My Ballet Journey

(Quick note- this piece was originally written 9/22/16. Thanks for reading!)

Yesterday I got my pointe shoes!

  Pointe shoes are a stiff type of ballet shoe that allow you to actually walk- and dance, obviously- on the tip of your foot. Being able to wear them is a big step in dance, so it meant a lot to me when my teacher told me that I was ready.

  I only started ballet in November of 2015, and when I was telling my friends about this new endeavor they mostly replied with, “You’re doing dance? You don’t seem like that kind of person...” But I proved them all wrong: I started, and now I’m never going back.

 Anyways, back to the subject on hand. Yesterday before class, I went to the local dance store, Fabulous Feet Dancewear, to get fitted. Fittings can last anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours! It just depends on how many shoes you have to try on before you find the perfect match.

   I sat down and, after measuring my feet, the owner of the store brought out multiple pairs of shoes. The first pair was too short, the second too skinny, and the third too tight. Two hours passed this way, putting on and taking off over twenty pairs, until we finally narrowed it down to two pairs. One, a light, soft coral; the other, a skin-tone white. I went back and forth between the two, finally deciding on the better fitting pink.

  Now that I’ve picked them out, I still have a lot more work to do. Since everyone is built differently, pointe shoes don’t come with ribbons already on- you have to cut and hand sew them to the shoe, to match your needs specifically. The same has to be done to the elastic, to make sure that it isn't so tight as to cut off the circulation to your foot, or so loose that it falls right off your foot.

  Even though it will take a lot of hard work and determination to learn to dance en pointe, I am very excited to get started!