Demi pointes, deshanks, pre-pointes, soft pointes, soft blocks, whatever
UPDATED ON 1/23/08 AND 2/15/08
Many ballet syllabus exams and training courses, such as RAD, require dancers to use demi pointe shoes, also known as soft pointes, pre-pointes, de-shanks, or soft blocks, for exams and classes. These can be obtained/made in 2 ways. One is for the dancer to remove the shank from an old pair of pointe shoes and soften the box with their hands/a hammer (de-shanks). Another is for the dancer to purchase demi pointes/soft pointes/soft blocks made for this purpose at a dance shop.
The demi pointe shoe teaches the dance student's feet what it feels like to do flat work in pointe shoes, and also helps prepare the student for pointe work by strengthening the ankles and feet. Many professional and pre-pro dancers also use demi pointe shoes (usually de-shanks) for class.
shoe does not have a shank, but does have an inner sole and a thick leather outer sole, and b.) in The main difference between a demi pointe shoe and a pointe shoe is that a.) the demi pointepre-made demi pointe shoes, the box of the shoe is generally lighter and thinner than that of a pointe shoe. Because a demi pointe shoe does not have a shank, it is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND INADVISABLE to attempt full pointe work in de-shanks or demi pointe shoes.
Only few pointe shoe makers have demi pointes available for purchase; the only ones I know of are:
Bloch- http://www.blochworld.com/shop/p-164-tensus.aspx
http://www.blochworld.com/shop/p-312-rad-demi-pointe.aspx
Sansha- http://sansha.com/footwear-pointe-prof-soft.html#
Grishko- http://www.grishko.com/product.asp?id=79&type=danceshoes&storageid=16
http://www.grishko.ru/enpointeshoes/danceshoes_2151.htm
Fuzi- http://www.fuzi.net/products_sub_detai_psprepointe.htm
Gamba- http://www.katz.uk.com/products/GAMBA-SOFT-BLOCH-1125.aspx
Capezio- http://www.planetdancedirect.co.uk/prod6.asp?prod_id=1938&id=141&sub_cat=471&grpid=1938&msg=&offset=60
Freed- http://www.energetiks.com.au/main/products.aspx?pid=1169&catid=554&catparent=317
I've never worn any of these shoes, but have read in multiple places that the Bloch shoes are very heavy and clunky and require a great deal of breaking in, almost as much as a regular pointe shoe. I'm also pretty sure that Capezio will make you demi pointes if you special order them from their website, and that Grishko makes all of their models as demi pointes, but some are not on the website and may need to be special ordered, also.
How To De-shank Used Pointe Shoes:
1.) Take out the pair of shoes that you wish to de-shank (duh). It is not recommended that you de-shank Gaynor Mindens, as this will render the shoe unusable.
2.) Remove the leather or canvas inner sole. (If you do not know what parts of the pointe shoe the directions are referring to, see here.) Now you will see the shank made of cardboard/leatherboard/redboard/other material and nails. Do not throw the inner sole/liner away.
3.) At this point, there are a few different things you can do. It depends on whether nails are visible or not. If not, peel off the first layer of shank. If not, do the following.
4.) This is the tricky part. The nails in the shoe are sometimes really hard to take out. Pliers will be needed. Try to peel off as much of the shank as you can around the nails to make yanking them out easier.
5.) Grab your first nail with the pliers. Yank it out as best as you can. If it's particularly stubborn (as most Blochs and Grishkos generally are), look at the bottom of the shoe. Compare where you see the nail sticking out of the bottom of the shoe (look closely) and where the nail head is inside the shoe. You'll be able to tell which way the nail is bent by doing this. Try to pull the nail out at an angle, the likes of which depending on what direction the nail is bent in. Do the same for the next nail(s).
6.) After the nails are removed, you can basically just rip the shank out. If this is being particularly stubborn also, you can boil water, take it off the heat source, and let your pointe shoe soak for a couple minutes.
7.) The soaking of the shoe will also help soften the box. After the shoe dries, or if you didn't soak the shoe, replace the inner sole from before. The glue used to originally hold the shank in should hole the inner sole in, but if it isn't, you can use Tacky GLue, or another craft glue to hold it in.
8.) Repeat steps 2-7 on the other shoe.
Stay on your toes,
Selly
Selly
7 Comments:
If only I could still point my toes! Perhaps if I had practiced more in demi-pointes instead of regular pointes I would have been able to dance longer.
Funny though, we were never required or used soft pointes etc...
Do you find that it is a common practice in all areas of ballet, or just the professional realm?
I think it's more of a thing at pre-pro studios and ballet schools, but also very common among advanced (or just high-arched) students that go through shoes in like a day. The same goes for professionals who can go through three pairs in one Don Q.
It's really big in RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) circles seeing as they are required to wear them for exams to see if they progress to the next level, but it is not always required that students wear them in all classes not on pointe.
Also, some of it is left over from (here's a surprising one) war. Especially during WWII even pointe shoes and technique slippers were on a ration in some places, especially England, hence the huge popularity in RAD. So, the dancers were forced to get as much use as they possibly could out of a single pair before trying to get new ones.
This is also how the ideas of using floor wax (Future Brand, recommended by Freed of London, btw) and an oven to re-harden pointe shoes after they had technically "died", mostly because floor wax was more easily accessible then pointe shoes.
That was a lot longer than I intended it to be.
Selly
Oh, and I was never required to wear them either.
That makes sense...I rarely wore out my shoes, even when I was dancing four hours a day, five days a week! Must be because of my flat feet....
I mean, I went through a couple of pairs but nothing outrageous. I think the resin did more damage than anything else sometimes...
That was probably because of the flat feet. You killed the toe box first, right? My feet have pretty much no instep, but they're hyper-mobile (not really flexible)in the ankle and arch so when I dance, I appear to have very archy feet.
That's funny about the resin. The RPs I'm wearing now are holding up pretty well, but the one complaint I have is that the satin is coming off of the tips way faster than any other brand I or anyone else I've known has used.
Selly
The brand Capezio has been around since the late 1800s, so they have had a lot of experience in knowing what exactly dancewear needs to be like. The company that manufactures the clothing also keeps up with the latest trends so they have the style that most performers are looking for right now.
^If Capezio is paying you to spam dance blogs with comments completely unrelated to anything in the posts, you can tell them that it's not a good form of advertisement and reflects badly on their company.
Selly
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