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.

Darning shoes isn't necessarily to make them less slippy. It can enlarge the box area or protect the satin if you aren't at a level where you expect a pair to only last a week. We used to use rosin to prevent slips. And that depended on the surface we were on.

The breaking them in. I don't know how to explain it. It doesn't destroy the support. Just tailors it to your needs. It's a bit like breaking in Doc Martens. There are some things you can do to make that process quicker/less painful. Pointe shoes are like that.

I think some of the newer brands/styles are more customisable in the first place. Like Gaynor Mindens. So you'd need to do that less.

https://www.actble.de/collections/actpointes

These have been showing up all over my social media for a while (I'm not even a dancer!) and seem to be innovative and longer lasting

They don't. I don't know what kind of video that was. The toe box of the shoe is extremely hard, and their feet fit tightly inside the box. They don't curl their toes under and weight-bear on the knuckles, they keep their toes straight. The shoes bear all the weight and transfer it to the whole foot.

Tradition as PPs have said, and superstition absolutely plays a role.
Regular shoes aren't even broken in though, the late queen had a staff member to do that.

Most professionals don't bother darning the toe platform at all. They either cut the satin out altogether to expose the hard canvas beneath, or leave it as is and use rosin instead. Studio dancefloors and stage surfaces are not slippery anyway.

Students and recreational dancers do darn them, but that's because they may only be wearing them for a few minutes a week, so it is worthwhile. You can also buy suede stick-on pads. They are learning, so need a bit of extra grip.

Dancers don't smash the shit out of the shoes. They are moulding them to their own specific foot shape, and to their level of technical expertise. They may have an old injury, for instance, that needs additional support on one side of the foot but not the other. They may be a soloist doing a long pas-de-deux sequence and need the shoes to be stiff for all the long balances on one foot. If, on the other hand, they are doing a lot of demanding jumping, then they need the shoes to be more flexible.

Another reason why pro dancers soften the toe box is so that they don't make a loud crashing noise when they land from jumps.

Every shoe is different, even those made on the same day by the same maker with the same materials. Each is treated as a unique thing, and has to be made to suit the dancer's individual requirements.

Love hearing the thump on landing in brand new pointe shoes. With some dancers it sounds like they're walking in bricks 😂

Sometimes it looks like it as well 😂

I must say that, before this thread, I had never actually thought about how ballet dancers dance on their toes. Are you saying there's a block of wood inside the shoe that their toes balance on? How is that possible? As someone with bunions, arthritic toes and frequent foot stress fractures, I cannot imagine exerting that force through my toe.

Hahaha @taxi4ballet that really made me laugh - that was definitely me walking around like I was wearing bricks 😂

I think part of it is snobbery, but there are also people (generally those who have been through it very successfully themselves) for whom the “iron fist inside a velvet glove” is one of THE appeals of top level achievement. The masochism of beauty coming from pain. There’s no denying the beauty. But beauty + endurance + athleticism is much more, for some.

@garlictwist the block is usually made from densely compacted cardboard, paper or fabric. Dancers work up the strength and flexibility in their feet, ankles, legs and toes for years before progressing to pointe. The whole system works in tandem to provide the conditions required to dance safely.

Your bones harden if you exert force on them consistently over time, so dancers' feet will be more hardy than your average citizen's. But obviously dancers do need to be careful otherwise they'll also get stress fractures etc from overexertion or poor technique

No, that's not it at all. You know the flat ballet pumps you can buy in the shoe shops? They are like that, but without a heel, and really tight-fitting all around the foot. At the end of the shoe is a solid flat round area called the platform. That is what they balance on. Because the shoes are so tight, the weight is held not on the toes, because their feet don't sink down into the shoes.

I've done an adult ballet class once a week since before Covid. Thankfully I only need ballet shoes, not pointe shoes (at 61 I'm definitely too old to start that!). I sometimes get pain in the joint of my big toe when up on demi -pointe so I can't imagine being up en pointe. Full of admiration for dancers who do though, it looks so elegant and graceful.

What - like boxers' fists hurt after a fight? Or a cowboy's backside after ten hours in the saddle? Tennis elbow?

There is no more masochism in dance than in any other intensely demanding physical activity. The difference is that professional ballet dancers display Olympic-level athleticism whilst portraying a role on stage, so don't let the effort show in their faces. It's their job.

They aren't 'suffering for their art' - they are at work.

IMO pointe shoes are using 150 year old technology. Basically glue cardboard and satin. Absolutely ridiculous! Considering all the new materials we have now. I thought the 3D orange stuff would really take off. I think the point shoe tech needs a massive kick into 2024!

Gaynor Minden...

The making of pointe shoes is begun by the shoemaker but perfected by the dancer, and the dance.

I was so glad when DD started sewing the ribbons on her own shoes. I was even gladder when she started paying for them too.

And I once thought that a set of horse shoes every six weeks was expensive.

Horse shoes would definitely be supportive for ballet and longer-lasting than your average pointes 😉

@aitchteeaitch in fairness I understand why she might would want to break those in a bit.

We weren't allowed ribbons until we could sew them on ourselves. Madame was strict!

What a nasty woman. It's Madames like those who give ballet a bad name.

Depends on the type of shoe, type of foot and why they're needed to be broken in. Lots of factors essentially.

Hardly anyone in my experience darns the bottom of their pointe shoes now. Though my mother used to do mine when I was young that way. The mindens (etc) have a different fabric on the bottom so no need to do anything, or you can glue something on the bottom.

My teenage daughters wear pointe shoes and don't do that to them. Though one has extremely strong feet, with high arch and instep, and goes through normal pointe shoes in weeks. She has to wear Mindens in the hardest shanks.

For my own shoes I only do pointe a couple of times a month now, and I break them a little by bashing them slightly and folding them over to soften. Though I have two brands and I don't do as much to my euro balance pair. I also don't have anything on the platform, just the satin.

The only ballet shoes really I've taken apart and bashed to make soft, and used a boiling kettle on, have been my daughter's soft block shoes.

And Bloch have recently introduced a new hybrid shoe @KeeeeeepDancing

We bought some for my daughter last year to try when they came out.

Come to think of it, I think my dd uses those now. She can't get the ones from Russia any more lol.