Using dead pointe shoes as soft blocks without de-shanking?

[Meetmeatthebarre]

As I was about to start de-shanking a couple of pairs of dead pointe shoes, I was wondering if I could save myself the effort and just use them as is as soft blocks. I get that most dancers kill the box or snap the shank at the midpoint, hence de-shanking to have more flexibility at the demi-pointe area. However, I'm the opposite -  I kill traditional shanks at the ball of the foot - a pair of Grishko M might last me 5 hours before starting to lose support and after 6 hours, I can get to my highest demi-pointe without much effort. (This is why I've moved onto the polymer shank of the Dream Pointe - 8 hours and still alive!)

 

As I've already 3/4 the dead pairs, the shoes with the shanks still in feel very much like normal, broken-in soft pointes. Given the time and effort to de-shank and the hassle of re-lining them, is there any reason I shouldn't use them as soft pointes as they are?

[dancefanatic]

Back when I started learning pointe in the early 1980's, we didn't have soft blocks (not sure that you could even get them).  We simply used our dead pointe shoes.  My DD thinks this is ridiculous whenever I suggest she do the same (her pointe shoe habit at vocational school is utterly ridiculous in my eyes as she can kill a pair of Freeds in one class and could kill Gaynor Mindens in a week!).  I'd say, if you find your dead pointes comfortable enough then do wear them as your soft pointes.

[balletbean]

23 hours ago, dancefanatic said:

Back when I started learning pointe in the early 1980's, we didn't have soft blocks (not sure that you could even get them).  We simply used our dead pointe shoes.  My DD thinks this is ridiculous whenever I suggest she do the same (her pointe shoe habit at vocational school is utterly ridiculous in my eyes as she can kill a pair of Freeds in one class and could kill Gaynor Mindens in a week!).  I'd say, if you find your dead pointes comfortable enough then do wear them as your soft pointes.

Same here but my experience was in the late ‘70’s.   I’ve tried my DD’s soft blocks out of interest. I would go for dead pointes any day. A well worn box is far better option than a new pair of soft blocks. 

[Meetmeatthebarre]

Thank you both! I definitely prefer dead pointes to soft blocks (and my wallet does too) but the question is more, do I really need to go through the de-shanking process if I can work through them whilst leaving the dead shank in place? 

 

I've only heard one argument for continuing to remove the shank, which is to make them feel different enough to pointe shoes so one doesn't accidentally go up on pointe - I just don't think that will be an issue for me though. 

[balletbean]

1 hour ago, Meetmeatthebarre said:

Thank you both! I definitely prefer dead pointes to soft blocks (and my wallet does too) but the question is more, do I really need to go through the de-shanking process if I can work through them whilst leaving the dead shank in place? 

 

I've only heard one argument for continuing to remove the shank, which is to make them feel different enough to pointe shoes so one doesn't accidentally go up on pointe - I just don't think that will be an issue for me though. 

I can’t see any reason to de-shank old pointes. Just not worth the extra time & effort. I just used to try to crush/flatten the box to take the old shoe from a pointe to a demi/soft block. If done right teachers rarely notice the difference. 

[Dance*is*life]

I go back all the way to the '60s in turning dead pointe shoes into soft shoes - no ready made demi-pointes!  In addition we only had lamb's wool to pad the pointe shoes -:no ouch pouches or whatever they call them.   I always took the shank out to soften the inner sole as much as possible - it gave much more flexibility for allegro in particular.  I would say that if you're using demi-pointes for regular class work, then do what you wish, but if it's for exams, I would take out the shank.

[Meetmeatthebarre]

Thank you both! With a bit of time to spare, I did end up de-shanking one of my pairs, and can report back and say that the entire process on Grishkos was a complete waste of time and actually counter-productive.

 

My distant memory was of removing an insole, ripping out the shank and gluing the insole back again; easy. NOT so with the Grishko 2007 family: the shank is firmly stitched and firmly glued into a fabric pocket, which needs to be snipped, twisted, pried and yanked apart with so much force that it took my body-builder partner about half an hour for one shoe even with various tools. (To be fair, it took me about the same time with more knowledge of the shoe anatomy to work with!)

 

The end result? It turns out that there is so much fabric stitched into the box/platform that the hard shank basically disguises and flattens out. Even with a new insole, there is a dent/ hole right under the ball of the foot that almost folds one's foot in half lengthwise at the ball when dancing. 

 

As an experiment, I wore a second dead pair for just one more hour for flat/demi work, really pushing through the demi-pointe and left them to cool down. Whilst they didn't feel as supple as an unshanked/soft block when I put them back on, within 5 minutes of warming up they were supple enough that I could get to my highest demi-pointe without much resistance (I break the demi first in all shoes; in fact, the boxes are often close to intact when my traditional shanks die). 

 

Lesson learned!