Ouch!
After I finished up yesterday's post, I wrote a quick email to the Gaynor Minden fitters regarding ordering a shoe with a stronger shank than the pair I've got now.
I don't know how much harder the GM Hard shank is than the GM Extraflex shank... I think I need it to be at least 2x as hard as the Extraflex or it may be a waste of $$. I may need to pay for a special pair with an extra hard shank. This decision was solidified by the pics I rounded up to included in my email.
My phone takes really nice quality videos, and I've got a lot of practice videos saved up. It also has a nifty feature where I can take screenshots during playback, so I went through and took several screenshots of some eschappe practice I did a few months ago. It's very shocking.
Here is a picture of my GM's that I took as a still, so just standing in 2nd position:
And here is a video still of my feet working at the peak of an eschappe. It's a little more closed than I prefer which may contribute to the pushing over.
My feet are like ready to bend in half, but especially my right foot (seen left in the pic). I also see that I need to fix my ribbons/elastic on my right shoe.
Crazy. There is no doubt in my mind that I need the harder shank, but I don't know if I should spring for the extra hard shank. I'll let you all know what GM says in their reply!
Foam roller post to follow...
Hey so I started reading through your blog tonight I have been looking for links about proper point shoe fitting for a difficult fit. Just wanted to let you know that I originally thought I needed a hard shank in GMs because of my height and long feet but pretty much can't stand on pointe in them. I was able to try a extraflex on trying to get properly fitted and it was a world of difference to me! I thought that the huge difference I felt might make u just want to go with the hard shank. Also, I read your blog posting about feet shapes. I have other than the first and second being about the same length very very tapered feet. There are very long (11 street) and compressable. They look wide when flat and much more narrow when pointed. I had the hardest time getting fit properly in a shoe. I ended up buying the Bloch surprimas and got home and tried to work with them and flattened the box a bit and they were way too wide. I don't think a box should be too round or oval it should shape to my foot. Am I wrong? By the way this was a size 7c in those. When I can I will take them back to the shop and see about the 7b but I'm pretty sure they don't carry that size. I'm so frustrated. I can't simply try to fit my foot in the shoe they carry. I need one that fits excellently. None of their shoes supported my metatarsals at all. Do you have any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHi Grown Up!
DeleteThanks for reading, I really appreciate it! Thanks for the heads up on the GM hard shank as well-- GM still hasn't answered my question on that one! Out of curiosity, why aren't you dancing in the GM shoe still?
Ok regarding your pointe shoe fit. You didn't mention your arch height or flexibility, so I'm going to assume that you've got more flexible arches than normal because your feet are so long. I'm also going to assume you'd take a medium to long vamp? My feet sound pretty similar to yours, so just going off of a hunch.
You are right, when you are standing flat in your pointe shoes the side profile of the shoe shouldn't be too high, especially in the box area. If you can wiggle your toes and have extra room top to bottom, you are going to be in trouble when you start to break them in. There are many box shapes and profile shapes. Some Capezio shoes for example have a high profile in the box area and the shoes look very round on the dancers feet. It's important to know that altering one aspect of the box will also alter the opposite, as you found out! By flattening the box you made the shoe probably 1-2 sizes wider, which is terrible for compressible feet. Sigh, I feel your pain.
Also-- although the Bloch Suprima 7C would seem to be a medium width shoe, compared to all other pointe shoes, it's considered a wide width! I'm not surprised at all that they didn't work for you in the end with your compressible feet! Even if you can find the "B" width, it'll probably stretch out and be too wide for your feet, as that's considered the Medium width in the Bloch shoe.
Here are my suggestions:
Try on shoes that are either Slightly Tapered or Tapered in the box. I'm going to assume fully Tapered shoes are going to work best for you, but depending on the width of the shoe, a slightly tapered box might work.
Offers Narrow Width + Tapered Box
-Grishko Vaganova
-Grishko Ulanova II
-Capezio Pavlowa
Offers Narrow Width + Slightly Tapered Box
-Bloch Jetstream
-Capezio Contempora & Contempora ES (Extra Strength)
-Grishko 2007 & 2007 Pro
-Grishko Fouette
-Grishko Fouette Proflex
-Grishko Proflex (and yes, it's different than the two above!)
-Grishko Nova
I'd seriously write these down and see which of them your local shop has! Try on every width and length they carry and see what works.
As you can tell the Grishko shoes tend to be made for a narrower and streamlined foot. Grishko also makes all of their models in an Extra Narrow, and sometimes an Extra Extra Narrow! Just remember-- the shoe needs to be narrow enough and shaped right to support your metatarsal. Don't go too narrow, you'll know because the shank will twist off of your arch and the shoe will look really weird. All shoes will stretch a little bit, but don't buy them counting on them stretching out a lot in order to fit right down the line.
I pulled this information from my top secret project that I've got in the works-- please be advised that I only have Capezio, Grishko & Bloch active models included in this consideration. My research on the other major brands is still incomplete.
And remember, don't flatten the box unless you are willing to dance with 1-2 sizes extra width!!
Sorry for the novel, pointe fitting is so complex. I could write about your feet (even without knowing the full picture) for a few more hours.... ha! Please let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to go into more detail about any of the shoes I listed! If you want to dive deeper into your feet, can you send me a few pics? Of your bare feet and also wearing your current shoes?