I don’t care how fabulous of a dancer you are, it looks bad when your pointe shoe ribbons are falling out, not to mention unprofessional. (Auditions or performances when important people are watching is a really bad time for your ribbons to fall out or come undone!) Something that I have found really useful for performances is to hairspray my ribbons right where the ends are tucked in. Use a ton of hairspray, and they should stay in the entire performance!
Does this tip apply while following the advice for quick changes?
Yes – it doesn’t make the ribbons so stiff that you can’t get the ends out from under the ribbons if you have a quick change, just stiff enough so they won’t slip out randomly while you are dancing. Plus, if you have a bottle of hairspray where you are changing shoes, it’s really quick to spray your ribbons and run on stage.
Yes ever since I had my first pair of ribbons I have used the hairspray trick to keep my ribbons in place and it hasnt let me down in 11years! x
That’s exactly what one of the company dancers told me at a recital of mine. It was my first performance on pointe (I’m only 13) and my ribbons were falling out at dress rehearsal. I did it for the performance and it worked great.