Pointe Shoes

Ellie has been dancing since she was 3 years old.  She absolutely loves it.  When she was little,  she walked pigeon  toed.  I took her to the doctor to see what could be done to correct this.  We were given 3 options.  The first was to do nothing and risk complications when she's older, have surgery where they would break her legs and reset them in the correct position, or train her legs to go strait.  We decided on the third option.  At first she wore shoe inserts, but it wasn't helping and she hated wearing them.  When she was 6 she graduated from pre-ballet and got to choose to focus on either jazz or ballet.  She was leaning towards ballet and I thought that ballet might be able to help her train her feet to go strait, so I encouraged her to choose ballet.  She chose ballet and it was the best decision.  Not only is she super passionate about ballet, but she is no longer pigeon toed.  Since she started ballet she has dreamed on being able to dance en pointe.  She has been working so hard for years.  Not everyone is able to dance en pointe.  You have to be strong enough, have good technique, and have the right shaped feet.  A couple of weeks ago her hard work paid off and she was told by her teacher that she could go get her first pair of point shoes.

We made an appointment at a shop 30 minutes away because they have professional fitters and it is really important to have a well fitted shoe to avoid pain and injury.  I'm really glad we decided to make the drive because she had a great experience and got a shoe that fits perfect.  The dance world, and especially ballet, is very foreign to me.  I have been reading up on ballet so that I can be helpful and hopefully help her avoid major injuries.  The fitting was a great experience for me as well.  The fitter explained what we were looking in a shoe and helped me see the problems and fit in each shoe as Ellie tried them on.  With her help, I was able to see the differences in each shoe.  They had about 30 different shoes, but Ellie was quickly able to find the perfect shoe.  Having a professional fitter sped up the process.

There were several things that impressed me about Ellie during the fitting.  She was very honest with the fitter and vocalized how each shoe felt.  She was able to express the things that she liked about each shoe and the things that she didn't like.  That made it so the fitter was able to find a shoe quickly that worked well for Ellie.  Another thing was her strength and technique.  I hadn't seen her do any ballet lately and she is super strong.  The fitter also commented on her strength and technique.  The last thing was her turn out.  I had told the fitter about Ellie having been pigeon toed and the fitter said she would have never known.  Ellie had a great turnout.  

Once we got the shoes home we had to get them approved by her teacher before we could sew the elastic and ribbons on.  Ellie got approval right away.  Other girls who didn't go to a professional fitter didn't get their shoes approved and had to take them back and get new shoes.  After that we were able to sew on the elastic and ribbon.  Since I had never done this before I watched lots of youtube videos but it still took me 2 hours to get both shoes done.  My fingers were also very sore because it was hard to pull the needle through such a thick shoe.  I hope that next time it won't take so much time.

Next time Ellie goes to dance she will get to start learning pointe work and she is so excited.  It is all she talks about and all she wants for Christmas is dance related things.  She's been going around the house in her pointe shoes to help break them in. I'm really proud of her for working so hard.