Pointe Ballet Shoes

Pointe Ballet Shoes, Sizing and Your Foot Type

Common advice  about how to buy pointe ballet shoes is that you can be best fitted to 2-3 sizes smaller than your street shoes. This is not accurate, as pointe shoes, or ballet toe shoes, come in countless shapes and sizes, whereas street shoes only vary in length and width. If you are new to  pointe ballet shoes, start by knowing your foot type.

 

Here are some ballet tips that will help.

If you have a "Greek" or "Morton's" foot type, your second toe is longer than your big toe. This means you must have the strength to keep the second toe long in the pointe shoe. Using a toe protector such as a gel sleeve on the toe is a good idea, at least until a student is used to toe shoes. A "V" shape of the vamp, or the cloth covering the foot over the metatarsals, may be a more flattering and comfortable style of shoe. Try on a few vamp/box shapes and see what feels best.

The "Egyptian" foot is a challenging shape to fit. The big toe is longer with the other toes diminishing in length steeply. Often the little toe is opposite the ball of the foot. In a pointe shoes, this means that it is not even in the box. This little toe may need taping up as it will be rubbing against the wing, or the stiff outside of the shoe, instead of being tucked securely in the box with the other toes. Make sure that as you press up through demi pointe, that the big toe joint is not meeting a too deep box edge, but can bend efficiently.

The "Giselle/Peasant" foot has three or more toes that are the same length. Often toes on such a foot are short, and medium in width. Some students do not think this foot type is very elegant, yet it is great foot for pointe ballet. Short to medium vamps are good. This can be strong foot in toe shoes, and will likely suffer less injuries than other foot types.

The Compressible foot is one which appears quite wide when the dancer is standing. Yet this foot has little muscle structure between its bones, and will easily compress into a narrower shoe than a fitter might pick from a visual decision.

So always try on MANY pairs of shoes. Do not rush a fitting, or allow anyone else to rush you. Once you find a shoe that feels fairly good, try half a size different each way - shorter, longer, narrower, wider, just to be sure.

Point shoe sizing charts are a guide, but only a guide. After you buy your ballet toe shoes, take them to the dance studio and let your teacher check the fit before you sew ribbons on them. This way you can be sure that you have the best fit.

You can get a whole book about sizing, breaking in, sewing, and dancing in pointe ballet shoes.

About the Author

Ballet toe shoes, or ballet pointe shoes, can be made easier. Pointe shoe sizing, ballet turnout, classical technique and basic ballet positions are all factors to get the best ballet tips on. Dianne Buxton aims to help you dance ballet better in pointe shoes.

See the Podiatrist before being fitted for ballet pointe shoes?

My daughter is being fitted for pointe shoes, her grandmother (an ex pro-dancer) is telling me that her dance instructor was supposed to send her to the Podiatrist (foot doctor). Is this true? ...if so, what is he/she going to say (negative and/or positive) that will be any more educated than the dance teacher that she has had for 6 years? Please help.

Any responsible podiatrist will tell your daughter not to go en pointe. It's harmful to the feet and legs, and puts unnatural stress on all the weight-bearing joints.
Take your daughter to several dance stores until you find one where they are willing to spend about an hour with her. It's highly unlikely that a first pair of shoes can be found and fitted in less time than that.
I was a dancer myself, and I worked at a dance store, and I have seen what can happen to girls' feet when they wear bad shoes. This is especially true if they are put en pointe too early. Before the age of 13 or so, the growth plates and cartilage can be severely damaged by going en pointe, even if her shoes are perfectly fitted. Many teachers put girls en pointe too early either because they are pressured to by the girls and their parents, or because tiny girls en pointe is sometimes seen as proof of a "very professional" school.
Many dancers have the attitude that pointe is fine and it's just something you have to do to dance. You should remember that it can do permanent, severe damage to your daughter's feet and legs, and since only a tiny percentage of girls go on to dance professionally, most of them have this damage for no reason at all.

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