Cookie Joe's Interview
Q1: In what way do you think pointe shoes helped you with ballet?
I think the main thing is that, pointe shoes are a great motivator. All little girls who take ballet aspire to get their pointe shoes. So it's a great motivating thing, cause when you set a goal, it's really important that you're going to have something to work towards. Pointe shoes are a tool for a style of dance, very classical ballet, sometimes contemporary, but it began because they wanted the dancers to look very light on their feet, and to do that, they wanted to be way way up as high as they could be. So that's why they designed the shoe, so that it would be strong enough so the dancers could actually be able to dance on the very tips of their shoes. Every shoe has the lifespan of about 3, depending on how much they dance, 3 months. Some performers wear them once and throw them away, because they dance so hard, and when you perspire and everything, it wears them down. I don't necessarily think you can say how the shoes help, ballet. I think that it's a style of dance and a goal for young
dancers to reach, because you have to be pretty advanced, and very strong to wear pointe shoes successfully.
Q2: When do you think a student is ready for pointe shoes?
I start looking at them when they turn ten, because that's when most of ligaments in the feet are solid enough,
that you can actually support yourself. But before we do anything, we let them take, what we call, a Pre-Pointe
class, where we do exercises that build the strength, because you would need to have strength, and you would
need to have what we call, alignment, where you make sure the hip, the knee, and the toe are in line, so that you're
dancing with your center of gravity right over your toes. You'll have to have very strong stomach muscles, what we
call the core, you'll have to have very strong ankles, and very very strong thigh muscles in order to be able to pull off
pointe shoes. So, I think between 10 and 12 is the time that we start, anyone younger than ten, should not be on
pointe, in my opinion.
Q3: Have you had any major injuries caused by pointe shoes?
No, I don't think I've had any injuries for so much, bunions. People get them a lot from wearing really pointy high
heels. You tend to get them more with ballet. Also, it does damage your toenail. Now, when you wear pointe
shoes, you get lots of blisters and calluses, and that's just part it. Ballerinas sometimes actually act like it's a
badge of honor if your feet are bleeding when you're through with the class. But what you want, is you want to get
the callus, so that it hardens and becomes tougher, and it's like when any athlete that uses something over and
over again, so that the skin around the places that hit the shoe get much thicker there, and that protects them from
injury.
Q4: When did you start using pointe shoes?
I was thirteen. My mother made me pay for my own pair. They run now about a hundred dollars to get a pair of
pointe shoes, but when I was growing up, it was probably about thirty, forty dollars, but my mother made me earn
my own money and pay for my own shoes
Q5: How do you think pointe shoes impacted the different types of ballet?
When you don't wear your pointe shoes, I think there's a lot more freedom of movement. I think working on
pointe, you're actually showcasing balance, turning, extending the feet, there's a whole different look with pointe
shoes, but I think that, if you've ever gone to a ballet, but you can hear the ballerinas when you land, and you hear
the ti-ti-ti sound from the pointe shoes. I think that, the dancer that's the most accomplished are the ones that can
fly, and leap, and turn, and still be silent when they're doing it. But I think now,contemporary dancers,
contemporary ballet uses pointe shoes also, and I personally like that a lot. It's very interesting to see a more
modern style using a classical tool.
Q6: What is your overall opinion on pointe shoes?
I think they're beautiful. Personally, I wore them for about five years and I didn't like it, There's a pain level that
goes on throughout the entire time you're on pointe, it never really goes away, so you truly have to be motivated to
want to wear them. I was not that motivated. I was much more comfortable as a jazz dancer, I loved being a tap
dancer. It's also a point that some people were just naturally gifted. One of the things you'll notice on some people,
my second toe is longer than my big toe. If one of your toes is longer, you're dancing on that toe. Some people's
toes are all the same height, length, those are the best feet, cause then you have a lot of surface to dance on.
People sometimes have one really really long toe, and they've got to dance on the knuckle. So the point, the level of
pain you go through, and the level of pain that you're willing to endure with pointe shoes is very significant. Some
people have very low pain threshold, and just want it so bad that they're willing to put up with any amount of pain.
Some people are like me, who would much rather be a jazz dancer, because the pain wasn't worth it to me. I also
don't think I was naturally gifted for it. Im' short, I'm very muscular, and I'm much more compact, and I have very
short legs, so I think that I'm more of a power dancer as opposed to the small movements of being able to control
pointe work, I'm more of a powerful dancer.
Q7: How long have you been dancing?
I've been dancing for 58 years, I started dancing when I was 22 months old. I became serious about dancing
when I was 9 years old, I got a role in a professional theater production. I changed teachers at that time to a
professional preforming arts school, and ended up dancing professionally and touring, and then decided at the age of
24 that I wanted to open up a school.
Q8: Where did you study ballet?
I studied at the Houston Ballet and I studied in New York at Steps, at the Broadway Dance Center.
Q9: How much do you think you have to practice before you can "master" pointe shoes?
Everybody's different, it's individual. At our school, you can't even think about getting your pointe shoes unless
you're willing to dance four hours of classical ballet a week. Now, that's the minimum. People who are really working
at it need more like six hours a week, and I think that some dancers get good at it in a year, some take four or five
years. Everybody's different, it just depends on their natural gifts
I think the main thing is that, pointe shoes are a great motivator. All little girls who take ballet aspire to get their pointe shoes. So it's a great motivating thing, cause when you set a goal, it's really important that you're going to have something to work towards. Pointe shoes are a tool for a style of dance, very classical ballet, sometimes contemporary, but it began because they wanted the dancers to look very light on their feet, and to do that, they wanted to be way way up as high as they could be. So that's why they designed the shoe, so that it would be strong enough so the dancers could actually be able to dance on the very tips of their shoes. Every shoe has the lifespan of about 3, depending on how much they dance, 3 months. Some performers wear them once and throw them away, because they dance so hard, and when you perspire and everything, it wears them down. I don't necessarily think you can say how the shoes help, ballet. I think that it's a style of dance and a goal for young
dancers to reach, because you have to be pretty advanced, and very strong to wear pointe shoes successfully.
Q2: When do you think a student is ready for pointe shoes?
I start looking at them when they turn ten, because that's when most of ligaments in the feet are solid enough,
that you can actually support yourself. But before we do anything, we let them take, what we call, a Pre-Pointe
class, where we do exercises that build the strength, because you would need to have strength, and you would
need to have what we call, alignment, where you make sure the hip, the knee, and the toe are in line, so that you're
dancing with your center of gravity right over your toes. You'll have to have very strong stomach muscles, what we
call the core, you'll have to have very strong ankles, and very very strong thigh muscles in order to be able to pull off
pointe shoes. So, I think between 10 and 12 is the time that we start, anyone younger than ten, should not be on
pointe, in my opinion.
Q3: Have you had any major injuries caused by pointe shoes?
No, I don't think I've had any injuries for so much, bunions. People get them a lot from wearing really pointy high
heels. You tend to get them more with ballet. Also, it does damage your toenail. Now, when you wear pointe
shoes, you get lots of blisters and calluses, and that's just part it. Ballerinas sometimes actually act like it's a
badge of honor if your feet are bleeding when you're through with the class. But what you want, is you want to get
the callus, so that it hardens and becomes tougher, and it's like when any athlete that uses something over and
over again, so that the skin around the places that hit the shoe get much thicker there, and that protects them from
injury.
Q4: When did you start using pointe shoes?
I was thirteen. My mother made me pay for my own pair. They run now about a hundred dollars to get a pair of
pointe shoes, but when I was growing up, it was probably about thirty, forty dollars, but my mother made me earn
my own money and pay for my own shoes
Q5: How do you think pointe shoes impacted the different types of ballet?
When you don't wear your pointe shoes, I think there's a lot more freedom of movement. I think working on
pointe, you're actually showcasing balance, turning, extending the feet, there's a whole different look with pointe
shoes, but I think that, if you've ever gone to a ballet, but you can hear the ballerinas when you land, and you hear
the ti-ti-ti sound from the pointe shoes. I think that, the dancer that's the most accomplished are the ones that can
fly, and leap, and turn, and still be silent when they're doing it. But I think now,contemporary dancers,
contemporary ballet uses pointe shoes also, and I personally like that a lot. It's very interesting to see a more
modern style using a classical tool.
Q6: What is your overall opinion on pointe shoes?
I think they're beautiful. Personally, I wore them for about five years and I didn't like it, There's a pain level that
goes on throughout the entire time you're on pointe, it never really goes away, so you truly have to be motivated to
want to wear them. I was not that motivated. I was much more comfortable as a jazz dancer, I loved being a tap
dancer. It's also a point that some people were just naturally gifted. One of the things you'll notice on some people,
my second toe is longer than my big toe. If one of your toes is longer, you're dancing on that toe. Some people's
toes are all the same height, length, those are the best feet, cause then you have a lot of surface to dance on.
People sometimes have one really really long toe, and they've got to dance on the knuckle. So the point, the level of
pain you go through, and the level of pain that you're willing to endure with pointe shoes is very significant. Some
people have very low pain threshold, and just want it so bad that they're willing to put up with any amount of pain.
Some people are like me, who would much rather be a jazz dancer, because the pain wasn't worth it to me. I also
don't think I was naturally gifted for it. Im' short, I'm very muscular, and I'm much more compact, and I have very
short legs, so I think that I'm more of a power dancer as opposed to the small movements of being able to control
pointe work, I'm more of a powerful dancer.
Q7: How long have you been dancing?
I've been dancing for 58 years, I started dancing when I was 22 months old. I became serious about dancing
when I was 9 years old, I got a role in a professional theater production. I changed teachers at that time to a
professional preforming arts school, and ended up dancing professionally and touring, and then decided at the age of
24 that I wanted to open up a school.
Q8: Where did you study ballet?
I studied at the Houston Ballet and I studied in New York at Steps, at the Broadway Dance Center.
Q9: How much do you think you have to practice before you can "master" pointe shoes?
Everybody's different, it's individual. At our school, you can't even think about getting your pointe shoes unless
you're willing to dance four hours of classical ballet a week. Now, that's the minimum. People who are really working
at it need more like six hours a week, and I think that some dancers get good at it in a year, some take four or five
years. Everybody's different, it just depends on their natural gifts