QUOTE
Originally posted by Mel Johnson
For the greatest pointe shoe fiddler I can think of, there was Anna Pavlova, who would get her shoes 100 pair at a time from her shoemaker, a certain Sgr. Nicolini! She would storm around backstage, wailing that not ONE shoe was even usable. Then she'd calm down, and decide that well, maybe half of the shoes had some possibilities. She'd then set to work, ripping a shank out of a "hopeless" shoe and replacing it with another from a different pair, and stitching here and there, then beating the behoozis out of the boxes with a hammer, so they were nice and soft. Then she'd darn over the platforms of the shoes, to enhance traction, and provide a bit of external cushioning. By the time she was done, she had mixed and matched bits and pieces from the entire shipment, and had a few odds and ends left over, but she had 200 pointe shoes!
For the greatest pointe shoe fiddler I can think of, there was Anna Pavlova, who would get her shoes 100 pair at a time from her shoemaker, a certain Sgr. Nicolini! She would storm around backstage, wailing that not ONE shoe was even usable. Then she'd calm down, and decide that well, maybe half of the shoes had some possibilities. She'd then set to work, ripping a shank out of a "hopeless" shoe and replacing it with another from a different pair, and stitching here and there, then beating the behoozis out of the boxes with a hammer, so they were nice and soft. Then she'd darn over the platforms of the shoes, to enhance traction, and provide a bit of external cushioning. By the time she was done, she had mixed and matched bits and pieces from the entire shipment, and had a few odds and ends left over, but she had 200 pointe shoes!
Reminds me of what I do to computers.
Or putting your wet bathing suit from swimming in PE in the bag with the pointe shoes and finding soaking wet pointe shoes. 