I wear an insert on flats only on my right shoe ever since I found out I have uneven sized legs! I have actually glued a bit of cardboard underneath the sole of my point shoe to balance it without taking up space inside (I wear the bloch stretch shoes and the insert takes up way too much), but I'm waiting for my next fitting to see if I can do something else. Right now I'm struggling with balancing on a single leg because of the difference in leg size (and hip alignment). Whenever I solve a problem, there's a new one!
Me either!!! So happy to see that there are other people like me! My right leg is slightly shorter and I didn’t notice it until I developed hip issue. I was very upset when I discovered this and almost gave up dancing. Putting an insert in the shoe is the only solution I could think of. At the beginning I was struggling to fix the insert to the soft ballet shoe as it will constantly move inside the shoe. After trying several different shoes,I finally found one that can hold the insert which is the Bloch pro elastic. I’m curious if you are wearing the same shoes? Can you please let me know? Thanks!
@@kuro4020 My soft slippers are Bloch Performa! They are made from a really soft stretchy canvas and it works really well for the heel insert! My pointe shoes are Bloch Dramatica II, which are made from stretchy satin, so their fit around the heel is a little snugger than regular satin shoes. I needed something to lift my short leg but there was no room, so I outlined the shank and made a cardboard insert with a couple of layers so it would match the heel. I also have experimented with keeping the little foam tip inside only on my smaller leg, so it feels a little taller when on pointe, but I feel I need to try it for a few more classes
I wear Bloch performa flat shoes too, and one insert for my shorter left leg. Just wondering - have you found a solution for pointe or demi pointe? Every time I’m in fifth, my hip alignment is so off.
@@vantilate Demi pointe doesn't bother me that much, I just learned to work with what I have. But as I said, Bloch pointe shoes come with a little foam insert right on the toes which help with impact absorption. I removed it from my longer leg and left the one on the shorter leg. It's a tiny difference, but it helps. I also made a cardboard insert by cutting cardboard with the shape of the shank of my pointe shoe and layering it to about the height of my shoe insert (I wear a 0.5cm, it doesn't fully compensate my 1.3cm leg disparity but it helps, my doctor told me to start small)
Thank you for this Kathryn! I am currently almost 14 years old and have been on pointe for almost 3 years (well I didn't really use them much my first year because of covid) and I have never done anything to bang my shoes when I first got them like shoving them into a door. I've always just let them break in on their own by dancing and actually using them. As a result, my shoes tend to be harder but they last for a longer period of time. And as long as my shoes aren't too hard I don't really mind having harder shoes. I have more flexible feet so I don't have a problem getting over my box, my problem is I always feel like I'm going to go *way over my arch*. So having harder shoes actually gives me more stability. A lot of the girls at my studio (between the ages of 12 and 17-18 for the people who are on pointe) always seem to go over board with killing their shoes so they are always shocked when I tell them I dance better when I don't bang them to break in my shoes. I started wondering if there was something wrong or bad with not killing my shoes so I can dance in them. Now I realize that's only when you go through your shoes really quickly and have to break them in right before a performance. I've honestly never really understood when the girls at my studio will just casually be like "yeah my shoes are so dead before I have a performance but it's fine." Like HOW ARE YOU PEOPLE DANCING SO WELL WHEN YOUR SHOES ARE THAT DEAD?! Whenever my shoes become dead I literally can't dance in them properly anymore. Once my shoes are dead I can't even do simple moves in them because all of the support that is keeping my arch from going WAY over is gone. I actually dance better in new shoes because they have better support for arches. I actually didn't realize until watching this is the reason dancers are so afraid of new shoes sounding loud on stage.
Josephine! You told me about this hack on saturday during my virtual fitting! I also have hypermobility in my legs and disappearing heel, I am so going to try this now! Definitely one of my issues is that weight distribution! Thank you guys! Loved this collab!
Dead shoes = pulling back = PAIN. Stuff that feels fine suddenly hurts like the dickens but the shoes are dead and it's too scary to go all the way over. Absolute no-win!!! I might try the heel inserts, though. That's a good idea.
I've always wondered.. when performing with a partner and your shoe starts to die, do you tell them secretly? Do you need them to know? Would they adapt how they support you if they know you're losing your shoes?
I think you could whisper to them or whatever, but also, hopefully you have a good partner and he can tell and help you without you having to let him know 😁
Great to see you two legends together! You’re both down earth funny kind people. Wonderful to see KM find a pair of pointe shoes she loves. I know she’s been in Suffolks for years. But Josephine is such a pro. Like Katy said, she doesn’t push certain brands. It’s all about the dancers individual foot. I’d love to come see Josephine for a fitting but I’m in the UK! I’d be a great challenge for her. I have very strong feet with very high arches and instep, low profile, compressible feet and disappearing heel. Yes I hit the jackpot! Can you do virtual fittings? Or something? We love you here xx
I know literally less than nothing about ballet, and I'm not sure how this ended up in my recommended videos but I was highly entertained. Thanks weird algorithm!
Completely off topic, but it made me smile when I realized Josephine was wearing Bombas socks. I always get those socks because my feet are small and they come in a small size that actually fit me!
Smaller foot/larger foot..NOt a dancer here, but given custom shoes, why not custom shoes? I mean, I get it with respect to street shoes. My right is larger than my left, etc., but too bad for me. I try on ‘everything’ and pick the, hopefully, best compromise. But again, why does not each foot have a custom shoe within ballet. Ye, I know expensive, but good grief, we’ve been able to buy separate bottoms and tops for bikinis for years now. (I wasn’t all that young when separates became a thing. Heck, on a more modes scale, think suit jackets, suit skirts/trousers.) Separate ballet shoes Should be a thing, even at a base level!
My left was always my weaker, slower side. Not that I didn't trust it exactly, but I felt more supported and stable on my right. We found early that my leg lengths were different by at least 1cm (2cm by 18) but figured it hadn't affected me by then, so it never would. Fast forward to now, I'm long retired from dance (injuries and age teaming up with genetics to work against me). I am now completely unable to feel my right side from the waist down, I have a form of connective tissue disorder as well as nerve damage through my spine. I feel the pain in my hip joints and in my right ankle joint, but nothing else in the right side. Can't even feel if my bare foot is on the ground. Now that I have to rely on my left side for everything, I wish I'd worked them both equally. Doctors say I would have been in a wheelchair 15-20 years ago if not for my flexibility from ballet (and the other dance disciplines I practiced).
I need advice! The tips of my pointe shoes are always "ruined" by the end of 2 weeks (I do pointe 2x a week) but the thing is my shank isn't yet but by the time my shoe is dead the tips turn black, and it can get scary bc it gets very slippery. (I have asked my teachers about it but they told me they are supposed to do that and to deal with it. They also said it's going to keep going up the shoe) So my question is what do I do about it and the gluing part at __ is that on the tip? Can I do that? Should I use jet glue? Please go deeper into detail!
You could try darning the tips of your shoes if the satin on the box wears out too quickly, and I have seen some people glue suede to their box tips, but that makes them less slippery so it can be a little harder to turn
I don't dance, and I am way too old to start. I will NEVER wear point shoes, however I can't stop watching these videos. This is quickly becoming a new ADHD hyperfocud
@@niseplank4527 I love that adults are taking up ballet, and I am in awe of them, however I'm over 30, 270lbs, have a chronic hormonal imbalance, and have sprained ankles.🤪
Seeing professional talk about how having multiple sprains on the same ankle can really impact when dancing is so nice to see as someone who is training and has had multiple sprains on the same ankle
I wear D. Scholl's in my figure skates...I have very high arches and very narrow heels and need to fill up dead space in my boots; works like a charm and completely eliminates any heel pain for me. Went back to Ballet this past spring and in discussion with my Teacher about going back en pointe; probably looking late August to early September if all goes well. Looking to going back en pointe. Your videos are golden...learning so much more than when I was a child learning to go en pointe, I only lasted one week en pointe back then. Thanks for these videos Josephine! Keep them coming and I am so looking forward to booking my Virtual Fitting when I finally get to go back en pointe. Much love from Ontario Canada
Thank you! I have greatly missed this type of informative content. *This* is what drew me to your channel years ago. I nearly quit watching altogether with the majority of this past year's content. But to truly learn about pointe shoes from you is such a joy. Thank you for bringing it back!
I am not a dancer and my experience comes from 1 junior high class that I didn't want, which was dance. I do however appreciate ballet and tips I dont need. Its interesting. Its things that you dont consider when you're watching ballet that perhaps goes into the look and function.
Not a dancer but wrecked both Achilles’ tendons. The left is still occasionally dicky. Sadly I also had a popped baker’s cyst in my right knee. So my right knee is dicky. It’s a bad day when both play up. I’ve fixed both, for the most part, by plodding the pool I work at before my shifts start. I tiptoe some steps, lunge others, and do whip kick stationary to strengthen my knee. It’s helped a lot.
I’ve sprained one ankle 6 times, one ankle 7 times (I don’t remember which for which because like, does it matter at that pointe? Lol) and I’m not even a ballerina 🤣
I’m 15 and even though I’ve danced for most of my life I only started ballet at 14 and have been dancing for a year and a half, I just started a pre pointe class and lemme tell you, I’m terrified to go en pointe just as much as I’m excited. I messed up my left ankle and consequently my knee badly last year about 2 months before summer break and I had to wear a physical therapy boot for a week and then I was right back at it and that ankle is so much weaker and sensitive that I think the day I go en pointe it’s just going to give out
What's all this "pointe shoe" nonsense everyone is talking about? I just dunk my feet in Plasti-Dip and give 'em a couple coats and then glue some pretty colored kevlar over the top. Super durable.....lasts well over a year before I need to reapply.
Thank you for sharing Josphine and Kathryn! Question: are all those supposed to be pointed in the pointe shoes, and does the block connect to the first 3 toes? I wish there was a see through pointe shoe i could see how the toes are pointing.
I am definitely going to try this pointe shoe hack. Thank you for the tip. I have the same thing, hyperextended legs and no heels. I have just been compensating for the disappearing heels by sewing very strong tight elastics so the shoe doesn't come off when I roll up en pointe.
My left foot/ankle barely is really inflexible because of a few sprains from soccer. Got in a ski accident last December and now my left knee doesn’t straighten 😂 maybe it’ll help my get over my shoe? 😬😂 if I go on pointe some day
I can never buy 1 size, since my feet literally differ nearly a full size🙃 besides that my biggest issue is having super wide AND short feet. So so many shoes just make my feet look 'boxy'
Mijn right foot is always unhappy and I have been dancing on points for 4 years but still haven't found a shoe that fits good. I am on my third pair and it is great but not good enough for my right foot ti get over the pair.
I have the oddest feet, my left foot is my pretty foot and my balancing leg. But it is also the foot that hates me and is always sore, sometimes I have to stop dancing because it gets so bad (also my pointe shoe killer foot). my right foot is not as flexible, it does not hate me, it just comes along for the ride and tries its best.
My left foot has a better turnout (both feet have pretty high arches), but I broke my left toe and had to get surgery on it, so now my left foot is my unhappy foot :(
I wonder if a choreographer will do a dance routine that is more left foot dominant to balance out all the right foot dominant dance routines out there.
since i cant pay for more expensive shoes or fitting, i sew the platform of my shoes to make me fall a little bit more to the big toe, otherwise i fall on my pinky and the lines get horrible
