River Sofia
Most Ballet dancers will go through between 3 to 5 pairs of pointe shoes per week.
Being on pointe requires that ballerinas toes take up to 3 times their body weight.
Professional ballerinas usually have their pointe shoes custom made for them and have a ‘maker’ assigned to their shoes. This is so that each pair is exactly the same.
Some methods of ‘breaking in’ a pointe shoe include banging them against a wall, squashing them in a door and shaving the leather sole with a razor.
It can take upwards of 90 hours to make a single tutu which are often made by hand and specifically fitted and created for the ballerina.
The fitness levels of a ballerina are very high. A single performance is the equivalent of running up to 18 miles.
When wishing one another good luck, dancers say ‘merde’ which translates to shit in french. The reason for this is unknown, but there is speculation that when animals were used on stage during a performance, the dancers would warn one another about items left on the stage.
