Pointe shoes from Shein?

A lot of people have asked me to write about this. I have lots to say but also I find that it's a specialist subject that whilst I have an understanding of I am not an expert, so I was dubious.

Some people send me titles to prompt me write to make a point or get some rage out. That's not how I roll. I'm trying to better my writing. Write balanced, not to biased, articles.

So, back to the point! (No pun intended)

How dangerous are pointe shoes?

A little dangerous, but so is doing a backward walkover on a beam, diving off of a 5ft

diving board, or even doing the monkey bars. I believe a lot of the dance worlds problems - are the following; parents that buy these shoes from Shein, parents that buy them for their 6 year olds for Christmas and parents that constantly nag for their pre teens and teens to get their shoes.

I have limited interaction with these kinds of dance parents because I'm all about the why and how.

You ask me about pointe shoes I'll tell you the

following…

Your dancer needs to have a good understanding of at least 6 to 7 years of solid ballet

training. (Start ballet class at 3, Start actual ballet technique training at 7 or 8, add the years on and thats a 13/14 year old dancer)

Have completed a pre pointe regime, of strengthening exercises for the feet and ankles.

Be fitted by a reputable seller.

Be ready to drop at least £100 on properly fitted shoes, ribbons, toe pads (don't come at me lambs wool fan's)

and really don't worry, not being on pointe is not going to hold back your aspiring dancer (Unless they want to be purely a ballet dancer, but in that

case leave the pointe issues to the full time ballet school or associate scheme they went to at 11 years old.)

I think its also really important to remember that not every dancer is going to excel at pointe work but it's likely that every little girl who's ever committed to ballet for their childhood will want the chance

and this is where the diehard "dance safe" people - are going to come at me. I believe and many teachers who teach average kids know that the moment that you say "okay it's time to do your pre pointe Strength routine with the goal of getting your shoes by Christmas" Is the day that you see dreams come true. That dancer may only ever do rises at the barre,

but that's okay right? - knowing a little dance dream has come true! The problem's with growth plate damage, injuries in the ankles, knees, some

times even spine come from missuse and overuse. If your 14 year old is doing 15 mins a week at the barre after a solid ballet training for the last however long I believe there is little to worry about.

The moment for me that shouts red flag is the young children online demonstrating advanced moves. I am not one to say if they're physically ready or causing long term damage, you can find many super informative articles here;

https://www.pbt.dance/en/blog/the-risks-of-starting-pointe-too-early

https://dancemagazine.com/pointe-shoes/#gsc.tab=0

but the red flag for me is the influence this gives others. Parents have seen it online so therefore

want to get the same results. I couldn't imagine 28 years ago as many people saying their 6 year olds got shoes from Amazon for Xmas. Unless you were physically flying to China or Russia to watch

prepubescent ballerinas, you didn't know it was happening. Not saying that's a good thing but 'keeping up with the Jones' was a simpler situation without the internet.

My final Pointe (haha again) is some support for the dance shop owners.

Where does the line get drawn?

You've done the training for Pointe shoe fitting but you have a customer in front of you who you can see is definitely not ready - do you serve them anyway because it’s hefty profit or turn them away and they go somewhere else? Its lose, lose right?

Which I pretty much think this whole article is.

It’s probably the first one where I’ll get I don't agree comments. Ah well.

My final thoughts.

For parents- trust your teachers. (here's

hoping they are qualified in ballet teachers teaching your dancer, but thats a whole other story which I'm not getting into) Wait. Be patient. Your childs time

will come.

For Dancers- I promise they're nowhere near as fun. as they look and at first, pretty painful too. Wait. Be Patient. Do your strength exercises.

For Teachers

Trust your knowledge. Explain and Tell your parents to 'wait + be patient' Do you research. I highly recommed Lisa Howell

Oh and one final thing. Models doing ballet is my favorite internet rage bait. And the 8 year old from Zara on badly fitted shoes doing some sort of ballet arms... Shes okay. I promise. The same with the

supermodel shoes half on. She's okay too. I see alot of people saying that the trend of "ballet core" is normalising bad ballet technique - and I couldnt dissagree more. I think you could

show a random stranger, a non dancer and

say does this look safe to you and they’d go, no it looks like it hurts.

I think its obvious its an advertising campaign, as ugly as it is to us dancers that has very little impact on our dance world.

In fact does it not bring more peoples algorithms to ballet, the thing we all fell in love with in the first place?