Why do ballet dancers bash up pointe shoes ?

[Marchintospring]

I get they need to break them in. However so much is talked about the skill and craftmanship behind making them and obviously they cost a fortune.
Then the dancer breaks the back of them, bashes the block to bits and spends edges sewing the bottom ( let alone the ribbons which you think would be on already).
I don't get it.

It helps to mould them to the shape of their foot to provide more comfort and stability.

Company/professional dancers may not have time to fully break in a new pair of pointe shoes before they next need them so will need to break them in earlier by bashing them/removing part of shank etc. A single pair of pointe shoes may only last one performance.

Furthermore, they're not tailored to the ballerina's foot - so those who know their requirements well may remove part of the shank etc to account for the strength of their feet and level of support they need. Ribbons will be a matter of personal preference as well in terms of style and placement, so it makes sense for the dancer to choose where they go rather than having a default. Sewing the pointe of the shoe can allow for better balance and grip if required but not all dancers will want/need this.

Your average ballet student beginning on pointe won't need to go through the above process as they have time between lessons/during lessons for the shoe to break in fully.

Professional dancers' shoes are often provided for free by the company they dance for, so the cost isn't much of a consideration to the dancer themselves - they just need to ensure they can dance well and safely

But isn't the shank the bit that's doing the support? why would you break that - how does it actually support anything if its broken?
I get the block might be too hard ( or whatever ) but how does smashing it up actually help. Why not just get something less hard/moulded to start?
I understand dance companies might pay but they are still £20-£30 an up a pair. That's loads for something that gets broken and smashed before wear and then might only be worn for a single performance professionally. Is there really no better way to do pointe shoes?

I think £20-30 is actually on the cheap side! Gaynor Minden's can cost in excess of £100.

Yes the shank does provide support, but some dancers have sufficiently strong feet and the default shank may not suit their needs so they may cut part of it off in order to improve the flexibility of the shoe and provide a better profile for their feet. I think it's quite common to reduce the shank to just 3/4 of the length.

With regards to manufacture of the shoes, they make defaults that will be a suitable starting point for the majority of dancers which includes many non-professionals. Dancers can then elect to customise their shoes to make them comfortable for their purposes - not every dancer will need to soften the block to the same level.

There has been a lot of discussion about how to make pointe shoes more sustainable - there's at least one company that has removable/customisable shanks to prolong the life of a given shoe.

Mmm. it just seems the craft of pointe shoes is like one of those throwback things like Rigby and Pellor bras. In reality, most wire and mesh bras do exactly the same job and these days a wire seems anachronistic.

I mean a point shoe is absolutely a thing of beauty but it doesn't seem particularly well engineered?

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I think it's quite a hard thing to get right because it has to be both hard and soft (in the right places), cater for a wide variation of feet (shape, strength, flexibility) and offer some level of durability. Plus you're dealing with a particularly sweaty part of the body that is experiencing a lot of force and movement.

I guess one solution is to get dancers to abandon pointe and just dance in their socks instead 😅

This! I only did pointe classes for about a year or two but christ it's one of the most painful things I've ever experienced. I am in awe of dancers who make it look graceful.
They have to be solid enough to take your entire weight without your toes being crushed, but your toes are encased in a solid block as you move. My toes were bleeding after every lesson. If that was my job and they were an essential piece of my workwear I would beat the crap out of them so they didn't do the same to my feet!

Why don't men dance on pointe?

Its the labour intense aspect that confuses me. I mean lovely and all that people have the jobs but its seems counter productive. Its so laborious. Why not use their skills to make shoes that actually fit the foot of a dancer? It would only be a camera and a bit of software.
Bing Videos

My friends and I all needed different support in different places for pointe. Whilst pointe shoes come in a variety of makes/models etc, the chances are you'll never find one that's perfect in every place. So you buy the best you can and customise them.

Recreational dancers and students in vocational training will buy 'off the shelf' shoes, which come in a variety of widths, lengths, taper, shank strength and so on, but professionals usually have theirs customised by the maker to their individual requirements.

Good question, maybe just arent tough enough?

They actually do pointe classes with pointe shoes. They just don't dance in them on stage. The pointe practice for them is for strength. I had to buy them for my son.

They actually do pointe classes with pointe shoes. They just don't dance in them on stage. The pointe practice for them is for strength. I had to buy them for my son.

I think £20-30 is actually on the cheap side! Gaynor Minden's can cost in excess of £100.
True but they generally last a lot longer than traditionally made pointe shoes and don't need all the breaking in rigmarole.
The OP is right to a degree. Traditionally manufactured pointe shoes aren't very well engineered really which is why GM and other brands have developed shoes using modern materials and technologies. It's just the classical ballet world is very conservative and a lot of store is laid by tradition so change takes a long time. But even very traditional companies like Grishko are making shoes from modern materials now.Obviously different shoes suit different feet but I suspect that cardboard and paste will eventually be consigned to the history books.

I was horrified when I realised that dancers do actually dance with their toes curled under them on pointe shoes.

Are they still chainstitching the ends? My sister was a dancer and I remember her having to do this with new ones as it stopped the fabric wearing through so quickly. It took lots of time but this was more than 40 years ago, so I don't know if they still do. I suppose it depends if you have to buy your own or if they are provided.

Yes I recall loads of bending the pointe shoes with your hands to break them in too.

What du you mean by curled under? So they are on the knuckles of their toes? Because they aren't.

AFAIK some do, some don't. There are loads of different darning techniques for pointe shoes. These days you can get stick on suede tips too.

Darning the end of the platform is mainly to improve grip as obviously satin is very slippy. There are a few ways you can do it. Alternatives are suede patches which you can stick on, or some brands come with suede tips anyway. A lot of pros just cut the satin off the platform with a sharp knife as given the shoes are going to be binned very quickly anyway there's no point spending time stitching them.

I watched a video which showed what the toes do when the dancer is on pointe. They looked like they were on dancing on their knuckles.

Can someone explain to me? Because I don't understand.

The toes are more or less straight inside the toe box - the point of the box is to support them in that position.

This short video should help explain it.

So why doesn't the shoe come already with a non slippy base? They could dip it in something to give the satin a bit of friction.
I still don't understand if the shoe is doing the supporting why dancers smash the shit out of them. If they have strong enough feet anyway why not put in firm but mouldable toes like a harder Emma mattress and have rigid sole supports you stick in yourself. You could just cut hem up and layer them up to the support you required. ?

Some shoes do come with non slippy platforms. Not everyone likes them though, sometimes for aesthetic reasons or because they find something else more comfortable.
A lot of it is just tradition though. There's a degree of breaking in needed, just like with many other types of shoe as it takes time for a shoe to soften a bit and mould to your foot and dancers often like to speed the process up. But actually a lot of the extreme things people do like squashing their shoes in doors or hitting them with rolling pins are not necessary and probably reduce the lifespan of the shoes. When my DD got her first pair of pointe shoes the fitter told her all she needed to do was just bend the shank back and forth gently and warm the box in her hands and not to bash them. I've seen girls coming to class in new pointe shoes where they have pretty much snapped the shanks before they've even worn them by doing some of this stuff. There's a lot of myths around pointe shoes.
Lots of brands now produce shoes that are made from modern materials that don't need breaking in really and don't wear out anywhere near as quickly. In my opinion there's a lot to be said for new developments.There's no other activity that is as physically demanding as ballet where the participants are still relying on 19th century technology as far as I know, but the structure of traditional pointe shoes hasn't changed much for 200 years. But there's a lot of resistance - snobbery even - to modern shoes in some quarters so change is quite slow.