Get to the Pointe — pointe shoe ribbons

Can you believe it's been nearly 3 whole years since our first Tik Tok reaction video?!  And in that time, lots of trends have come and gone on the ballet internet.  But there is one type of content, above the others, that still hits: Pointe Shoe Hacks! What started out as a ballerina's version of 'get ready with me' has turned into a staple on ballet tik tok and Instagram.  The cool part is in addition to the yummy tingly ASMR feels, there's also an educational aspect. As pointe shoes have changed over time, so have the ways ballerinas prepared...

  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...

We just need to highlight this comment from one of our viewers: "@TheTimHall" said: "Ballet Dancer Breaking In A New Car:- Rips out the seats. - Jumps up and down on the hood. - Drives the car down some steps. - Drives it for 1 day. - Buy a new car..." Yep. That pretty much summarizes pointe shoes hacks - but thank goodness it's a shoe and not a car!  This is Josephine's favorite series to react to. It features all the cool little - but sometimes brutal - ways that ballerinas will customize their pointe shoes. Every person's feet...

To those who are new here, welcome to Josephine vs. the Ballet Internet. In this series, we tackle a myriad of topics pertaining to ballet with our favorite pointe shoe fitter, Josephine Lee!  In this video, you'll see beautiful pointe shoes, commentary on ballet donors, the cutest baby ballerina, some interesting costuming choices, and of course, dead pointe shoes too. Part of the lore of this series is cups - which is markedly not in this episode.  In the second Tik Tok reaction video, we saw that our audience commented about cups on tik tok. This is a bit where...

It's pretty well known on the internet that ballerinas *DESTROY* their shoes. But what are they actually doing? And more importantly: why??? In this video, Josephine watches and explains some of the most popular pointe shoe hacks on the internet. Some may work for you, but for the vast majority of people, there is no need. Especially if you are a dancer in training, these hacks are not sustainable for you - or your mom's bank account. Darning the tips of your shoes in one thing, but cutting out half the shank may not be. And for dancers who are...