Accessories
A dancer may experience discomfort while wearing a pointe shoe even after the shoe has been broken in. Several devices are commonly used to mitigate the discomfort:
- Toe pads are pouches that encapsulate and cushion the toes from the unyielding box and prevent friction that can cause blistering. These are typically made from thin, fabric-covered gel sheets.
- Gel toe spacers of various shapes and sizes are inserted between toes; these serve to adjust toe spacing and alignment so as to alleviate pain at the bunion joint or between the big toe and first toe.
- Lambswool is stretched and wrapped around toes to reduce chafing and the likelihood of blisters. After several uses the lambswool becomes dense and custom fitted to the dancer's foot.
- Tape is wrapped around toes to reduce chafing.
Read more about this topic: Pointe Shoe
Famous quotes containing the word accessories:
“I am surprised you shd. say fancy and aesthetic tastes have led me to my present state of mind: these wd. be better satisfied in the Church of England, for bad taste is always meeting one in the accessories of Catholicism.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)
“Men who care passionately for women attach themselves at least as much to the temple and to the accessories of the cult as to their goddess herself.”
—Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987)