| possessing a quick sense of humor, she has been with Freed's for 41 years taking a few breaks to "do silly things like have babies," she laughingly says. As a child, she was an RAD scholar and was fitted by Mrs. Freed when she won the scholarship at age 10. |
| She prides herself on the fact that all their shoes are made in the United Kingdom whereas many other manufacturers use factories "off-shore"--------Thailand, South America and China. She says that tells you something about their commitment to the quality and control of their production. |
| While Freed's adheres to tradition, their shoes are constantly evolving along with the dancers and the work they do. She explains several reasons for the evolution. To begin with, after World War II, the students have gotten bigger. That makes a difference. Also, no one lifted their leg above 90 degrees except in an arabesque. Now the legs are high......up above the line where you're off-balance slightly. The strain is greater, particularly in the metatarsal part of the shoe, when you come off your central axis. |
| The forepart has to be strengthened just as the vamps have to be adjusted. Michele says that the shoe they supplied for |
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| Margot Fonteyn would not stand up to choreography by William Forsythe. "The shoe evolves with the dancers that wear it. It always has." |
| While there have been several provocative newspaper and magazine articles in the last few years where Gaynor Minden's newer, elastomeric method of making shoes is compared to that of Freed's, Michele replies "this business has never been a competition. Everyone wants dancers to be happy. Obviously, we would be happiest if they were happiest in our shoes, but failing that, we would rather they be happy in somebody else's shoes." |
| One of the issues these days is how long will a pointe shoe last before it's considered worn-out and has to be replaced. Many of the new manufacturers and newer models of shoes advertise that they will last longer than the typical "paste" shoe. Michele feels this is of complete irrelevance because children go on pointe well before they stop growing. She says that children grow like weeds. In the beginning of training the child is probably doing 10 minutes of pointe work at the end of class twice a week. They are always going to outgrow the shoe before it's worn out. She fits the students at The Royal Ballet |
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