An Evening with Anne Polajenko: "To pad or not to pad (your feet)"

Pointe shoe discussion:
To pad or not to pad (your feet)

There was a time when dancers did not pad their toes inside the Pointe shoes. At most they used lambswool or got creative with tissues or toilet paper. Actually, this was not a bad idea since paper is disposable, was changed every time and hence could not provide a home to millions of little creatures which just love to multiply in moisture and heat!

Fifty years ago, the theory was that feet had to toughen. If you were prone to blisters, taping the toes was considered an ample solution. Anything that prevented you from feeling what your feet were doing inside the shoe was simply out of the question.

Those days are long gone, of course, and makeshift toe protection has been replaced with pads of all shapes and especially sizes. There are cotton pads, lambswool pads, silicone and gel pads. Some are so thin they are useless, others are so thick as to change the fit of the shoe.

When selecting a padding dancers should remember a couple of things: they still need to be able to feel the floor and should not have to get shoes too big for their feet just because they want to fit toe pads inside. That is a serious problem and dancers need to listen to their retailer's recommendation carefully.

The choice of padding is a personal preference. Some dancers love the squishy feel of the gel pads, others hate it. Others yet will wear only cotton. In either case, So' Dança has developed reasonably sized pads for everyone. from the Nylon/Cotton toe protectors to the silicone pads that cover the bunion as well and can be cut down to size.

So whatever your choice, unless you use a disposable paper product, just remember to wash your foot pads frequently!  


                                                                  ----- Anne Polajenko
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Question of the week results!


    Thank you for your responses, and I appreciated the kind words about my work of art, maybe I'll draw some more this week. Here are the top three musicals according to you guys:
                    1. Chicago
                    2. Hairspray
                    3. Singing in the Rain


     I know, I know, I had a tough time as well accepting that a classic would come in third place, but votes are votes and opinions are opinions.
     Thanks for all the participation, and make sure to read the blog on thursday for the next question of the week.


                      Love from your humble blogger,

Know Your Blogger Unplugged: Musicals We Love

           

 

            I was thinking the other day about the many influences we each have within our lives. The people that inspired us, the people that mentored us, the artists we looked up to, the movies that made us dream and artists that made is cry. There are a lot of ways that art as a whole has influenced those within the dance world and beyond. One of these ways and one of my favorite things are Musicals.

            Musicals are one of the many ways that helped spread popularity within dance. Who can forget the incredible performances of Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? Even now musicals are being made and continue to inspire those that previously did not have a love for dance to possess a love for dance.

            What were some of the musicals that defined your career? What musicals inspired you as a child? What actor or actress did you look at as a child and think, “I want to dance like that when I grow up”?

            I grew up watching musicals. My mother loved musicals so I grew up watching “Singing in the Rain”, “Anchor’s Away”, “West Side Story”, the list goes on and on. I remember as a child watching the ‘make them laugh’ sequence within “Singing in the Rain” and wanting really bad to be able to dance like they did.

            My personal favorite musical has to be “Kiss me Kate”, I truly enjoy that musical, the songs, the way they portray the Shakespearean play in the end, it’s all fantastic.

            In my life, it was the influence of these movies that made me join theater programs in high school and love going to see my friends perform during college. What are your experiences with musicals? Have you personally been in any?

           Let me know what you guys think on the comment box bellow, on our facebook or shoot me an email with your opinion.

            And sorry about the light being red….I didn’t have yellow markers, and yes I know, I’m a great stick figure artist, lol.

       Love from your humble blogger and artist,