How long did your Bloch pointe shoes last?
Kitty asked:
Hello! I am a dancer of 15 years and I am doing a school project on pointe shoe wear. I was wondering how long your bloch pointe shoes lasted and how often you wore them. Thanks so much!
Hello! I am a dancer of 15 years and I am doing a school project on pointe shoe wear. I was wondering how long your bloch pointe shoes lasted and how often you wore them. Thanks so much!
This question will differ for every dancer.
I go through a new pair of shoes every two hours (I wear Bloch Alpha for performances). My ‘work’ shoes last two weeks (also Bloch, hard shank). I wear them about 5 hours a week when I’m teaching, but when I was training I was in them a few hours a day (ouch). I’m currently training again, so I’m in my shoes a lot more frequently and I do replace them every 3 or so classes (classes are an hour in length). That said, I go through shoes way more quickly than a girl who’s only been en pointe for two years would.
Pointe shoes (of most brands and models) generally last 80 hours for a dancer of average strength. This usually translates into 8 months to a year of use. Stronger dancers will go through shoes more quickly. Gaynor Minden suggests that their shoes will ‘last’, but I think that the majority of dancers should stay as far away from GM shoes as possible.
This question is difficult to answer because different styles of shoes are meant to hold up better, too. If I buy a Bloch shoe with a hard shank it’s going to last significantly longer than a shoe with a soft shank. It also depends on the model of shoe I’m using. Shoes with 3/4 shanks tend to die more quickly if you have strong feet. A weaker dancer may get 8 months out of a shoe I get two performances in. It also differs with how you break your shoes in, too. I find that my shoes are comfiest when they’re about 3/4 through their life span so I absolutely destroy my shoes when I break them in. That’s ok for me because I can replace them often, but students are usually more careful with theirs.
General wear and tear will also affect the answers. If you leave your toe pads in your shoes when you’re done class and leave your sweaty shoes in your dance bag then they’ll die more quickly than the shoes that are properly cared for and dried each night. If you use jet glue or lacquer it’ll also affect the lifespan of your shoe.
Unfortunatly the results for your project are going to be biased and based on personal experiences. It will lack any scientific or logical explaination. The only way to make this project accurate would be to have one dancer wear every pair of shoes and attend the exact same classes and perform the exact same exercises in them. Then she could determine which shoes lasted longer. You can’t have twenty girls answer this question because they’ll all have a different answer. Artemis