I have a beginner pointe studnet that has only been on pointe for a few months but has gone through 3 pairs of pointe shoes already. She wears the shank down super quick and today her third pair became so bad she was having a hard time even balancing on one foot in them. After class I looked at them the shank just seemed to melt - it was like I was holding a regular canvas ballet shoe.
I have never seen a student go through shoes this fast - especially a beginner and I am looking for ways to save this shoe. The family is rather low income and really scrimp to put their daughter in dance. This last pair they ponied up the money to purchase Gaynor Mindens in a hard shank after the recommendation of the fitter in hopes they would last a bit longer, but they wore out even faster then her other two pair. So I'm looking for ideas on any way to save this shoe even for just a little while longer - asking the parents to purchase a 4th pair already will be a huge blow to them and I really want to avoid it while still keeping the student safe.
I recommend jet glue for the boxes in my more advanced dancers - has anyone ever used it to reharden a shank?

I had Sansha's with the option to put bamboo stems between the layers of the inner sole to harden the shank. I don't know of any other option. My local balletstore has those shanks and sells them. Maybe see them in store and try to get them in the current shoes?

But if the last pair are Gaynor Mindons and they wore out so fast, why not complain to GM about this and try to get a better pair from them?

Are her feet extra bendy? Even for beginners with strong or arched feet, I would be very suspicious of a student breaking shoes so quickly. How many hours of pointe does she do each week? Could she be wearing them at home?

oh, that is really annoying, to have the shoes break so quickly!

could it also be that she is not aware of hanging the shoes up to dry between classes?

Otherwise, the suggestions above are all great.

-ginger.

I had very flexible but also rock solid strong feet...I wore grishkos with the Super Hard (SH) shank. most of them come in either SS-super soft or M-medium. You can order them to be H-hard of SH-super hard. It will designate which on the bottom of the shank. The SH lasted me the best of any shoe I wore...they are ROCK solid. They also tend to have a higher vamp which was great for my bendy foot. It kept me where I was supposed to be. If you go this route maybe start at the Hard shank and see how it goes since she is a beginner...the SH is beyond strong and takes lots of breaking in.

Another poster mentioned that she might not be drying her shoes in-between classes. This is important. She must do this. If she has extra-sweaty feet, she can actually put anti-perspirant on her feet to help keep her feet dry and she must wear tights.

We used to use varnish or shellac on the shanks of the shoes, and yes, you can put Jet Glue there, too. Also, back in the dark ages, we used to bake our shoes in the oven to help harden them.

But, it also sounds to me as if this student needs to do more strengthening of her feet and legs so she won't "sink" into those shoes.

Could she possibly be doing anything to her shoes to "break them in" (like slamming them in a door or something) and actually breaking them too much for her super-archy feet?

Has she ever tried Grishkos? They have the hardest shanks I know of. (I didn't even know they made SH's. Dang.)

Also second the suggestion that she probably needs to work on her foot strength to prevent sinking as much as possible. It's even more important for the ones with bananna feet.

I agree that Gaynor's often break easily. I would have her try a different shoe! Grishkos and Freed of London are good for people who need stronger shanks. But like previous posts have pointed out it may be the way she's working in her shoes. Check that first.

I heard about that but I have never tried it right before I gave up on pointe shoes I found the brand that I have used from then until now Grishkos come in a Hard and Super Hard and let me tell you they are the hardest things they work your feet ridicuously. I would not recomend Gaynors to the student only becuase they come already pre bent and that may be why she is melting through them. I'm sure the glue would work one teacher told me to glue them and then stick them in the oven? Grishkos come in very hard shanks so she can always look intp them as well! hope she finds a way to fix this!

Also check the fit. I had a student who told me (before I started at the studio) how she broke her shoes. That her feet were so strong that her shoes never lasted more than a few classes. Come to find out, she was buying them 2 sizes too small. Of course they were breaking.

Also, as the others stated, I would check to see if she is taking care of them in between classes. Also, how many classes are they lasting. If she is doing pointe work 3x per week, then that seems resonable that she will be going through man pairs, but if it's 1x per week for 1 hour, then no.

Also, you mentioned she was a beginner but balancing on one foot? I know my beginners do not work balances on 1 foot after a few months. Is she doing things that are too hard and hopping to her pointes? That will break down shoes quickly.

This student is a dancer that is very strong technically - and is very light on her feet- is excellent about pulling up and out of her shoes - we've never had an issue about her sinking into her shoes. So this is why I am so confused by whats happening to her shoes. She began pointe at the beginning of the summer and it was actually just two weeks ago we started working on her first one footed balances in center - by stepping up to a coupe position and she was doing beautifully, so nothing that would put an extreme amount of pressure in her shoes.
The parent of this child really wants to see her succeed and have always followed my instructions to a T - so I'm not to supicious of it being that she's doing things at home on her own or that she isn't letting them dry properly. So like I said I'm at a loss.
I really trust the fitter that the girls go to and have never seemed to steer them wrong - but if I do end up suggesting she buy new shoes - I will request she try on the Grishkos in Super hard.

wow, if she is doing all that then definitely the Grishko, maybe she can order them two at a time and switch off. That will save them just a bit.

lidwina wrote:

But if the last pair are Gaynor Mindons and they wore out so fast, why not complain to GM about this and try to get a better pair from them?

I agree. Call Gaynor's Corporate office in NY - they are VERY proud of the sustainability of their shoes so they may offer to replace this pair. Explain that the shoe was specifically selected to compensate for durability problems but didn't even last longer than xxx and zzz brands. That ought o get their attention since it's a key advertising point for them. If nothing else they may have insight about why the shoe broke down so fast. Definitely worth the phone call

very interesting though... keep us posted please

An update to my last post... as frequently mentioned, I'm not the ballerina, my partner is - having now chatted with her I have some additional suggestions for you from her...

The hardest shank either of us has heard of is made by Russian Pointe (I almost mentioned it earlier but was waiting for her to confirm that for me). We've both known pro's with massive arches - I'm talking girls that break in shoes by putting them on one time - and they've all worn that brand since the shank is harder than most (including grishko which is what my partner wears).

One of those dancers with shank troubles who dances professionally not only wears Russian Pointe's, she uses jet glue or even regular super glue on the shank daily (because she dances 7 hours a day - I'm sure your student wouldn't need that much). So yes in answer to the original question, jet glue can be applied to the shank - (on the inside of the shoe I'm told but I'm sure you knew that

Also, my partner's teacher, who was a member of the Kirov, knew dancers who used regular hardware-store shellac - as in the stuff you seal wood with - to harden the shank. Apparently you can google this and it is indeed done since it hardens the shoe and is cheaper than jet glue.

good luck!

i would do a call to GM about the pointe shoes I had a pair for only a month and the back started to come undone they had me take it back where I got it and the bouquet called in and got the ok and I recieved a new pair they are really good about their quality of shoe like the above person said it's worth a try good luck youll have to let us know how it gos (also I love grishko's and all my girls dance in them they seem to work the best for the price)

I was also going to say Grishko's because they have the super hard shank option. It works well for the students with more flexible feet who are not strong enough yet to keep from breaking them. Gaynor Mindons do not break in the shank, so that can be an option, too.

First of all, I would contact GM. Don't they guaranteee their shoes to last a long time? If this does not work, Russian pointe are the best. My daughter had this problem with the shanks in other shoes, one or two classes and they were gone. She was not a beginner, but the problem awas the same. Until we found Russian Pointe with the hard shank could she wear shoes for more than a few classes. Because of her shoe size and extra hardf shank, it took a while to get the shoes, but they lasted longer. Once the shank and the box started softening, we used jet glue and that took care of that. But during my pointe years, I destroyed the boxes of my shoes because of sweaty feet. I could only get a class out of a pair of shoes. Hope this helps, I know how frustrating it can be as a student,parent, and teacher. Let us know what happens...

just curious... any update?

Student went out of town for Thankgiving and I won't see her again until Thursday - I'll let everyone how things end up working out once I can get ahold of her shoes....

Just an update - I called the company and got pretty much no where. It seemed like everyone with any ability to tell me anything was already off for Christmas - so I'll try again after the holidays.
In the meantime we're going to try hardening the shanks with jet glue over the holiday break and see how it works out....

Thanks for the update

I'm a fan of russian pointes and grishko's as well.

They are really strong, have beautiful lines and satin color and seem to hold up really well. Most of my students who use them wear out the box before the shank.

With her having a strong foot and having the ability to stay pulled up in the shoe, perhaps she does not need the shank so much, just the box. Has she tried a 3/4 shank instead? I know alot of professionals that open up the shoe and cut the shank off so it only covers the ball of the foot. You just have to be careful about where you cut it or the cut edge could jab into your arch.