Thought I would do a post about my pointe shoes. I have been wearing various sizes of Grishko for about five years now! Wow, but it seems so much shorter! Anyways, Currently I wear Grishko 2007 XXX 4.5 Soft or Medium shank. Sometimes I wear a XXXX depending on what kind of rehearsals and classes I have. If I'm wearing the XXX, I only wear half-socks underneath my tights. If I'm wearing the XXXX, I will wear Ouch Pouch toe pads since there is alot of space inside.
Break-in Process:
First I turn the shoe upside-down and stick the vamp underneath a table leg, and then I sit on the table and try to crush the shoe so that it breaks in at the middle of the shank. If this doesn't actually "break" the shank, I crush the shoe in the same spot in the cracks of a strong door (be careful not to break the door, I've done that before). If the shoe has broken in this one spot, than I have accomplished, if not, I will most likely throw out the shoe because I probably won't be able to go over the box when I'm wearing them. =/
Second: Hammer-time. Yes, I do carry a hammer in my dance bag. It has been through alot with me. I don't know how it got past airport security. Anyways I'll hammer the vamp on the sides because I have bunions on my pinky and big toes.
Third: If the shoe, for some reason, is really hard, I just spray some water on them, wrap them in leg warmers, and keep them there for an hour before wearing for class.
Sewing Process: the usual, ribbons (I prefer Freed ribbons), one strap across of thick elastic... Instead of sewing two different strands of ribbon per shoe, I only sew on one. It's one long strip that goes through the shoe (so it is literally underneath my arch when I'm wearing the shoes). It actually helps the shoe hug my foot more and give me more support depending on how tight I sew it. I also like to darn the tips of my shoes. It is a long tedious process and my fingers kill afterwards, but in the end it helps balancing so much. One warning, don't darn if your floors are sticky because they make things much more slippery despite your long amazing balances.
Anyways that's it for now! I have my first Spanish rehearsal tomorrow (I missed my first two rehearsals due to auditions).
Please note the picture below is NOT MY FEET. OOh how much I wish they were =]
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| Grishko 2007 |
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