Anatomy of a Ballet Shoe

Ballet shoes have been used by dancers for some 300 years thanks to a certain Marie Camargo the very first women to perform theentrechat quatre which consists of the dancer jumping into the air, crossing their legs so as to tap the right thigh onto the back of the left thigh, then onto the front of the left thigh before landing back into their original position.

This was only made possible due to her innovative slippers which quickly came to replace the heeled shoes of her predecessors.

Since then ballet shoes / slippers have evolved into two basic types, full sole and split sole, designed to fit a variety of different types of feet. They are designed to be flexible enough to enable the dancer to give best performance they can while providing much needed support and protection.

Getting the Right Size Shoes

This particularly important when buying kids ballet shoes as it is very tempting to buy slightly larger pairs to accommodate their growth in the hope that the shoes will last that bit longer. This tends to be a false economy as ballet shoes tend to wear out fairly quickly anyway due to body heat and perspiration as a result of the demands put on the dancer. It can also be potentially dangerous.

Too small and the toes will be cramped making it extremely difficult for the dancer to stand en Pointe Too large and the automatic reaction of the dancer will be to curl the toes up so as not to lose a shoe.

Correctly fitting shoes must be a snug fit with no gaps between the arch of the foot and the shoe. While you don’t want the toes to be squashed together you don’t want too much toe movement either. As mentioned earlier you don’t want the toes curling under nor do you want the heel slipping off when you point the foot.

Types of Foot

When buying ballet shoes it also helps to know what type (shape) of foot you have as it will help determine the type of ballet shoes you need. The four main foot shapes are: -

• The Egyptian Foot – large big toes which the other toes rapidly diminishing in size like the slant on a pyramid
• The Greek Foot – in which the second toe is longer than the big toe.
• The Compressible Foot – which looks rather wide in appearance yet may compress comfortably into a smaller shoe due to the lack of muscle between the bones.
• The Giselle Foot – due to the toes all being fairly short and the same approximate length. While not the best looking it is probably the best foot shape for doing en Pointe

If you are not sure which category your foot fits in you can always draw an outline of it on a piece of paper for guidance.

Types of Shoe

Ballet shoes are normally produced in any one of three varieties of material, namely Leather, Canvass and Satin.

Leather ballet shoes are normally preferred as practice shoes for their durability. While slightly dearer they tend to hug the foot more.

Satin ballet shoes tend to be the shoes of choice for many a young lady for those special performances due to their shiny appearance The main drawback with them is that they are difficult to maintain

Canvass ballet shoes may be the cheapest and easiest to maintain, however they don’t tend to fit the shape of the foot as efficiently as the others.