advice on ballet shoes, please!

[balletmummy]

Our dd has incredibly narrow feet and we struggle to find ballet shoes which fit well (thank you to Helene at Dancique in Birmingham who has been absolutely wonderful!) Dd is currently wearing canvas full sole shoes as they fit best.

 

However, we have an interesting situation developing and any advice would be welcomed. Dd is due to take her ballet exam in June and her teacher is insisting on her wearing leather shoes! The RAD allows either leather, satin or canvas shoes for exams. Has anyone else experienced problems with their teacher on this? Can a teacher prevent a child from entering an exam just because they are not wearing the type of shoe they want them to wear, even though it comes under the RAD uniform recommendations?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[threeleftfeet]

Yes, we experienced this exact problem. It was made clear to us that we had to go with what the ballet school wanted and toe the line regardless of how inappropriate they were for my dc's feet... sorry not very helpful  

[sarahw]

We have the narrow foot problem and it's a nightmare. The only leather shoes which we have ever found are Bloch prolite in the A fitting.

 

Have you explained the scenario to your teacher? If they are unwilling to budge it would make me think twice about the school - it will reflect on them if the foot isn't shown off to its best.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

We have the opposite problem with wide feet (also Dancique customers)

 

All dds teachers have been happy for her to wear whatever fits as long as they were full sole at her local ballet school & split sole when she went to Voc school.

 

If they had not have been we would have insisted or left the school.

[Legseleven]

No, the teacher can't insist and the examiner won't care at all as long as the shoes are one of the required types. If you speak to the teacher and explain the situation - and that Dancique have agreed that the shoe they have fitted is the one that suits your DD's feet best (perhaps she could speak to them if she is dubious about this?!) - and she still insists, then I'm afraid I would have serious doubts about this school being right for your DD. Surely she wants your DD's feet to look as good as they can and for her to be able to dance as well as she can without the irritation of too-wide shoes flapping about around her feet?

[southerndancemum]

My DD also has crazy narrow feet (c width at best in Clarke's)

We get her leather ones made to fit in Freed now which has not been without complications but they do look nice

 

Good luck.