Constance Devernay, ballerina
I’m dancing two roles in the upcoming Scottish Ballet production of Cinderella: the younger of the two stepsisters, and the title role. I don’t have the same shape of shoe for both roles. I have dyed yellow ones for the stepsister, and classic pink satin pointes for Cinderella.
After one show they go in the bin; they’re so delicate they wear out very quickly. After two hours’ rehearsal they are filthy. I go through at least one pair per night for Cinderella, though I can keep wearing my stepsister ones for longer as it’s a smaller role.
Cinderella is a tough run for shoes – we’re doing a total of seven weeks, which means I’ll get through 56 pairs of shoes in that run alone. At £30-£40 a pair, it’s not cheap. And that’s just me. There’s the rest of the cast’s shoes to pay for too. Scottish Ballet spends over £20,000 on ballet shoes every winter season, and as it’s a charity it relies on donations to ensure we all have this most vital tool.
For the pas de deux, I like my pointes to be much harder, so I will change shoes from one act to another. New shoes have much firmer pointes than worn ones. I paint shellac or superglue underneath the platform to make them more solid and to give me an extra lift. Cinderella is very classical but usually I like my shoes softer, so I hammer them and and wear them a couple of times before I go on stage so that they’re shaped to my feet like gloves.
I’m very lucky to have my shoes made for me by Freed in London. They shape them to my feet and they are very talented. All pointes should be different. Each maker marks clients’ shoes with their name, and add their own makers’ symbol. Mine is a club shape, like the one you get on a suite of cards, to indicate I’ve got long feet!
Shoes are the most important piece of a dancer’s kit. Ideally you want them to be a second skin. You’re always looking after them and making sure they’re OK.
All dancers’ feet are their top priority and I often wear cushioned heel insoles when walking. I do foot workouts every day, like grabbing a golf ball with my toes.
I do wear sandals and flip-flips on holiday even though my feet aren’t my nicest feature. I have bunions on both feet, on my big toes and little toes. I have blisters from the pointes, which lead to really hard skin. I don’t go for pedicures, though, because I need my skin to be hard. I wear my toenails short and cover them in red varnish to hide the bruises.
Outside of work, I wear heeled Doc Martens ankle boots. I feel very small when wearing ordinary shoes because I’m so used to the elevating effect of pointes.
When I was 19 I had to have surgery on my foot because I had a spur growing between my big and second toe. It was extremely painful. When I put my foot into my shoe the pain was atrocious. So I changed my shoe maker. I’m not sure why it happened, but it just grew. I don’t know if it was because I was given the wrong shape of shoes when I was younger.
The responsibility for that lies with the maker and the teacher. They should make sure the student has the right shoes.
I put my shoes on last when getting dressed for a show. I usually warm my feet up with flat shoes before putting on my pointes, and I sew the satin ribbons on myself. You have to make sure they’re not too tight because they can cut the blood supply off to the Achilles tendon, but at the same time you also want them to be firm enough to pull up the ankle.
The only person who knows it’s right is the dancer. All of us do our own shoes for that reason. Foot pain can be atrocious. I you wear the right shoes it feels good, as if you’re flying.
The European premiere of Christopher Hampson’s production of Cinderella for Scottish Ballet opens at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, on Saturday, December 5, 2015 and runs until Thursday, December 31, before touring to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. Donate to the Cinderella Shoe Appeal here:
http://www.scottishballet.co.uk/support-us/cinderella-shoe-appeal.html
Cate Devine
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