Demi Pointe or Pre Pointe Shoes

[jchengz]

Does anyone know whats the purpose for these shoes? Or is it just a waste of money?

 

[psavola]

I think some schools and training methods use them so students can get used to the feel of a harder and more restricting shoe before they actually start working in pointe shoes. They aren't used in my school - we just move straight to pointe shoes.

 

Päivi

[Mel Johnson]

If one is studying the RAD vocational syllabus, when exam time comes, they aren't a waste of money, as they are mandatory for examination wear. If you're not RAD, then I don't see why you should bother with them, unless you like them.

[Guest adancingartistforlife]

Pre Pointe shoes are a new thing, right?

 

If that is the case, they are probably another one of those "New Things" that have come along, like gel pointshoe inserts, split sole shoes, etc that can be attributed to the progress of the 'science" of the art form.

[Redbookish]

And the studio practice (at least when I studied RAD years & years ago) was to work in de-shanked pointe shoes - if you had already gone on pointe that is ...

[Guest adancingartistforlife]

Goes to show you! Where there is a will there is a way. Take something dancers have already been doing for years and say "Hey! Look at this new idea!"

[Kate B]

I think they have been around for a while. I wear them because I got used to them when I did RAD. I think they do help strengthen feet and get a different idea of balance than in flats. I also like them because the box protects my skinny long toes from getting stubbed!

[Mel Johnson]

Kate, you're right. They have been about for at least 25 years, which is how long ago I first encountered them.

[Kate B]

I think they do make sense if you are going down the pointe route and want to get used to dancing in pointes (because it is so different to flats.) For starters, when we began RAD vocational classes we had to get them but we weren't on pointe yet, so didn't have pointe shoes ready broken down to get used to dancing in.

[Laschwen]

I saw them in a Capezio catalog back in the 80's but had never heard of them before that. I wasn't doing RAD in my youth though. Good thing. They were only listed up to about a size 6 and I was already a Capezio 7.5 when I started pointe and had been that size for several years.

I did think they would be pretty on stage for students not quite ready yet.

 

Laschwen