Pointe shoe making in UK 'critically endangered' craft skill

[Lynette H]

Spotted at the very end of the list of the end of this article which discussed crafts in the UK added to the Heritage Crafts Associations endangered list  - pointe shoe making, a new addition to the list.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/24/kilt-making-and-glassblowing-added-to-list-of-uks-endangered-crafts

 

"Age-old crafts including the making of glass eyes, compasses and sporrans have been added to a “red list” of skills feared to be threatened with imminent extinction in the UK."

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

That's dreadfully sad news Lynette.  I know it must be a niche industry but I would have thought that there would still be enough call for people in this country.

[Pas de Quatre]

I believe it may be because pointe shoe making has become more a factory process than an individual craft.  To be honest, I think modern production methods have much better quality control.

[Sabine0308]

There's an online masterclass with principal dancers, among them Iana Salenko from Staatsballett Berlin. Since many years, she gets her Pointe shoes from Freeds London. Still, she pretty much builts them up again and here she explains how:

 https://www.dance-masterclass.com/iana?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dance-masterclass.com%2Fa%2F2147487245%2F2fspMUqN

[Ondine]

This is sad. As a 'heritage craft' it appears pointe shoe making in the UK is considered critically endangered.

 

Critically endangered

Crafts classified as ‘critically endangered’ are those at serious risk of no longer being practised in the UK. They may include crafts with a shrinking base of craftspeople, crafts with limited training opportunities, crafts with low financial viability, or crafts where there is no mechanism to pass on the skills and knowledge.

 

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/categories-of-risk/

 

I can remember when Freed, Anello and Davide, Gamba, Mr Porselli in his amazing time warp West Street shop (who remembers?) all were the 'go to' manufacturers in the UK for pointe shoes.  Some are hanging on in there, but for how long?

 

[Ondine]

On 24/05/2021 at 15:02, Pas de Quatre said:

I believe it may be because pointe shoe making has become more a factory process than an individual craft.  To be honest, I think modern production methods have much better quality control.

 

I can recall when you could have a choice and have pointe shoes made to order with, say a higher vamp or back,  or different shank, and I'm not talking only of those made for dancers in a company, who had their own lasts and whose shoes were stamped with their name. So there was more individuality than a factory process.

 

Though yes, some were decidedly iffy, though often also you could specify which 'maker' you wanted as each had their own coded stamp. A great deal of trial and error required, and they were never cheap.

 

Also you could have happy chats with Mr Porselli in his amazing shop about his recollections of Pavlova from when he was a boy, who used to give him apples. 🤩

 

Update

 

Thanks to the joys of Google, I have found this:

 

 

https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/five-hidden-treasures-forgotten-london

 

Mr Porselli's ballet shoe lasts are in the Museum of London collection.

 

"These wooden shoe lasts were used by Colombano Porselli to create beautiful hand-made ballet shoes. Many of the lasts were individually crafted to the exact shape of the feet of the world’s greatest ballet dancers, to ensure the shoes were a perfect fit.

 

 

Within our wonderful costume collections we also have some finished ballet shoes made by Porselli, who came to to London from Milan in the 1920s. The ballet shoes are beautiful, of course, but for me it is the processes and skill involved in making the shoes that is of greater interest. It was such a pleasure to handle Porselli’s hand tools, lasts and workshop materials during our collections review- particularly because I remember visiting the Porselli shop near Cambridge Circus as a child, to get my ballet shoes! These objects have such a personal connection to their owner- it's easy to imagine him using them in his cramped tiny workshop. I'm so glad the museum had the opportunity to collect these items when Porselli's closed in the 1980s and preserve one small fragment of London's working heritage."

 

I can smell that shop still, and I hope someone somewhere has photos of that window display, which had never been changed for many, many years, with its faded photos and shoes,  with the cellophane bags falling to pieces.

 

Inside the tiny shop were more signed photos from grateful dancers and shelves stacked floor to ceiling with boxes.  Mr Porselli had to be summoned from his workshop by ringing the bell, the shop door was usually locked.

 

I have an old  last from Anello and Davide,  bought at an antique fair,  possibly I should donate that to the Museum.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Ondine

[Peanut68]

I wanted to give these posts 100’s of likes!! It re-confirms my memories to be true as did wonder if I’d made them more ‘interesting’ in my head!! 

[Peanut68]

Have I remembered correctly being led down a spiral staircase with the rounded walls packed with dusty shoe boxes?? And a very elderly (like in her 90’s!) but feisty Russian lady who fitted me for the best shoes I ever had?? This would have been c.1982-1984

Edited May 14, 2023 by Peanut68

[Peanut68]

“with the cellophane bags falling to pieces.”

Reading that gave me goose bumps Ondine & I felt instantly transported back there!! Yellowed cellophane, gone brittle & so torn - yes, that’s just such an image you have bought out from my memory!! Thank you x