How to fit a Pointe Shoe

THE POINTE SHOE IN THE MAKING

THE MAKING OF A POINTE SHOE

Some 250,000 pairs of pointe shoes are manufactured in the traditional "Turn Shoe" method by Freed of London each year. Each and every one is painstakingly handcrafted by a highly skilled maker. Two thirds of all pointe shoes are made to a dancer's individual specifications - specifications which require accuracy to within 3 mm. The basic components which are used to manufacture pointe shoes are the satin upper, paper and hessian, which are used to form the block and the leather sole.

CONSTRUCTING THE BLOCK

Freed pointe shoes are actually made inside out, only being "turned" right side after the block has been constructed. The pointe shoe does not, contrary to some people´s belief contain a large piece of wood at the toe. In fact the maker forms the block by hand, building it up layer upon layer using the hessian triangles, paper and glue. The basis of the glue is a simple flour and water paste - but to this we add a few secret ingredients.

FORMING THE PLEATS

With the shoe still remaining inside out, the maker, using metal pincers like the ones you see here, creates the pleating at the toe of the shoe. The shoe is then "stitched". This is the process that joins the sole to the upper by means of a wax thread.

SHAPING THE PLATFORM AND THE BLOCK

Once stitched, the pointe shoe can be removed from the last and "turned" right side out. The insole is then inserted and the shoe put back onto the last. At this stage of the making process the glue in the block is not yet dry and hard. This, therefore, allows the maker to fashion and shape the block. This he does with the aid of a "glass-faced" smooth hammer. The same tool is used to create the all important "platform".

MEASURING & BINDING

Following the shaping of the platform and block the Maker stamps his own individual mark onto the sole. His part is now complete; he has given the shoe its identity. The shoe is placed into an "oven" overnight where it bakes and hardens. Now the dancers measurement requirements are attended to. Vamp, side and back - all the dancer´s individual specifications are measured and marked by hand prior to the cutting down and binding of the shoe. The shoe is socked, cleaned, checked and bagged, ready to be sent to one of the more than 50 countries across the world with which Freed deals.

Evolution of the Pointe

Evolution of the Pointe

By Michele Attfield, written by Bronya Seifert

Many think that because pointe shoes are made in a traditional way, they are old fashioned, or even out dated. Michele Attfield, pointe shoe expert with Freed of London, explains this couldnï¿½t be farther from the truth.

Who was the first person to rise en pointe? History tells a pretty story that it was at the Court of Louis XIV. He loved performances and at the end of a tableau he would take centre stage and rise onto his toes, appearing to be rising like the sun king above the people of his court. Whether this is fact or fiction there is certainly a resemblance to the shoes worn at the Court of Louis XIV and the modern day pointe shoe.

The shoes worn at Court were made of a very delicate upper, such as damask, silk or other fine fabrics, with a leather sole. All good quality shoes at the time were made inside out and turned through. This meant that the section of shoe around the toes would have been quite soft and could be extended over the toes. Therefore, when the foot was pointed the arch could be seen, which is not possible in a shoe where the sole extends past the end of the foot. This is almost certainly how the pleated toe of the early ballet pump style soft shoe came about.

It is suggested that the early pointe shoes were made using the same principle, but using fairly stout leather in a 'v' formation to corset the toes together, so the dancer could rock onto pointe. The earliest pair of shoes I have seen were made in this manner. The block area was made of leather, layered to make a cup which the foot fitted in. They would have been incredibly uncomfortable and would have used the strength of the bones to brace the foot to go onto pointe. A dancer may have been able to rise onto pointe, but would not have been able to actually dance there. When looking at early lithographs, of dancers such as Carla Grisi, it is obvious that dancers were merely standing en pointe, rather than actually incorporating pointe work into the dancing.

Early pointe shoes at the turn of the century were made almost entirely in Italy. The beginning of the pointe shoe, as we know it today, started in the factories of people like Nicolini and Porselli, and were very long and thin. Bearing in mind that most Europeans have fairly wide feet and the technique of classical ballet actually makes your metatarsals wider, it was not difficult to see why, in the late 1920s when Mr Freed started producing a shoe which actually followed the shape of the foot, rather than the size of a specific mould, he was very popular and very successful. Mr Freed was concerned that many of the shoes being worn didnï¿½t appear to fit correctly, so he started the original premise of Freed ï¿½show us your foot and let us fit itï¿½.

The making of pointe shoes progressed virtually in tandem in Italy, France, America and the UK. You had Porselli in Italy, Repetto in France, Capezio in America, and Freed and Gamba in the UK. All of these companies at the time were making hand lasted turned shoes for ballet dancers. That is to say they were all hand made inside out, on many, varying moulds, and turned in the correct way when finished. The companies who presently dominate the market owe much to the fact that they have not abandoned this method of making shoes. However, anyone who believes that pointe shoes have remained the same is very much mistaken. From our own experience at Freed, the requirements and specifications needed to make shoes has never remained static. They have evolved to meet the choreographic needs and the physique and weight of the dancers.

It is interesting to speculate in a chicken and egg way, whether the technique in dance shoes fired the improvement of the pointe shoe or vice versa. I believe it was probably that dance was demanding a better shoe. Dancers such as Adelene Genï¿½e and Phyllis Bedells undoubtedly started to demand more of their shoes, and we were already seeing the beginnings of the technique that these people would eventually put down on paper.

It has to be said, and here we can touch on some of the controversy about noise, the dancers of what could be called the renaissance of the Royal Ballet, such as Margot Fonteyn, Pamela May and Moira Shearer, wore considerably lighter weight and more flexible shoes than are currently worn. It is evident that todayï¿½s dancers are working at a different technical level, constantly with the working leg above 90ï¿½ elevation from the floor. The pitch and strength of the forepart of the shoe has to accommodate this, and therefore the shoes have evolved with the technique.

There is no correct weight for a pointe shoe, because there is exactly what you need at the time you need it. At Freed the integrity of the block is very important, and the fact that they can be worked through to become softer is essential to the dancer. There is a great misnomer about how long a pair of pointe shoes last. Most dancers, when asked, will say they wear maybe two pairs during a performance. But what is rarely asked is if they are worn again. Most shoes will be worn for half a dozen other performances and will be probably worn later in class. If a dancer is doing pas de deux or 32 fouttï¿½s on one foot, then theyï¿½ll need a strong new shoe with a firm block. However, if theyï¿½re running down the stairs in Romeo and Juliet or dancing one of the White Acts in either Swan Lake or Giselle then theyï¿½ll need a soft silent shoe, one that is older and has been worked through. If a shoe was made in a different way and is rigid at all times, then a dancer running down the stairs in Romeo and Juliet will sound like they have castanets on their feet.

A correctly fitted shoe is the safest shoe for the dancer. Added to this the traditional method of using layered, biodegradable materials means that when the shoe is on and the foot is warm, the air which is inside the block expands and acts as a shock absorber, which helps to reduce stress injuries.

One of the revelations of the ballet in the last 10 years is how imaginative the use of pointe work can be. Mr Freed would never have dreamed we would be making shoes for men to wear, in works such as She Was Black for Rambert. Many of the things that choreographers such as Mats Ek and William Forsythe do would have shocked someone making shoes in the 30s and 40s. The shoes that are made for dancers today bare no relation to the shoes made for dancers such as Fonteyn, but then neither does the technique. They may be a made in a traditional way, but they have evolved and will always continue to evolve.

A well trained foot in a well fitted shoe is always a pleasure to see. However, the aim of anyone making pointe shoes is that you see the dancer and not the shoe. We must never forget that what we are manufacturing is just a tool of the trade.

This Article first appeared in The Dancing Times, July 2003
www.dancing-times.co.uk