Get to the Pointe — pointe shoe fitting for flexible feet

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...

Josephine fitted our 2021 Senior Model, Keliah, in 5 different brands of pointe shoes for her to try out! Keliah's type of foot tends to twist in a lot of pointe shoes, because the foot does not sit completely straight in the shoe. The first pair Keliah tried on was the So Danca Elektra. This shoe has interchangeable shanks, so they were able to try both with no shank and with the shank. It fit Keliah pretty well, but it was just slightly too tapered. The next shoe they tried on was the Capezio Ava. This shoe looked really good...

Sofia Angelov, 13, is trained by her dad, Pavel Dega, who was an Olympic gymnastics coach! When his daughter decided to take on ballet, he was happy to be dragged into that world with her. He also has been an inspiration to her when it comes to pursuing her passions! When it comes to fitting Sofia for pointe shoes, her foot type can be particularly tricky. Sofia has extremely flexible feet and ankles and incredibly high arches, which can make them very difficult to control. Dancers with these types of feet are very prone to rolling their ankles over and...