Pointe shoes - shapes, sizes and evolution

[Anon2]

 

I have read some complaints on dancers' boards that Gaynor Minden platforms are not flat and it's very hard to darn the platform to increase stability. No idea how true that is though -- I suspect for professional dancers they would have custom made shoes. These sounded like girls just using pointes for the first time.

Unless they’ve changed in last year or two every pair of GM I’ve ever seen have a suede platform so never need darning. They are also some type of polymer so very flat not like the paste and glue ones that might have a manufacture ‘imperfection’ They are however the most difficult shoes to sew ribbons onto. 

[maryrosesatonapin]

23 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

I think it is possible to differentiate between good, bad and so-so technique purely by observation, without any highly-defined knowledge or training.

 

I can recognise, for instance, that Naghdi's technique is exceptional in the tutu roles and that Hayward has the delicacy and fleet of foot required for much of Ashton's works.

 

I am prepared to overlook Hayward's technical shortcomings in the tutu roles (which, I might add, I can easily recognise) because her artistry is so extraordinary.

 

Oddly, and despite her rock-solid technical skills, I find Naghdi less convincing  in the tutu roles than in the Macmillan ballets yet her ability to inhabit the Macmillan roles shows that she does possess the necessary interpretative skills.

 

This seems to suggest that both of these exceptional dancers are still playing to their strengths and both, I am sure, will continue to develop the skills that are currently secondary. It took a long time, for instance, for Nunez to convince me from an interpretative angle but now I take this as a given.

 

My daughter, who first saw a ballet at 16, immediately identified with the technical strengths and weaknesses of each dancer and each work without any technical knowledge whatsoever and continues to deliver a detailed and accurate criticism from lay-observation only.

It's possible to differentiate to an extent but not so accurately as if you are a trained dancer.  I've been watching ballet for decades and feel I can quickly sum up if a dancer is 'good' or not, and in what way, but I have never danced myself and if I go with a trained friend they point out things I'd not have noticed, which are immediately apparent to them.  We can all kid ourselves we are excellent critics but that in itself is a variable thing.

I don't consider Naghdi's technique to be 'exceptional' - good, yes, but I've seen quite a few faults/mistakes/wobbles from her although that is forgivable.  I agree that Hayward does have a special gift and just hope she amends her technique so that it equals her beauty.

I certainly wouldn't have been knowledgeable enough to make the points that some of the expert members of this forum explain so well, and for that I thank them very much.

[Scheherezade]

Absolutely, Mary Rose, a trained dancer will obviously, one would hope, be able to pinpoint technical skills and requirements more accurately. I was merely giving my two penn'orth following on from the interchange of views between Jane McNulty and Xandra Newman.

 

My comments regarding Naghdi and Hayward were not intended to have global application by comparison with other dancers at principal level. I chose to use Naghdi and Hayward for illustrative purposes since much of the discussion on this forum centres upon the relative merits of these two dancers and since they both possess different and readily identifiable attributes.

[Mérante]

22 hours ago, Richard LH said:

 

Pardon my ignorance Katharine (as a relative newbie to  ballet)  but which is Chloé Révillon and which Elizaveta Petrova? My inexpert eye cannot really discern the differences you describe and it might  help if I  was at least looking at the right dancer ! 

In reply to Mr. Richard LH:  Chloé is the taller, very slender girl in the red bodice, Elizaveta Petrova the smaller, dark-haired and strongly-built girl.  I used the French word "dorsal" in error, rather than the English "thoracic" spine - I did mean the thoracic spine.  Sorry about that, and sorry for the delay in replying to you.

[Xandra Newman]

1 hour ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I don't consider Naghdi's technique to be 'exceptional' - good, yes, but I've seen quite a few faults/mistakes/wobbles from her although that is forgivable.  I agree that Hayward does have a special gift and just hope she amends her technique so that it equals her beauty.
 

 

Can you name me one ballerina who does NOT make a mistake/wobble/ fault  ? That's not a basis upon which to judge a technique  

The great and good, past and present, have all wobbled and made mistakes. You are not a fan of Naghdi, that you have made very clear in previous posts, and that's absolutely fine but dance critics' reviews contradict your judgment. You are of course perfectly entitled to your own opinion!

Edited December 4, 2019 by Xandra Newman
.

[Richard LH]

4 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

"The gap between the floating ribs and hip-joint is too small, she is too down in the torso...":

 

Dr Coppelius is on the case...

 

 

But unfortunately this is the result....!

 

[Mérante]

Title:  Josette Amiel triumphs over pointe shoe.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmbNTyI2Mm4

 

As one sees here, Josette Amiel, a wonderful and bizarrely-unknown ballerina these days, is saddled, so to speak, with that epoch's clunky shoes:  goose-beak vamp and a very stiff sole, given the jumping she is about to do.  HOWEVER,  she triumphs ! WHAT a dancer!  WHAT technique!  There is NOTHING that woman could not do.

Nota Bene:  in her day, the French school would still use the "sbalzo" (spring) technique in allegro pointe work.  Hence that unbelievable lightness.  

(As for Flemming Flindt ...  the word "charisma" might have been invented for the occasion ...)

 

[LinMM]

Ha ha Richard LH that made me laugh thanks 😊

I do know this space between the ribs and the hip joint and how being ‘off’ the hips is important especially in my view in jumping. 
However I’m not so good at seeing it in other dancers when they are performing and moving! But the Toni Lander clip did seem to illustrate it perfectly. 
Its something you might more easily notice if you were actually in class with someone. 

As you’ve mentioned Mr. Tully Katharine I can say I love his classes ....he likes us to think of the spiral action in the body and so how things work in opposition to each other....how epaulement comes into play... a very subtle movement from the back. Even though am only a reasonably competent Intermediate level dancer I really feel as if I’ve danced in his classes and don’t know any other teacher who involves you in the whole expressive movement of the body in the way he does. He is still teaching at 91 years old....truly inspirational! 

Just at the moment though I couldn’t be more down in the hip as haven’t attended a ballet class since August 😩 disappointing how quickly certain muscles can lose form when not used 😬