Pointe shoes: Hard shank? Soft shank? Part I: Flexibility and strength

This is one of those topics that gets tossed around a lot.  There are a lot of differing beliefs.  For example:

"That's why Bloch shoes are for beginners.  People with strong feet kill them too fast.  You need hard shoes because your feet are strong."

This obviously suggests that hard shoes are for advanced dancers, and soft shoes are for beginners.  But what about:

"Her feet were so strong that she didn't even need shoes to go en pointe.  She would demonstrate for us when teaching and relevé all the way up in bare feet.  It was so crazy!"

This statement is completely the opposite from the first--it suggests that dancers with very strong feet don't need support from the shoe at all.  Then there's the now-pervasive argument about Gaynor Mindens:

"My studio doesn't allow Gaynor Mindens.  They don't make you work because they hold you up."

"I knew a girl that wore Gaynor Mindens, and once she switched to a Grishko and she couldn't even get up on the shank."

Gaynor Mindens are tricky.  I have some thoughts about them, but I'll save them for later.  For now, I'm going to write about "traditional" shoes in hard and soft shanks.  Is it true that strong dancers should get hard shanks?  Or is a soft shoe the true hallmark of strong feet?

I have to admit, one of the reasons that I'm writing this is because I was (quietly) a little offended by the first statement, that Blochs are for beginners.  I wear Bloch Aspirations.  These are actually the shoe I've worn since my first (quickly killed) pair of pointe shoes, which were Gambas.  I had a brief diversion into a pair of Gaynor Mindens, but they didn't fit quite right, so I ended up going back to Aspirations and am pretty happy with them.  They're also cheap.  So that's a bonus.

(My sister, on the other hand, never seemed to really find a shoe that she liked, and bounced around between lots of different shoes.)

I would not consider myself a beginner.  But, recently I've uncovered a secret love of soft shoes. I like softer shoes because they let me really articulate through every millimeter of the relevé.  I like softer shoes because I don't get thrown up to the top of the platform.   I like softer shoes because when I'm jumping I don't sound like a grandfather clock being thrown down the stairs--and it takes FAR less effort to get the same height in softer shoes!  I like balancing in softer shoes because I can consistently negotiate just where my weight is, instead of being encouraged in a certain direction by a harder shank.  I just wish I could get my shoes to the perfect malleable wonderful softness and have them STAY there, instead of wearing out.

Also, here's the real reason I originally started looking into pointe shoe shanks: in high school, I had my hard shoe on my right (stronger) and my soft shoe on the left (weaker), but these days I have the soft shoe on my right, and the hard one on the left.  The right foot just breaks the shoe in faster, so I don't have to do anything special (I actually used to soften up a shoe on my right foot and then switch sides).  

~*~

When considering shank strength, there are multiple factors to consider.  In Part I, I'm not going to talk about everything--I'm going to limit myself to the first three points, and how they apply to getting over the shoe properly. 

1.  Do you have high, flexible arches that are prone to falling over the pointe?  Or do you have an ankle that makes a straight line and a moderate arch (like mine)?  Or do you have inflexible ankle that doesn't go fully vertical, and a tendency to not get over the box?  (I imagine you could have combination flexible arch/inflexible ankle, but I have to admit I have not met many folks like this.)
2.  Do you have strong feet, or weak feet?  Strong ankles, or weak ankles?  Often, but not always, natural flexibility and natural strength are in inverse relation.
3.  Are you tall?  Broad?  Heavy?  Tiny?  
4.  Do you have strong or weak hips, quads, and core?
5.  What are you trying to do in your shoe?  Fast relevés that you need to pop up for?  Hops on pointe?  A soft adagio?  Long balances?  Jumps?  Repeated pirouettes?  Les Sylphides?  (That's the ballet that always comes up when people mention wanting a softer shoe...)
6.  How badly do you not want to buy another pair of shoes in two days?  (This, and this blog in general, applies to amateurs, not professionals, of course!)

Getting over on the pointe is the most important thing, and is intimately paired with maintaining the proper position.  They're the salt 'n' pepper of pointework.  Or maybe the bread and butter. 

There are three general categories: too far over, correctly over, and under.  Let's consider point 1, foot/arch/ankle flexibility:

- Those ballet-blessed with high, flexible arches and ankles have wonderful lines, but a tendency to go too far over the box (risking injury).
- Those with middlingly flexible arches and ankles look less "idealistically" pretty, but have less of a tendency to fall over the box.
- Those with a less flexible ankle have the tendency to not get properly on top of the box (high risk for falling and skidding).

(I've seen this graphic floating around a lot--it's not mine!  But I don't know its origin.  Also, the over-the-box shoe is really unflattering...)

Basically, a hard shank lends its stiffness to the highly flexible foot, and a soft shank lends its flexibility to the less flexible foot.  The shank is the equalizer.  Those with high and flexible arches are often encouraged to go with a hard shank in order to lower the risk of going too far over and breaking important pieces of anatomy. 

Let's continue to point 2: strength of foot.

- Stronger feet achieve the point; stronger ankles can maintain correct position;
- Weaker feet/ankles are lacking in these areas.

So, say you are completely blessed and have very strong, very flexible feet and ankles.  You will likely still want a shank on the harder side, so you have a little more room for error, but strong technique and muscles will also prevent you from going too far over the shoe and, of course, breaking important pieces of anatomy.  Or perhaps a higher vamp will help you stay in the shoe and over the box, and you can use a softer shank.  Strong and flexible feet with weak ankles will almost certainly want a stronger shank to support the ankle and help maintain position. 

On the other hand, say you are cursed with weak, inflexible feet and ankles.  Not only will you have a hard time getting over the box at all, but maintaining the position will be difficult.  My educated guess is that a medium shank would be best here---enough flexibility to encourage getting on top of the box, but enough support to be able to use the shoe to maintain the full point, as the ankle muscles are not yet available. 

I don't want to do all the permutations, but the other two "extreme" cases are weak but flexible, for which I would definitely suggest a hard shank, since the muscles are not available to maintain correct position and the shoe is needed for support.  Meanwhile, strong but inflexible would likely do better with a medium-soft to soft shank. 

Point 3 actually doesn't really have much to do with achieving and maintaining position, except that you need strong feet relative to your build.  I'm 5'8" and 140 pounds, and all else being equal, would do better with a harder shank than someone at 5'5" and 105 pounds, OR, I need much stronger feet.  Just extra weight being on the dancer puts more stress on the shank.  I've also seen very slender dancers (especially young, short ones) have a hard time getting the arch to show up in the shoe at all, just because there's nothing pressing down on the shoe.

~*~

These different factors explain why there are various thoughts that "hard shoes are for beginners" "soft shoes are for beginners" (but nobody says anything about the lonely, neglected medium shoe).

- For beginners with average to inflexible feet, it's easier to get over the box on a soft shank.  Even if beginners are strong for technique class, they do not yet have the strength in the muscles required for pointe.  (And, as I think I've mentioned before, pointework just amplifies all your flaws!)  Thus, just getting up on the box at all is extremely difficult with a hard shoe--even if it'll hold you there when you do get up.
- On the other hand, lots of flexibility or more weakness in the ankles really does need a harder shank to avoid injury.

At the same time, some teachers require hard shanks for everyone.  This covers the extra flexible people, and also puts new pointe feet through a boot camp (pointe camp?) of getting stronger--as long as the students are ACTUALLY working the shoe, and not just hanging out behind the full pointe.  I'd be surprised if people recommended soft for all, since that puts the flexible people at risk. 

I wish I could make a 3D table on here, with dimensions of flexibility, ankle strength, and foot strength, and figure out what each would need. 

So, there you have it.  Whatever you have to say about Gaynor Minden, their shank advice is spot on, though does not address the dancing part of the equation, which is what I will get to in Part II.  There are also other discussions on forums that pick apart these issues.  I'm really not making stuff up and throwing it out there because someone said soft shoes were for beginners!