How to break in pointe shoes?

Question

how to break them in and any good exercises for getting on full pointe.

also good tips on doing pirouette's

Answer 1

If you can't get on full pointe, you shouldn't be doing pirouettes. Breaking in shoes is a personal preference for each dancer. Hammering them and slamming them in doors is a VERY bad idea, unless you're a professional and can replace your shoes extremely often. You need to be just working the shoes by rolling slowly through the demi pointe to full pointe to demi and down. You can press over the box with one foot to break in the arch. If you have very stiff shoes you can carefully slowly work the shank in your hands to soften it. Lisa Howell on youtube has a very good video of this so you don't snap the shank. If you're having trouble getting on full pointe, it can be one of two things. Your feet, or the shoes. Your feet may not be flexible enough to reach a full pointe position. You can stretch them by putting on your pointe shoes and standing in parallel position and tendu to the front. Put your pointed foot next to your ankle (on the other side of your ankle, so your legs are crossed) and push into your calf with your knee. You should feel a stretch in your arch and/or top of foot. If your feet are flexible enough, it's your shoes. The shank may be too hard and could be pulling you back. You just need to soften it. It could also be a too long vamp pulling you back. You should do lots of slow elevés (without a plié) in first and second to build strength in your feet. When it comes time for pirouettes, you need to be solid at doing relevés to passé. You need to just do them so many time it's literally second nature, without the barre. Practice making sure you hit that passé sharply. Then once those are so solid you don't even have to think about them, you can start adding quarter turns. Then once those are solid, half turns. Then finally full turns. Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Surely your teacher is the person to ask about exercises and to help you with pirouettes?  All the dancers I know have their own particular preferences as to how they break in their pointe shoes - some hit them with rubber hammers, some slam them in the door, some hit them with cricket bats, some bash them on the ground - you just have to find out what works best for you.