More than one pair of pointe shoes?

[annaliesey]

my dd got her first pair of pointe shoes in April

 

She's not done very much pointe work in them (10 mins a week interfoundation and 1 x 30 mins pointe class)

 

I'm wondering whether to get her a second pair at this stage. (Quite honestly it's easier to fit in time to get them during holidays than part way through a term)

 

I was just reading somewhere about dancers having several pairs on the go at any one time.

 

As the ones she has now are first pair i wondered whether she would benefit from dancing in another pair (possibly different brand) to feel the difference. Or, in the other hand, should she stay with working in the one pair she has.

 

Thanks in advance

[aballetlife]

if you have more time now, I see no harm in going for another fitting so she has another pair even if she continues to wear her current pair until they're dead.

and yes dancers often have more than one pair of shoes to alternate between to allow the shows time to dry out between classes and rehearsals, I'd say it's usually a more advanced thing to do as there's generally more classes and pointe work involved although anyone could alternate shoes if they wished!

hope this sort of helps?!

[Twiggy]

I find having two pairs or even three on the go at once is really helpful as it allows me to let them dry out after class and so they last slightly longer. I used to get the same shoes but now I sometimes get one pair a little bigger and one a little smaller so my odd feet can have a pair that fit perfectly! This might be helpful if your daughter has one foot bigger than the other, it's also good for emergencies (like when your water bottle leaks all over a pair !)

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Have her feet stopped growing?

 

If not I'd say hang on, but get another pair in hand when her first pair are about to break or just before she has a summer school or performance.

 

Dd has only had one pair this year but next year needs 2 or 3 as sheds be doing pointe most days. Plus her feet have almost finished growing.

 

The lovely lady at Dancique who fitted her last week said that in the first few years its common to have different brands as they sea ch for that elusive pair that are their ideal.

[Anna C]

If now is the easiest time to get a fitting, there's no reason why you shouldn't do so. As others have said, it isn't a bad idea to have another pair in the process of being broken in. Certainly as girls get older and do more and more pointework, it's best to have more than one pair, not only to allow for fully drying out in between classes, but by alternating pairs you can extend the life of lighter-weight shoes that bit longer.

 

However - when girls first start en pointe, unless they have exceptionally strong feet, chances are they will grow out of pointe shoes long before they break them! Feet can suddenly grow when you least expect it, so you don't want to buy pointe shoes which will be outgrown before they've been worn.

 

I'd go for a fitting and ask the fitter to check your dd's current shoes for size and wear.

[Dance*is*life]

I agree with Anna C above - we find that our beginner pointe students will use that first pair for at least a year if not more - literally until they outgrow them! It's only when they start doing a lot more pointe work, that they actually wear them out, although I had one student who used the same pair of Grishkos for about 5 years! By the end they were totally dead, but she refused to buy a new pair and wore them in her final end of year show before she graduated!

[Pups_mum]

I was about to say the same thing as Anna. If her feet are still growing, which if she is young enough to justify be starting Pointe seems likely, then I would stick with one pair for now.Otherwise you will probably end up with a selection of very lightly used but outgrown shoes. Ballet is expensive enough as it is, without any extra avoidable expenses. Once the feet have stopped growing then it is worth having a couple of pairs on the go at once and rotating them, (though my DD rather irritatingly always has a "favourite" pair which gets extra wear despite the fact she wears Gaynors which are allegedly all identical!)

[Legseleven]

Picturesinthefirelight, I hope your DD has found a pair of pointe shoes that she and her teachers like - I remember that it wasn't easy for her to do that

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Her teacher hasn't seen them yet! But dd likes them (they are a brand is not heard of before - begins with m (I keep thinking Merlot but that's wine not shoes! -) also photos of her feet are being sent to Gaynor Minden & shoes are being ordered to try!

[Picturesinthefirelight]

When i said shed had one pair I meant one pair at a time by the way. Hey feet did indeed grow before her first ones were dead but her 2nd pair broke in wrongly.

 

So I would advise to wait for now in the number bid lessons the ops dd is doing at the monent.

[swanprincess]

Her teacher hasn't seen them yet! But dd likes them (they are a brand is not heard of before - begins with m (I keep thinking Merlot but that's wine not shoes! -) also photos of her feet are being sent to Gaynor Minden & shoes are being ordered to try!

Merlet?

[Lisa O`Brien]

Her teacher hasn't seen them yet! But dd likes them (they are a brand is not heard of before - begins with m (I keep thinking Merlot but that's wine not shoes! -) also photos of her feet are being sent to Gaynor Minden & shoes are being ordered to try!

Merlet?

[Lisa O`Brien]

Merlet?

Oh,sorry SP,I see you beat me to it.!!

[hfbrew]

my

I was just reading somewhere about dancers having several pairs on the go at any one time.

You are right about dancers having several pairs, my son's girlfriend (and dance partner) has a huge basket full!

 

Hopefully your dd won't need that many just yet!

[Cara in NZ]

My DD is similar to yours, annaliesey – first pair in March and she has almost broken them in to her satisfaction. However, we had to get a second pair as her water-bottle did in fact leak on them (yay Twiggy!), and they were in a blue cotton bag, resulting in pale blue stains on them. As she is sitting IF exam in Sept, when they have to have 'clean, new-looking' shoes and leotards, I got her a second pair and am trying to get her to alternate so the newer ones are comfortable by exam time. She is only doing one or two 15-minute sessions a week on pointe, but has five classes a week and sometimes they do barre in pointe shoes. She says demi-pointe in the new ones is slowly decapitating her toes though! Her teachers have told them not to do any 'manual' breaking in, only to use their feet.

[annaliesey]

Thanks everyone I hadn't thought about water bottle risks and chances are that'll be right around the corner for us! When she got her soft blocks she managed to have an accident with a pot of mandarins and the juice went everywhere! She spent ages trying to clean them with a toothbrush as was so upset They smelt nice and orangey for ages.

 

I'm curious too about different brands. She has bloch currently. We went with one of her friends recently for a fitting at a shop that sold different makes and it was interesting listening to the pointe shoe fitter talk about different makes.

 

She's really comfortable in what she's wearing though and says she has no discomfort at all.

 

I'm sure her feet are still growing so ill certainly wait until the end of summer. She's only size 3 but seems to have slowed down a lot.

 

It makes sense to have a spare pair even if she'll outgrow them rather than out wear them and I'll just accept that it'll probably be a bit of a waste of £30... But then ive wasted more than that on other things (don't get me started on tights.. What DO they do in them to trash them so quickly?!)

[Legseleven]

Cara, are the blue stains 'concealable' with pancake makeup? DD's teachers always want shoes worn for exams or competitions to be pancaked and the makeup may hide the stains? 

[FullContretemps]

Ooh do let us know how she gets on with the Merlets please!

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Yes Merlet.

 

We stopped off for the fitting on our way to holiday so the ribbons arnt seen yet.

 

Just on our way home.

 

It's interesting what Cara said about having new shoes for an exam. Although ds got new shoes just before her IF as her old ones were getting too small she was told to wear her old ones not the new for the exam.

[Cara in NZ]

Cara, are the blue stains 'concealable' with pancake makeup? DD's teachers always want shoes worn for exams or competitions to be pancaked and the makeup may hide the stains? 

Well, Legseleven, I have to say I have never used 'pancake' – DD at only 11 just has a light foundation for stage make-up and I associate pancake with the heavy stuff we used to wear for plays at university. I really don't know how to clean pointe shoes – but did manage to get the second pair half-price from NZ's equivalent of eBay. Found a dance shop selling off old stock DD has little feet, size 2 although she's in 2.5 with Ouch Pouches – the feet don't seem to be growing at the rate of the lanky legs and arms, even though I understood feet grew first!

[Cara in NZ]

Yes Merlet.

 

We stopped off for the fitting on our way to holiday so the ribbons arnt seen yet.

 

Just on our way home.

 

It's interesting what Cara said about having new shoes for an exam. Although ds got new shoes just before her IF as her old ones were getting too small she was told to wear her old ones not the new for the exam.

Do you know, Pictures, the more I read, the more convinced I am that what we often think is ballet 'gospel' is just different teachers' preferences. I'm sure DC just have to have clean shoes for the exam, not new. But there is so much different advice. Our studio doesn't do ribbons on flat (soft) shoes at all, but at a competition I talked to a mother sewing ribbons onto her daughter's shoes who told me they 'had to have ribbons for competitions'. Er no, as nobody in our studio does and it's one of the best in the region. Another girl 'helpfully' told my DD that they aren't allowed black costumes until they are 14. DD was 11 and had just put on the mostly black barefoot costume that she loved... she doesn't wear that one now  . I try to filter everything I hear now, until I test it on a few more people to see what's fact and what's just the teacher's policy, disguised as fact!

Edited July 26, 2015 by Cara in NZ