Get to the Pointe — ballet news

In honor of Youth American Grand Prix (YAGP)'s 25th Anniversary, we are watching some future stars of ballet from the 2024 Finals! Dancers from all over the world flock to New York City's illustrious Lincoln Center to compete.  This episode, the pre-competitive category! Aka, the tiny dancers! Josephine, your resident pointe shoe fairy & favorite ballet commentator, watches clips of the top 3 winners in this category. Which was your favorite? Can you imagine them in pointe shoes? 

If you've been a long time viewer, you know that The Pointe Shop is first and foremost, a service company. We prioritize the pointe shoe fitting process - it's about the fit, not the brand. And if you've been with us for a while, you know that our YouTube channel started out with fitting videos. Josephine was the first person to post longer for videos explaining her process as she encountered different types of feet and technique.  As this channel has grown, the algorithm has made it clear that reactionary content is more popular, but our core is still with...

  In case you haven't heard - Josephine is going to be a mom! In preparation for the first baby of ThePointeShop, Josephine sat with San Francisco Ballet Principal, Frances Chung. Chung has 2 babies of her own. In fact, when Josephine started working for SF Ballet as their official shoe fitter, Chung was on maternity leave for her second child.  Then, Josephine saw a video of Frances doing fouettes en pointe with her baby bump.  And months later, the two sit down on a studio floor to talk about babies, ballet, and motherhood. Oh, and pointe shoe hacks of...

ThePointeShop's relationship with the ballet internet has been interesting, to say the least. Reaction videos and cups aside, the internet is a vast pit of knowledge that continues to get smarter and smarter. But when it comes to pointe shoes, who knows more? Artificial intelligence, or master pointe shoe fitter, Josephine Lee? In this video, it's ChatGPT - aka machine learning - versus Josephine.  In other words, could artificial intelligence fit pointe shoes effectively and safely? What do you think of this new technology? Is it applicable to the ballet world?

This week, Josephine was in Florida at YAGP Finals, and fit a dancer from Japan named Asuka Hara. This adorable and beautiful dancer is 11 years old. She is the 2022 recipient of YAGP's Hope Award, which is presented to the dancer for best overall performance in the Pre-Competitive category (9-11 years old). Asuka competed and performed on flat, in a variation from Graduation Ball. Although Asuka does have pointe shoes, she has not performed or competed en pointe yet. YAGP's guidelines do not allow 10 year olds to compete en pointe, and 11 year olds are strongly discouraged. However, during the...