If you've ever seen a ballerina take a brand-new pair of pointe shoes—fresh out of the box, pristine, worth over $100—and immediately start whacking, slamming, cutting, and burning them (yes, really), you might be wondering:
Why are they destroying expensive shoes before even wearing them?
Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of pointe shoe prep!
Pointe Shoes: Not Your Average Footwear
Pointe shoes may look delicate and dainty, but they’re basically handcrafted torture devices that need to be tamed. Straight out of the box, they’re stiff, unforgiving, and about as comfortable as walking on wood blocks (because... that’s kind of what they are). Every dancer’s feet are different, and breaking in shoes is like customizing armor to fit a knight. A very flexible, pirouetting knight.
Pointe Shoe Fitter Reacts 🎭
Luckily, you've got Josephine - the internet's pointe shoe fairy - to react & also explain what's going on. Some hacks are genius, some are cringe, but as always, our disclaimer: Please don’t try this if you're a dancer in training!
So next time you see a ballerina "destroying" new shoes, remember: she’s not ruining them—she’s making them hers.