SIG

Oh the coveted pointe shoes. After years of hard work, it is every little ballerina’s dream to be told by the teacher that they are ready to start pointe. Yet we have all heard stories the likes of Black Swan (the movie), with dancers having blisters and losing their toenails from the torture of pointe work. This article hopefully provides some insights into what exactly are these special shoes, and how do we reduce incidences of bloody toes. Why do dancers wear pointe shoes? The simplest answer is to look nice, but

Why do pointe shoes need to be fitted? There are over 20 brands of pointe shoes, each with various models differing in shape of the toe box, vamp length, profile height, and shank strength. Combined with the length and width of the shoe, there are a few hundred options to choose from. Pointe shoe fitting requires a trained fitter, who is able to assess the foot and look for a shoe mostly closely fitted to the characteristics of the dancer’s foot. This is especially so for the novice who is just