Performing on that vast stage can be daunting. The disconcerting lights which throw you off balance, the huge audience who were not there during rehearsal and the gallons of adrenaline suddenly pumping around your body.
Performing well against these odds mean that it is imperative that you have fully secured your technique in class, learnt the piece thoroughly from the choreographer and have been responsible for arranging your costumes and bringing everything you need to the theatre. Only then can you be confident that if there is a mistake or malfunction on stage, you have done everything you could to prevent this prior to the performance by being fully prepared for the wonderful sensation of stepping onto and performing on stage.
If you are dancing in a ballet production, your pointe shoes need just as much care and attention as your own body does when it is transferring the steps into its muscle memory. There are many different methods and techniques of making sure your pointe shoes are stage and performance ready, and these methods may or may not suit the piece that is required of the dancer, and the dancer’s own needs and preferences.
Many professional dancers employ rituals of preparing their shoes, such as cutting parts from the shoe, sewing on additional parts, gluing them, using shellac to harden them and even painting them with calamine lotion in order to lighten the appearance of the shoes and making them appear matte, rather than shiny. Whatever your methods for making your shoes ready for use, whether it is standing on the box to soften them, shutting them in doors to break them in or simply working at them manually until they are perfect for you, often your shoes are dictated by the piece and the choreographer!
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons