Discover Top Posts Tagged with #pointe shoe

First time using gouache :)

#art #painting #gouache #watercolor #sketch #drawing #paint #brush #paintbrush #artist #artists #artists on tumblr #painter #fyp #ballet #pointe #ballet shoe #ballet shoes #ballet dancer #pointe shoes #pointe shoe #dance #dance art

Kerrie Meikle | Photo by Marco Cappalunga

#Kerrie Meikle #balletphotography #black tights #pointe shoe

the weekly pointe shoe pic

#ballet #pointe shoe #dancer #uploads

Upopilar opinion. Do you think it's bad etiquette to hear the points shoes as the ballerina lands. And does it mean shes not rolling through her shoe?

Ooof this is tricky. It can mean a dancer isn't rolling through their shoes or has a moment of poor control, especially if it's a tricky series of releves or turns. It could also mean that a dancer is dropping their weight out of a jump instead of staying lifted. This is more of an indicator of bad technique in a particular section than bad etiquette.

However, it can also mean the dancer's shoes are still pretty new and hard. Noisy shoes are a nuisance and the desired silence definitely contributes to the 'effortless' appeal of ballet. If you bang out your shoes, they get softer and more pliable (and also generally more comfortable). This sounds great, but that also mean the shank of the shoe is giving you less support. It's also much easier to turn an ankle in soft shoes. So it's a tradeoff.

You need the shoe to be able to work for the choreography you're doing. It's very common for dancers to wear not just different pairs of shoes, but shoes in different stages of a pointe shoe's 'life cycle' Eg, a dancer often wears softer, more dead shoes for Kiri act 1 because the choreography has SO much jumping. She'll likely wear a harder, more supportive shoe for the Dream Scene and the Wedding because those acts have more complex pointe work and of course, the famous fouettes.

Professionals obviously have very strong feet and most prefer to dance in softer shoes than students do. However, we can't always perfectly match the shoes to the choreography. A great example is the Swan Lake corps. Obviously, swans aren't supposed to be clunking around and there's lots of jumping for us to do. However, there's also a TON of bourees and if you do all those bourees in super flexible, worn out shoes, your toes will be smashing into the ground and it's not a fun time. I So that's a tricky balance to strike, how soft can your shoes be so that you still have support but you're not making a ton of noise when the block of the shoes hit the ground.

But it's different when you're in school or enjoying ballet as a hobby. Pointe shoes are such a luxury and 'banging them out' until they're soft greatly reduces the shoe's lifespan. Not everyone has the money to go through a pair of pointe shoes per week or the time to sew a new pair. I understand the importance of being 'quiet'. Still, I think its far better to focus on technical aspects (eg proper placement in and out of releves, good supportive plies after jumps) to try to reduce the occurrence of that sound than to get obsessed with banging your shoes until they're completely broken.

#ballet #pointe shoe #pointe shoes #en pointe #ballet life #ballet ask