Get to the Pointe — pointe shoe fitting for flexible feet

This week - a pointe shoe fitting video! Yay! Your comments asking for more fitting videos are seen. Originally, we had to step away from this format back in 2020 during the pandemic. There were a few attempts with masks and captions, but scheduling got tricky. But when one door closes (at least temporarily), another opens! And thus, reaction videos were born. More specifically Tik Tok reaction videos were born. However, this whole time, pointe shoe fittings are happening constantly. They just weren't captured on camera. But for this video, we connected with 2022 Junior Model, Samantha Striplin! She has...

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...

This week, Josephine shared a fitting story from a studio in Sacramento. At first glance, there was nothing functionally wrong with this shoe. Sometimes dancers get fittings even if they like their current shoe, just for a second opinion. Sometimes everything is fine - but other times dancers sometimes don't realize when things are not as they should be. In this case, Josephine thought the shoe was doing everything it needed to: supported the dancer kept her stable en pointe, and wasn't causing injury. However, the shoe could look better under the ball of the foot. The shoe was reverse...

Being hypermobile and double jointed are NOT the same thing! This week, Josephine fit Shea Hancock, a freshman dance major at USC Kaufman who is suuuper bendy! Shea mentioned that growing up, people thought she was just double jointed, but in reality, her hypermobility can be assessed & treated. While these hyperextended lines are often highly sought-after in the ballet world, it can be dangerous and shorten a dancer's career if not taken care of properly. When fitting people with joints like this, Josephine's number one priority is safety through proper alignment & stability. Having this much range of motion means...

Josephine fits Ashley Lew! When dancer's go off to college, the expense of pointe shoes can become quite overwhelming. With that said, Josephine likes to move dancers to a longer lasting pointe shoe when they get to this point in their life. One of the most common "long-lasting" pointe shoes is the Gaynor Minden! The materials they are made of are vastly different from a traditional pointe shoe, so they do not break down in the same way that many shoes do. Because of this, Ashley is able to make them last around a year, as opposed to the 1-2...