Tag: pointe

I Helped Break a Dance World Record

Dancers breaking world records before they’ve even had their morning coffee? Shouldn’t surprise you, considering our next-level enthusiasm for absolutely anything that has to do with dance. And that’s exactly the feat 300+ dancers—myself included!—achieved this morning on the streets of NYC. A few weeks ago, dynamic American Ballet Theatre duo Isabella Boylston and James […]

Please Take a Moment to Silence Your Pointe Shoes

Few things ruin the magic of a performance faster than the sound of loud pointe shoes. “When an audience watches someone dancing, they don’t want to hear tap-tap-tap,” says Houston Ballet first soloist Allison Miller. Pointe shoe sounds can be distracting to you, too, breaking your concentration and keeping you from getting lost in the […]

3 Key Exercises for Stronger, More Stable Pointework

It’s the rite of passage every young ballerina dreams of: getting her first pair of pointe shoes. But it’s important to remember that a lot (and we mean a lot) of hard work and technique-honing leads up to this moment—not to mention getting the green light from your teacher. Dance Spirit turned to Jenna Lavin, […]

The Life of a Pointe Shoe, from Factory to Stage

For professional ballet dancers, the search for the perfect pointe shoe is a lifelong quest. Even the smallest adjustment in manufacturing can make the difference between a shoe that allows a ballerina to soar and a shoe that detracts from her dancing. So what goes into creating the perfect fit? A lot of hard work, […]

6 Ballerinas Share Their First Pointe Shoe Memories

The mark of a truly skilled ballerina is her ability to make the pointe shoe look like a part of her body, an extension of her beautifully S-curved leg. It’s hard to believe the shoe was ever foreign to her, or that she ever had that awkward first time on pointe. We asked six professional […]

NYCB's Olivia Boisson Shares Her Pointe-Shoe Prep Routine

Watching a ballerina customize her pointe shoes will just never get old. Not only is it oddly mesmerizing to watch, but the pros always have some genius tips and hacks to offer. New York City Ballet corps member Olivia Boisson recently sat down with Insider to talk about her pointe-shoe process, and trust us, the […]

3D-Printed Pointe Shoes? Yep, They Exist!

Pointe shoes printed on a 3D printer may sound like something only possible in the future. But imagine our surprise when we found out these high-tech shoes actually exist! Yes, you read that correctly…you can PRINT pointe shoes—and the end result offers less pain and way more durability than traditional methods. The P-rouette pointe shoe […]