Jump to content

Old dead pointe shoes and their after life ?


petipacat

Recommended Posts

Hi all,just had a giggle at my dd who is busy doing art GCSE (funny enough the subject is dance ) She has just taken a photo of about 50 pairs of dead point shoes , now apart from using a few as soft points , does anyone else's dd keep all their shoes and does anyone use them for handy storage for jewellery or any other unusual thing ? would love to hear some funny ideas

petipacat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, in 40 yrs of dancing, if I had kept them all I would have had to move out of the house. However, I do have a few pairs from significant performances with the date written inside or on the sole.

 

I do a series of lectures on dance, so I have one pair that is almost new and one pair at the very end of life to show to the people attending the lecture. The old end-of-life pair is truly just a raggy thing barely recognizable as a shoe. The ribbons are even older and more used as I used to take them off a dead pair, wash and iron them, and sew onto a new pair.

 

I never used my shoes in any kind of ingenious way, however, my cat did. Especially when she was a kitten she loved to snuggle down into them - even if they were still wet. ICK!

 

If I could easily get a picture up on this post I would show you just how dead a pointe shoe can be - and look!

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter has hers hanging up by their ribbons all over her bedroom. Mind you, she grew out of them before they were really manky so they look pretty. Once her feet have stopped growing I can't imagine she'll hang up really smelly dirty dead ones. :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a hard enough time getting my daughter to throw out her worn out flats as she always attaches some significance to them. She's only been on pointe for a few months and the day she was fitted she said "I feel like I've been waiting for this day my whole life", so I can't imagine that she'd ever throw away her first pair of pointe shoes!

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've kept my DD's first pair, for sentimental reasons, but after that it's straight to the bin. If she had hers hanging up in the house we'd probably have environmental heath breaking the door down!

I'm just sewing ribbons on a new pair actually and thinking how nice they look, but it's so transient!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's some ideas Uses for dead pointe shoes. Potpourri or a vase seems interesting! I've also seen them mounted in bronze and gold leaf. I have an autographed pair framed on my wall, but these were worn by a well known dancer I liked.

 

My own dead pointes are sitting in the box with my dead flats. Yes that's right! I'm a bloke and I've been known to dance on pointe.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My DS would love to dance on point, isn't there a bit in The Dream? or am I imagining things!

Bottom dances on pointe and it is supposed to represent his hooves. Men on pointe also feature in Mark Morris's "Hard Nut", (based on Nutcracker), and some versions of Cinderella and of Fille Mal Gard'ee. The Trocks and other several other male companies all dance on pointe. If you see the Trocks Olga Supphozova (Robert Carter) on pointe it's amazing. Olga is about 6' in bare feet and has legs that go on forever, even more so on pointe.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've kept a selection of her pointe shoes and flats to make a box picture with - when I get around to it !

She is being fitted next week for pointe shoes for the Olympic Closing Ceremony and I think we'll do something special with those as a memento of the Olympic experience.

 

J x

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was catching up with the Royal Ballet Live coverage on YouTube last night and (I think it was during the Sweet Violets rehearsal) someone asked what dancers did with their old pointe shoes. Leanne Cope mentioned that someone had used loads of them to make a sculpture or similar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I've heard that some art colleges like to take old pointe shoes so students can use them in projects. Also I've heard of people dyeing them and decorating them, as mentioned above, and doing a roaring trade selling them as decorative items at craft fairs and so on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alison,regarding the person who on RB Live who asked what dancers did with their old pointe shoes....That was ME who asked that question.! I mainly asked it because i`m still a bit peeved [hope that`s not a swear word!] that the Royal do not sell dancer`s signed pointe shoes, when other companies do.She said something about giving them to schools , or something.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All my old pointe shoes sit in a box, and some of my current ones which are dead and really do belong in the bin, dot around my room. My very first pair, to my despair, are now black, after they were dyed for a ballet group performance, 3 or 4 years ago. I still have them, in my box. I have only one pair framed, which are a pair of red freeds, that I wore when I appeared in 'the red shoes', in a competition. I love the look of them. :)

 

But I too could do with some inspiration for the old pairs, as I really do not want to throw them away!

 

LB x

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At the RBS summer school last year the youngest group were each given an old pointe shoe belonging to the Upper School graduate class to decorate. The shoe my DD had still had the dancer's name in it and my DD has been following her progress with interest and the shoe is hanging in her bedroom ( along with her very first [undecorated] pair). I know a ballet shop that sells decorated old pointe shoes as gifts - judging by the state of the shoes -they must have come from old unsold stock rather than well worn favourite shoes.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strangely DS brought a bag of his ballet shoes down last night (apparently he has kept all of his) and said he was going to use them to make a hanging form as part of his A level research for his final piece. He has also raided loft for DD pointe shoes which she has also kept. The piece of art is taking shape but involves a drill!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...