Yanela Piñera's Story —
Pointe Shoe Appeal
Growing up in Cuba, Yanela Piñera bought her first pair of pointe shoes earlier than her Australian peers.
“I was nine years old and my first performance in pointe shoes was a year later. It was La Fille Mal Gardee and it took me almost four months to learn the variation. I’ll never forget the feeling of being on stage that first moment. It was so exciting. Thankfully the variation went well”.
Like most dancers there have been both high and low moments in Yanela’s performances en pointe.
“When I was thirteen I was performing the Coppélia variation and my freed pointe shoe broke on stage. There was nothing I could do. I just walked forward and bowed”!
For many dancers their pointe shoes are more than a tool of their art – there are works of art in themselves.
“When I won my first gold medal in a competition I asked Carlos Guzman, a very famous Cuban artist, to paint them. The outside is gold, as are the ribbons. On the inside of one pointe is a beautiful intricate painting of a bird and on the other a beautiful woman. My parents still have them hanging in their living room in Havana”.