Petit Allegro with Brisé
Rond de Jambe en l’air
First Center Combination with Pirouettes
Pointe Center Combination with Pirouettes
Once a Dancer, Always a Dancer
It’s interesting how dance can consume a person. I wrote a post about how some people just have a passion for dancing that cannot be ignored, and how this passion drives us to push ourselves through trial and error and pain and suffering (sometimes, from injuries). But at some point, our bodies age and we have to move on…if we’re lucky enough to continue working in the field we love, we become teachers or choreographers. However, for some of us, we move into a completely different arena. We become mothers and fathers, we work jobs with regular people…that is, people who don’t have flashbacks of Nutcracker performances when they hear Tchaikovsky’s score on the radio or in the mall. We find dance career alternatives.
When I first stopped dancing it was because of Achilles tendinitis. I also had a husband and a new baby that naturally changed my priorities in life. We lived in Lexington, Kentucky where I had performed a little with the ballet company, so when we went to performances I was watching all my old dance friends on stage. I cried every single time we sat in the audience to watch a performance. Deep inside I was grieving the loss of dance in my life. Sure, I was teaching. We started a dancewear store so I was in contact with dancers all the time. But I knew that I would never again put on my pointe shoes and dance on stage. It was like a part of me—a huge part—had died and would never come back. Continue reading “Once a Dancer, Always a Dancer”
How to Make Your Pointe Shoes Slip Free
Is the stage floor too slippery for your pointe shoes? Is the stage crew opposed to using rosin on the stage and you are without the benefit of marley? There are ways to make your pointe shoes slip proof! If you know you are going to be dancing on a stage that matches this description, take your pointe shoes to a local shoe repair ahead of time. They usually need a few days to do this, so don’t wait until the last minute. All you need to do is ask them to put rubber on the platform and sole of your shoes. Be sure to specify tan, because they may use black if you don’t!
Tell them to extend the rubber to the place on the sole where your shank needs to bend, so it will cover the platform and about 2/3 or 3/4 of the sole. They can use the leather sole on your shoes as a guide, and have them bevel the edges so you don’t notice where the rubber ends and your shoe begins along the sides. Then, have them put about a circle of beveled rubber on the very end of the sole where your heel is. I used to tell them to make it the size of a quarter.
This works wonders when you must dance on treacherous, slippery surfaces. Back when I was dancing, the shoe repairman would charge about $10 for a pair of shoes. I have no idea if such establishments are even easy to find nowadays, or what kind of fee they would charge. But it’s definitely worth looking into. You’d be surprised at how normal the shoes feel, even with the rubber on them.
If the stage crew isn’t opposed to using rosin, in addition to having a rosin box backstage for dancers to step into, you can take small chunks of rock rosin and spread them around the stage. Have several dancers or stage crew members help you step on them and spread the rosin around the stage to get the best coverage possible. Then, take a broom and sweep away the excess. This works pretty well if you aren’t able to put the rubber on your pointe shoes. Good luck!