An Evening with Anne Polajenko: "To pad or not to pad (your feet)"

Pointe shoe discussion:
To pad or not to pad (your feet)

There was a time when dancers did not pad their toes inside the Pointe shoes. At most they used lambswool or got creative with tissues or toilet paper. Actually, this was not a bad idea since paper is disposable, was changed every time and hence could not provide a home to millions of little creatures which just love to multiply in moisture and heat!

Fifty years ago, the theory was that feet had to toughen. If you were prone to blisters, taping the toes was considered an ample solution. Anything that prevented you from feeling what your feet were doing inside the shoe was simply out of the question.

Those days are long gone, of course, and makeshift toe protection has been replaced with pads of all shapes and especially sizes. There are cotton pads, lambswool pads, silicone and gel pads. Some are so thin they are useless, others are so thick as to change the fit of the shoe.

When selecting a padding dancers should remember a couple of things: they still need to be able to feel the floor and should not have to get shoes too big for their feet just because they want to fit toe pads inside. That is a serious problem and dancers need to listen to their retailer's recommendation carefully.

The choice of padding is a personal preference. Some dancers love the squishy feel of the gel pads, others hate it. Others yet will wear only cotton. In either case, So' Dança has developed reasonably sized pads for everyone. from the Nylon/Cotton toe protectors to the silicone pads that cover the bunion as well and can be cut down to size.

So whatever your choice, unless you use a disposable paper product, just remember to wash your foot pads frequently!  


                                                                  ----- Anne Polajenko
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Question of the week results!


    Thank you for your responses, and I appreciated the kind words about my work of art, maybe I'll draw some more this week. Here are the top three musicals according to you guys:
                    1. Chicago
                    2. Hairspray
                    3. Singing in the Rain


     I know, I know, I had a tough time as well accepting that a classic would come in third place, but votes are votes and opinions are opinions.
     Thanks for all the participation, and make sure to read the blog on thursday for the next question of the week.


                      Love from your humble blogger,