Fitting for Point Shoes

After three years of waiting, my dance teacher finally said I was ready for Point Shoes. She told me to go to a special store that carried "Russian Point", which is the brand she wants her dancers to have. So we made a trip and after hours of driving we found the store.
The store, Dance Emporium, was owned by a kind, red haired women. In the shop there were chairs placed next to a small stage and on the stage there was a bar for balancing on point.
First she measured my foot for size and shape she said that I had a box like foot so I needed a kind of Point shoe called a Rubin (roo-been) which is the Russian word for Ruby. The second thing was she brought out some socks that were as thick as tights, I put those on. She handed me Toe Pads, I put those on also, then she brought out 12 different pairs of point shoes. I tried the first pair and stepped up to the bar, she told me to go up on point and so I did. It was so much fun to go up on point!!! She asked me how the shoes felt and I said that they were tight in the heel so we tried another pair. While we were doing this she said that when you hold a bird you don't hold it so tight that your squeezing it but not to loose that it can get away, she said my shoes should feel as though my foot was a bird and the shoe was a hand and that you don't want it to be too tight or too loose.
But the new pair of shoes were too loose and my toes hurt so we tried a different pair. This pair had a higher crown but this gave to much room also, so we went back to the low crown. With this one she said that I was getting all the way up on point, so these were the shoes I got.
She cut the ribbon and the elastic, packed it all up and we bought it. My Dad flipped at the price but I told him that with 11 layers of fabric, just on the inside, with a special glue in between, plus a special wood for the shank and the silky fabric on the out side, it was a O.K. price.
On the way back I read the book she had given me. It said that if the toe of the shoe is mostly worn on the bottom half, then you weren't getting all the way up on to point and I would need a softer shank. If it was more worn on the top of the toe then that would mean I was to far on to point and that I would need a harder shank. If it was evenly worn, then it means it's a good shoe for me.
I'll never forget my first Fitting For Point Shoes!