Sally-Anne Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Just looking for recommendations on which brands to try for a first pair of pointe shoes for my almost 12 year old. She has small, very narrow feet, (Size 1.5) and they are not especially flexible or strong at this moment (So I don’t think she will need a very strong shank at this stage, not that sort of foot!). I will speak to her teacher as well but was interested in others experiences with first pointe shoes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanangra Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Sally-Anne, does your DD do strengthening/flexibiilty exercises to help her feet? My DD struggled with her feet (narrow and bony) and we went through quite a few shoes. She also physiotheraphy sessions to help. (Eventually she ended up in Gaynor Minden and after she went full time her feet improved exponentially.) Bloch seems to have the biggest range of shoes. In Australia most dancers seem to start off in a Bloch shoe, and then move on to other brands like Grishko or Gaynor. I've heard Freed of London is a good style too, not very widely available here but I'm sure it is there! Good luck to your DD with her pointe shoe journey! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 6 minutes ago, Kanangra said: Sally-Anne, does your DD do strengthening/flexibiilty exercises to help her feet? My DD struggled with her feet (narrow and bony) and we went through quite a few shoes. She also physiotheraphy sessions to help. (Eventually she ended up in Gaynor Minden and after she went full time her feet improved exponentially.) Bloch seems to have the biggest range of shoes. In Australia most dancers seem to start off in a Bloch shoe, and then move on to other brands like Grishko or Gaynor. I've heard Freed of London is a good style too, not very widely available here but I'm sure it is there! Good luck to your DD with her pointe shoe journey! She does do exercises, and the feet have improved a lot, but they still have some work to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixiewoo Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) My advice is to go to a shop with a variety of shoes and an experienced fitter. My DD has incredibly wide feet and the fitter worked very hard trying lots of different shoes the first time. 2nd pair of shoes was almost as long, as now DD knew what they should feel like, and had opinions on vamp, shank etc. It's not quite such a long process now! If you say where abouts you are, I'm sure people will be able to recommend shops/fitters. Edited October 6, 2020 by Pixiewoo spelling 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanangra Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Check out a website called The Ballet Blog - it is run by a physiotherapist called Lisa Howell who is a bit of a guru in dance physiotherapy. (She also has a range of books.) You might find something there to help too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 15 minutes ago, Pixiewoo said: My advice is to go to a shop with a variety of shoes and an experienced fitter. My DD has incredibly wide feet and the fitter worked very hard trying lots of different shoes the first time. 2nd pair of shoes was almost as long, as now DD knew what they should feel like, and had opinions on vamp, shank etc. It's not quite such a long process now! If you say where abouts you are, I'm sure people will be able to recommend shops/fitters. Thanks, we are in London Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum of unicorn dancer Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 My DD did pre point excercises online course with ballet physio (Luke) during lockdown for 12 weeks. She has very narrow and bony and tapered feet albeit size 3. Thanks to every day excercises her feet improved a lot. Ballet boutique London (Wimbledon or Kingston) fitted her with Bloch Triumph as her first shoe. They are really good, experienced and have variety of brands. As her feet are getting stronger and shoes will be dead soon after couple months, she might need a different shoe now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SissonneDoublee Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 4 hours ago, Sally-Anne said: Thanks, we are in London Dancia in Covent Garden have a wide range. And as your DD gets older she may prefer to go straight to Freed or Bloch if she is in either of those, as the individual shops carry even more options within their brand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 53 minutes ago, SissonneDoublee said: Dancia in Covent Garden have a wide range. And as your DD gets older she may prefer to go straight to Freed or Bloch if she is in either of those, as the individual shops carry even more options within their brand. Great, good tip, Dancia is easy for us to get to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) Maybe email a few shops to see what they have. A lot of brands don’t even make anything that small. It’s trickier finding narrow shoes in a 1.5 aswell I think they may have to special order! Edited October 6, 2020 by Peony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mummy twinkle toes Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 When Dd1 started she was a size 13 shoe but luckily Grishko 97 size 1s fitted her perfectly. When we were looking the only ones stocked in this size were Grishko or Sansha. Before you go to Dancia, it might be worth checking what sizes they start at. Grishko do small sizes but many U.K. shops start at size 2 or 3. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna C Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 In my experience, some models of Grishkos can be quite hard and not particularly flexible, especially for beginners without very strong feet. I’d go to Dancia, Bloch and Freed (Freed do “light” and “Opera” versions of their pointes which are great for beginners). Freed are only seeing people by appointment at present so it would be worth checking with the other shops too to see if you need to pre-book there also. Gaynor Minden shoes are lovely but very expensive and given that young students are likely to outgrow their first few pairs of pointe shoes long before they “kill” them, I’m not sure I would spend that amount of money on shoes that may only fit for a very short while. As your dd progresses en pointe, her feet will change and strengthen as well as growing so don’t assume that her second, third and fourth shoes will automatically be the same make or model as the first ones. If you have all your appointments on the same day, don’t be afraid to ask for the shop to put a pair aside for a few hours so you have several to compare before choosing one. Good luck! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Grishko also do a ‘light’ shoe called novice for beginners. I think Anna is right, aim to book as many of the big shops (dancia, Bloch, freed, capezio) as possible on the one day as I think you’ll be pretty limited in each because of the size. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SissonneDoublee Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 11 minutes ago, Peony said: Grishko also do a ‘light’ shoe called novice for beginners. I think Anna is right, aim to book as many of the big shops (dancia, Bloch, freed, capezio) as possible on the one day as I think you’ll be pretty limited in each because of the size. Also, build in coffee shop breaks to rest feet as you walk between the shops. Otherwise feet can swell and you wind up in a wider shoe than your DD actually needs! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 16 minutes ago, Peony said: Grishko also do a ‘light’ shoe called novice for beginners. I think Anna is right, aim to book as many of the big shops (dancia, Bloch, freed, capezio) as possible on the one day as I think you’ll be pretty limited in each because of the size. a lot of people are very quick to dismiss Grishko without considering their full range , they have a number of ' last families' ( which freed classics have a lot of variation with maker , the basic lasts are all similar so if you don't have a freed foot ) and there are the 'novice' build options with Grishko and if you have a confident and competent fitter a whole load of build options that people don't even get with 'Company level' service from certain other big names) ... the best fittings i've had have been quite long , my most recent fitting despite this being serious pair number 4 , was a couple of hours with the fabulous Leanne but we went on a tour of everything in the Grishko range that might fit me before ending up with the Maya 1 Special edition which is currently an Leanne exclusive 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 The only problem with anything that isn’t a stock shoe at that age is that it’s quite likely they will have outgrown it before it’s received! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Are there no shops in your area? Most good teachers go with their pupil for a first fitting - as they most of all know the pupil's strenghts and weaknesses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 1 minute ago, Pas de Quatre said: Are there no shops in your area? Most good teachers go with their pupil for a first fitting - as they most of all know the pupil's strenghts and weaknesses. Not directly we are in east London. So we need to go in to central London. I’m an ex ballet dancer myself so I have a pretty good idea of her strengths and weaknesses, just a bit out of date as to what is available now! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 In that case I would also recommend Dancia. They have a good range of brands and styles. Good luck - let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 11 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said: In that case I would also recommend Dancia. They have a good range of brands and styles. Good luck - let us know how it goes. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Wouldn't being accompanied by a teacher contravene some Covid regulation or other at the moment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 I accompanied a pupil last Saturday for a fitting. The poor girl was meant to have them in May, which happily coincided with her birthday, but that was not to be. Anyway we booked a fitting, they have a limit on the number of people in the shop, and within the shop they have a dedicated pointe fitting room with a further limit. Only one adult can be in there with the dancer and the fitter, so the mum waited outside the doorway in the bigger shop. She could hear what was happening and could peep in occasionally. Everyone was happy with this. We found an excellent fit - first lesson will be on Friday! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlexyNexy Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 My DD has narrow and very bony feet. She tried all shoes available but her preference is Grishko 2007 from start. For performances she uses Gaynors but training Grishko hard shank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 On 07/10/2020 at 10:10, alison said: Wouldn't being accompanied by a teacher contravene some Covid regulation or other at the moment? in what way ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowlight Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 (edited) 25 minutes ago, NJH said: in what way ? I think that given this is a business arrangement (ie the teacher is doing this as part of their job) it would not contravene COVID regulations - as long as social distancing could be maintained within the dance shop. Edited October 8, 2020 by glowlight typo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 4 minutes ago, glowlight said: I think that given this is a business arrangement (ie the teacher is doing this as part of their job) it would not contravene COVID regulations - as long as social distancing could be maintained within the dance shop. Yes you are probably right, but I wouldn’t expect our ballet teacher to risk travelling in to central London on the tube at the moment unless it was really necessary 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glowlight Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 2 hours ago, Sally-Anne said: Yes you are probably right, but I wouldn’t expect our ballet teacher to risk travelling in to central London on the tube at the moment unless it was really necessary Agree totally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 3 hours ago, glowlight said: I think that given this is a business arrangement (ie the teacher is doing this as part of their job) it would not contravene COVID regulations - as long as social distancing could be maintained within the dance shop. yep exactly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 So we went for our fittings today and she had ended up with a pair of grishko 2007 pro flex which look lovely and she felt were the most comfortable/ easiest to get up on 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 I didn't know that Grishko also has a shoe with a more flexible sole - all the ones my students come back with are really, really hard, which are fine for experienced dancers with high arches, but disaster for newbies. Possibly the pro flex that you bought are not available here, but could be ordered online. Are they flexible enough to roll up through the balls of the feet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sally-Anne Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 6 minutes ago, Dance*is*life said: I didn't know that Grishko also has a shoe with a more flexible sole - all the ones my students come back with are really, really hard, which are fine for experienced dancers with high arches, but disaster for newbies. Possibly the pro flex that you bought are not available here, but could be ordered online. Are they flexible enough to roll up through the balls of the feet? Yes she can roll through. They are really flexible, my daughter doesn’t have the strongest or most flexible feet, I was a little worried she wouldn’t be able to bend them at all or get up on to the shoes but they are really good actually. I’m impressed! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peony Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 56 minutes ago, Dance*is*life said: I didn't know that Grishko also has a shoe with a more flexible sole - all the ones my students come back with are really, really hard, which are fine for experienced dancers with high arches, but disaster for newbies. Possibly the pro flex that you bought are not available here, but could be ordered online. Are they flexible enough to roll up through the balls of the feet? Haven’t tried the pro-flex but the novice comes with a super soft shank (which I believe can be put onto any other shoe as a special order). They’re too soft for me, but I presume that’s because I’ve got a high arch and am adult size! The thing I find with grishko is that it’s just the section at the Demi pointe that is rock solid, the rest of the shank isn’t that hard. I’ve only had the ‘roll through’ models but that section still doesn’t give a lot. I think the pro flex is meant to be more flexible there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJH Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 14 hours ago, Dance*is*life said: I didn't know that Grishko also has a shoe with a more flexible sole - all the ones my students come back with are really, really hard, which are fine for experienced dancers with high arches, but disaster for newbies. Possibly the pro flex that you bought are not available here, but could be ordered online. Are they flexible enough to roll up through the balls of the feet? few too many people are quick to dismiss Grishko on the basis of limited stock held by local shops who try to fit all kinds of brands ... it;s not been helped by Difficulties Grishko have with finding a territory manager for the UK who knows enough aobut the product and is a good enough territory manager for what is a quite specialised product Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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