Pointe Shoes for Beginners
One of the most important ballet dancing accessories are ballet shoes. These shoes are also called pointe shoes! Pointe shoes are extremely important to perform the pointework (en pointe), which is a really important stance in ballet dancing. This stance is basically a dancing step, in which dancers are required to stand on the tips of their toes. The main purpose of creating these shoes was the desire to look like a sylph and totally weightless. If you look at the history of ballet dancing, you will come to know that pointe shoes were typically worn by female ballet dancers (ballerinas). Male ballet dancers wear pointe shoes only when they have to perform some really unorthodox roles. When it comes to choosing pointe shoes for beginners, you need to consider a few important things, like the size, type and fitting of the shoes.
How to Choose Best Pointe Shoes for Beginners
When it comes to choosing ballet costumes for beginners and kids, first and the biggest hurdle is selection of the best ballet shoes. Well, first up, remember that most expert ballet dancers advocate that beginners should start learning ballet basics with soft slippers, rather than the pointe shoes. Since pointework requires a lot of strength and sufficient knowledge about ballet dancing techniques, it is also advised that beginners should not start learning it before the age of 10 - 12 or so. Basically, the correct age and experience level for choosing pointe shoes totally depends on the teacher, parents and sometimes doctors. When it comes to choosing the best pointe shoes, you need to understand the size of your feet, which is far more different from finding out how to measure shoe size. Once you get to know the shape of your feet, then you can start the hunt for the best ballet shoes for yourself.
Size of the Shoes
Avoid purchasing shoes that are smaller or bigger than the actual feet size. So don't keep using your old pointe shoes or big shoes in the anticipation of 'room to grow'. You should also avoid choosing shoes that are too tight, at least until you become a professional performer. If the pointe shoes are fitting too snugly, during pointework, then should avoid them, since they can cause toe injuries and long term effects that might shorten your dance career. So, loose, tight or small pointe shoes for beginner can cause accidents and constant interruptions in your ballet dancing routine.
Width of the Feet
Along with the size, you should also consider width of your feet. People with wide feet should choose pointe shoes for wide feet, while people with high arches should choose accordingly. You should always choose shoes that fit perfectly with the feet, with no pinching or squeezing. Understand that too narrow shoes may cause pressure on the toes, while too wide shoes will skin your legs, all in all, ill-fitting pointe shoes are an open invitation for troublesome or painful ballet dance moves and positions.
Vamp of the Shoes
After considering width and size of the pointe shoes for beginners, another essential thing to consider is the vamp. Vamp is the area of the pointe shoes that covers the frontal area of the feet, the toes. Most pointe shoemakers do not offer variation in the length of the vamp, however, always search for pointe shoes with larger vamp, also called high vamp. Extra length of vamp means extra support for pointework. However, if you have narrow feet then you can think of buying low vamp pointe shoes to carry out the best ballet steps and positions. All in all, don't forget to take the feet size and shape into consideration (once again).
Shank of the Shoes
Now is the time to check the shank of the pointe shoes for beginners that would help you to perform all ballet positions comfortably. Feet size, length and width varies from person to person, and so does the size of the shank. Well, shank is that part of the pointe shoes that supports the mid foot, or the whole foot for that matter. Hence, people with weaker feet and low arches should opt for pointe shoes with soft shanks. But people with high arches and stronger feet should opt for stiff shanks. This whole ratio again depends on the comfort and skill levels of the dancer and instructions of the dance teacher.
When it comes to choosing good pointe shoes for beginners, you need to avoid purchasing designer professional shoes because they are not suitable for beginners. Beginner's ballet dancer shoes should always be supportive for all ballet postures and ballet dancing moves. Some of the best selling pointe shoes are: Bloch Pointe Shoes, Capezio Pointe Shoes, Grishko Pointe Shoes, Freed Pointe Shoes, Suffolk Pointe Shoes, Gaynor Minden Pointe Shoes, etc. Well, this is where I conclude this article about pointe shoes. I hope it was found informative!
