An Evening With Anne Polajenko: "5 ways to ruin your pointe shoes"

5 WAYS TO RUIN YOUR POINTE SHOES:

1. Leave them in your dance bag, nice and wet, until the next time you wear them.

Glue is what holds the shoe together. It softens with the heat of your foot but should be allowed to fully dry and harden before you dance in them again. That means taking them out and airing them overnight.

2. Pour water over the box to break them in faster.

While this method can work, it often leaves the shoes over-wet. Try pouring a little bit of rubbing alcohol on the box instead. It works and also dries quickly.

3. Walk in them outdoors, like in the grass.

Again, it’s an issue of dampness. You do not want the sole to get wet.

4. Break them in by crushing the shoes in a doorjamb.

If you want to try this, you’d better have a lot of experience! Always better to soften the box by hand where you have control over how much pressure to put.

5. Go up on your new shoes and bear down as hard as you can on the shank.

Store owners are driven crazy by dancers who try shoes by pushing over the box and bearing down as hard as they can in new shoes. This is not something you would ever do while you are dancing so why do this to a new shoe at all? You will only succeed in softening the shank before its time or breaking it altogether. 

        --- Anne Polajenko

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