Last Thursday I finally purchased new pointe shoes-something that I meant to do back in July. I had the fitting 2 months ago, had the shoes put aside for 2 weeks and subsequently kept putting off the purchase. This was not done because I didn't want to get the shoes; rather I was ho humming about the cost. I won't lie, pointe shoes are expensive and since I like to spread out my dance costs, it seemed appropriate to wait awhile longer. Finally I made the purchase. I had to have another fitting done-about 45min of trying on at least 7 different styles of shoes and standing with my feet in parallel, then in first position, rising up on pointe etc. It was a very enjoyable experience. Initially I thought I would have the same style and size as my last pair (a 7 1/2 sonata); however, I ended up with a lovely '7' Amelie..which is surprisingly comfortable as far as pointe shoes go. I learned a lot of things about my feet at this fitting. I learned that I have "good strength and flexibility in them" (more strength will develop with pointe work), that my feet don't sickle (a very good thing!) and that my feet aren't as broad as I was always told but they are quite narrow at the back-which explained why I tried on so many shoes-I was having issues with the back part of the shoe beingt too loose on the heel and such. This may seem trivial and petty to most people but the thing with ballet, is that you spend a fair amount of time manipulating how your feet work and adjusting their appearance (i.e. making sure that they are pointed and not sickled) so I found these new revelations about my feet very interesting!
After having being successfully fitted for my shoes, I got toe pads and more ribbon for them. The cost came to a hefty $140.00. However, when I reminded myself that my last pair were purchased +6 years ago, along with the fact that I plan on doing pointe just once/week, it put the cost into perspective.
After lovingly taking my new shoes home and admiring the lovely new look and the colour of the satin (different from my first pair of Bloch shoes) I began the process of sewing ribbons on them. Obviously it had been awhile since I last sewed ribbons on pointe shoes and I think I did a neater job the first time. In the end though, I sewed all the ribbons on the shoes Saturday evening. I took them to class yesterday and Andrea, my teacher had a look at what I'd done and made a few suggestions as to adjustments (aka just a bit more sewing). Last night I then removed the elastics from my old shoes and sewed them onto my new ones. I then also cut the ribbons slightly as they were a bit too long. The end result? 2 lovely new shoes with freshly sewn on ribbons and elastics ready to be broken into on Tuesday :)
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