Teri Crilly's Story —
Pointe Shoe Appeal
Teri Crilly was twelve when she received her first pair of pointes. She was so excited she refused to take them off, eventually falling asleep with them on.
Pointe shoes are a vital extension of a ballerina’s art form. For Teri, much-loved by Queensland Ballet audiences for her performance as Clara in The Nutcracker, the more technically demanding a role is the more durable the shoes must be.
“Each performance en pointe is hard for different reasons. I’ve had a lot of challenging roles throughout my careers, such as Cinderella, and for these performances the shoes must fit perfectly”.
But, even with a perfectly fitting shoe, things can still go a little wrong.
“As Clara in Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker you are required to put your shoes on in front of the audience. One particular performance I put my first shoe on the wrong foot and had to dance the entire first act with my shoes on the wrong feet. From then on I’ve always written left and right in the shoes”!
These days Teri wears customised pointes but like most other dancers she spent her early years doing just about anything to prepare and repair them.
“I bashed them with a hammer to make the sides of the bloch smoother, and I shaved down the sole on the outside for more balance. I would also ‘pancake’ over any Tarkett flooring stains on my shoes so they looked cleaner for longer. You name it, I’ve tried it”.