A 2004 study by the University College of London showed that dancers’ mirror neurons fire while watching dance, not just while dancing. Though schedules vary, they can include as much as 40 hours a week of dancing.Įven on the rare occasion that the dancers’ bodies are at rest, their minds are not. It’s a routine they repeat six days a week, with only Mondays off. On performance days, dancers warm up for two to three hours before going on stage.
#GRIT AND GRACE PLUS#
The rigorous training schedule followed by the 91 male and female dancers at New York City Ballet can include up to five hours a day of class - a dancer’s preparation for their day of dancing - plus rehearsal. Indeed, many dancers describe these two instruments as a single tool, with the pointe shoes functioning as an extension of their legs and feet.
Expose the shoes to a bit of sweat or a particularly pointe-heavy ballet - both of which soften the supportive materials - and they might not make it to their second hour before they are deemed “dead” and have to be repaired or retired.īut the time and effort ballerinas spend preparing their shoes barely holds a candle to the time and effort they put into preparing their other primary tool: their bodies.
#GRIT AND GRACE MANUAL#
Preparing a pointe shoe is a remarkably manual process, made all the more remarkable when you consider that the shoes are built for only a few hours of use. Then she repeats an altered version of the routine on her other foot. All of this happens before she puts her foot into the shoe and secures it with ribbons. She folds the left edge over to the center, then the right edge over to meet it before pulling the excess at the tip down. She places a wedge-shaped make-up sponge between her first and second toes for cushioning, then a paper towel partially under the ball of her left foot.
Megan Fairchild, a principal dancer at New York City Ballet since 2005, starts with clear medical tape, wrapping certain toes to prevent blisters. Dancers scratch the soles for better traction, crush the box to soften it, and attach their own ribbons at just the right spots before beginning their own unique rituals - filled with creative MacGyvering and artistic repurposing - for putting the shoes on.
Getting the fit right is vital, given the 40 or so hours a week the dancer will spend in pointe shoes.īut even custom-made shoes aren’t quite perfect. “Makers” craft the shoes, which can cost upwards of $80 per pair, to the ballerinas’ specifications. Young dancers typically buy standardized pointe shoes from a store, but experienced ballerinas, like those at New York City Ballet, have theirs custom-made to accommodate every imaginable variable. Countless other elements can be fine-tuned, too, from the amount of glue used to bond the components to the material for the drawstring. Likewise, the shank - the inner sole that provides support for the arch - can be customized for thickness, flexibility and length. The box - the hardened, flat front of the shoe that allows a ballerina to rise up onto her toes, to dance en pointe - comes in varying sizes and angles.
But the shoes’ sleek exterior belies both their complex construction and the meticulous preparatory ritual that are integral to their function. Covered in satin, their appearance embodies the ethereal aesthetic of the dancers and the ballets they perform.
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