both 4.5 X but I think I prefer the combo as my feet are different enough.

- Super soft shank or soft shank with easy roll thru

- Vamp made 1cm lower with drawstring

- Side quarters sometimes made lower

- Platform made a little wider

 

I have tried many many brands and styles of shoes and wastes tons of money over the years. But this is certainly the shoe for me.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My favourite pointe shoes of all were Bellini (hence my user name !) unfortunately long since discontinued but suited my feet wonderfully and required the minimum of preparation to wear.Next i wore the then available Freed Turning Pointe shoe which i found comfortable.Then followed Sansha Whispers which you could add a plastic insert in to the shank for extra strength.To date just fine still wearing Sansha`s .

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I haven't done pointe work for months but felt through I went through every pointe shoe... ever to find a pair that were OK. Still looking for my dream pair. I have a very wide forefoot (take an E in Bloch) with a tapered/narrow heel portion. Ridiculously high profile/arch too (I had special street shoes as a kid because of it.)

 

Currently in Sansha recital, width W (not X surprisingly!) size 10. They are not perfect though and I have elastic and ribbons... still with some heel slippage :/

 

Also have a pair of Bloch Aspirations size 6E.

 

I really wish I fit the Bloch Sonatas- love the padding in the toe but sadly the vamp was just too long.

 

List of shoes tried:

Bloch Alpha (hated the shank)

Bloch Sonata

Bloch Synergy

Bloch Serenade (total disaster fitting, ended up with very seriously bruised toenails!)

Freed Classic (too narrow at the front and wide at the back)

Gaynor Mindens (again, ended up with bruised toenails)

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Have you looked at Bloch Suprima or Axiom Beckyl? Both are tapered, maybe Axiom would be worth a try as they're wider across the box. I think pretty high profile too, only thing is the vamp might be too long.

 

Both are listed as being a low profile shoe on the perfect pointe master list? Next time I'm in London it might be worth giving those a try, thanks for the suggestion :) Like I said, I really love the sonatas save for the very long vamp. Unfortunately all low profile shoes I have tried before have severely bruised my big toes :/ When I say my profile is high I mean <I>high</I> (nearly two inches!)

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My first couple of pairs of pointe shoes were Gamba, then I ordered a pair of Sanshas from a catalogue without ever having tried them before just because I liked how they looked (don't try this at home folks ;) ) Amazingly, they were the perfect fit for me, my teacher approved and I have worn them ever since.

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I haven't done pointe work for months but felt through I went through every pointe shoe... ever to find a pair that were OK. Still looking for my dream pair. I have a very wide forefoot (take an E in Bloch) with a tapered/narrow heel portion. Ridiculously high profile/arch too (I had special street shoes as a kid because of it.)

Out of interest, what do you do for flats? I have a very wide forefoot, too. 

 

I don't mind the false arches if they don't look obvious. It is all down to directors and choreographers. They want their dancers to have that type of foot. If that is going to go against you at an audition or casting, I say wear your arches.

Seems to me that it's equivalent to wearing an overpadded padded bra (there are loads in M&S these days, I noticed recently). 

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To me, the arch enhancers are the equivalent of hyperextensions - sort of a case of more is better just because it must be. We're going to end up with dancers' feet looking like claws at this rate. Sometimes I wonder whether we'll start seeing dancers who can do turnouts of more than 180 degrees and then it'll become the norm to dance with your feet facing backwards just because it's the most extreme thing you can do, regardless of how much sense it makes.

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Out of interest, what do you do for flats? I have a very wide forefoot, too. 

 

 

 

 

Flats are a nightmare! Currently quite like the So Danca SD-16 canvas stretch model (such a high profile that drawstrings hurt :/) or I use the Tanzmuster satin model as it has an elastic drawstring.

 

In pointe shoes, my other issue with Sonatas is that they weren't quite wide enough. The Aspiration seems to be better width-wise. Ironically, the synergy model which is supposed to be perfect for a Y-shape foot were not wide enough.

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Hi Twiggy, my DD is currently looking for an alternative pointe shoe as it's too difficult to source her present shoes (Russian Pointe Encores) where she is training and her teachers would like her to change.

She tried on a pair of Wear Moi La Pointe the other day, liked them and I think she will end up ordering a pair.

It will be interesting to see how she finds them.

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Hi Twiggy, my DD has worn Wear Moi pointes for last year and half, loved them but found that they 'die' too quickly, even with the hard shank.  They were also pretty hard to get in the UK as there are very few stockists and we regularly had to wait several weeks for new stock which has encouraged us to try another brand.  Would still recommend these though as you can get reinforced extra hard backs,  which we may try should my DD go back to this brand :).   

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To me, the arch enhancers are the equivalent of hyperextensions - sort of a case of more is better just because it must be. We're going to end up with dancers' feet looking like claws at this rate. Sometimes I wonder whether we'll start seeing dancers who can do turnouts of more than 180 degrees and then it'll become the norm to dance with your feet facing backwards just because it's the most extreme thing you can do, regardless of how much sense it makes.

Hi Melody.

Where will it end?

Here, or worse...

 

One of the reasons that I love Bournonville's ideas is that he always warned against turning dance into a circus act. Like the "chinese contorsionism meets classical ballet".... circus act.

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