My First Impression on Gaynors
Heyy Everyone! Long time no read! Sorry I have been MIA for in depth posts the past couple of weeks. A lot of personal things popped up and I needed to take some time to deal with some of it. During this time though, I was able to hop into taking some ballet classes again! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it felt to be back at the barre. No matter where life may take me, the ballet barre will always be home to me.
What really got me motivated to get back into taking classes again was Gaynors. I have never tried Gaynor Minden pointe shoes in my whole 12-ish years of dancing. Back when they first came out, they were deemed as a horrible pointe shoe; The "cheater" shoe. But as technology developed, so did the way that Gaynors were made. Thus, the shoes becoming very popular among other brands of Pointe shoes. I always went the traditional route for pointe shoes. It would take me an entire blog post to talk about all of the pointe shoes I have worn (and there are a lot of them!) Gaynors scared me very much when trying on pointe shoes at my local dance shop. I remember almost trying them once, but went with a Grishko 2007 instead. That Grishko then became my pointe shoe. It was my perfect pointe shoe, but I'm not here to tell you about those am I? ;)
Now managing my local dance shop, I was given the opportunity to order a Gaynor in my perfect size. I normally wear a size 6 - 6.5 US Street Shoe and I have a very narrow, very tapered, compressible foot. The Style/Size combination that worked best for my feet was a Sleek Fit in a size 7.5 Narrow, 2 Box, Supple Shank, Deep Vamp and Low Heel. The code shortened looks like this: SK 7.5N 2SDL. It can be SO confusing if you haven't spent a lot of time learning about Gaynors and understanding them.
Anyways, my Gaynors finally came in, and I was ready to start taking some pointe classes again. Before I go into my review of Gaynors, here are pictures of my feet in Gaynors and my feet in my Grishko 2007s.
First off, I absolutely LOVE the way the Gaynors fit my feet! They are probably the closest and most comfortable fit I have ever had with a pointe shoe. Especially since I do not have the most archy feet, a shoe that can make my feet look great is a huge plus! I really felt like the Gaynors supported me where I needed it, but allowed me to really work through my demi pointe while I was warming up my feet.
However, as soon as I really started working in them, they killed my feet! Inside the shoe (pictured below) is a small bit of fabric, and this would catch under my big toenail and pull my nail away from my toe! YUK! Even thinking about that feeling makes me cringe! Even after I put my usual toe pads on, it still caught on my toenail. I even tried removing the piece of fabric all together, only to reveal another weird lip underneath it. Other than the wear of the shoes, the Gaynors are one hell of a shoe to try and sew. The fabric is very thick and even sewing on my elastic was a 2+ hour job.
If anyone has any idea on how to fix this and/or make it more bearable, I would be up for giving these another try...
All in all, Gaynor Mindens are definitely not the pointe shoe for me. As much as I would love for a shoe to feel the same, wear after wear, I feel accomplished when a pointe shoe is completely dead and retires to my shoe grave. I guess there's just something about the work you have to put into a traditional pointe shoe that really makes pointe work that much more special to me.
Let me know what kind of pointe shoes you wear and if you have found your perfect shoe! As someone who has dedicated their life to fitting pointe shoes, I'd seriously love to hear what you all are wearing on your feet!
This is all for now my loves!
Tootles, and Happy Dancing!