All dancer’s feet are obviously different – sometimes one foot is even quite different from the other. So there can be no single rule. However, the most important concept is that whatever is put into the shoe should not increase the bulk of the foot. The shoe should fit like a glove, which is why we strongly suggest that pointe shoes are professionally fitted.

The dancers I spoke to before I gave my answer are the professional dancers of The Australian Ballet all of whom have their shoes made to their individual requirements, which may be why they tend to use little in the way of padding. I have just spoken to our school’s teachers and they also discourage the use of any padding that restricts the student from feeling the correct working of their feet. That said, some students do wear thin gel pads – especially if their toes vary greatly in length – with the warning that gel pads can make the feet perspire which can then lead to corns.

Because a dancer’s feet not only have to support them but to also be expressive, it is vitally important that they are treated with respect and great care. Any pain a dancer experiences should be investigated and treated by a qualified dance physiotherapist.

Also, although I originally rejected the larger Ouch Pouches that cushion the ball of the foot, because I didn’t need that and it felt better with nothing under that area, that is changing also. Now that age is making me much more aware (sometimes uncomfortably so) of bones against floor there (I heard it called ‘losing the fat pad’–there’s lots of fat I’d like to lose, but not there), I’m planning on giving them another try. Just the thought of some of the dances I’ve performed barefoot, now makes me cringe. But I want to keep dancing, and anything legal and not harmful I can use to do that gets my vote.

Having been a longtime professional ballet dancer, now still dancing a bit and teaching, for many years I wore only a piece or two of paper towel wrapped compactly around the toes, which worked pretty well as long as I had very good shoes that fit and worked well with my feet. I never cared for lamb’s wool or the foam pads available then, and preferred feeling the floor with my toughened feet. This worked fine to a degree, but didn’t prevent some problems with blisters or corns (especially when younger), particularly given the normal situations of having to wear the shoes for long periods, maybe dancing a lot but then waiting a good while, not knowing at what moment one would have to jump up and dance full-tilt again. (In such situations, particularly when there’s choreographing or setting a piece new to the company going on, it can be difficult to stay warmed up and ready, given unpredictability and limited space in the studio; these situations can really wear on the skin.) And, no matter how toughened the skin, well-fitting the shoes, or predictable the schedule, the nature of the setup is that some rawness will occur, which can lead to problems one doesn’t need and should avoid if possible; this is especially true given the danger of infection, which can really sideline a dancer for awhile. Once I tried the thin, small, almost imperceptible pads and realized that I could wear the shoes for hours, dancing continuously or stopping and starting, and have virtually none of the customary problems, I began to be convinced. I still feel the floor just fine.

Especially given the particular problems some dancers face (extreme bunions, mismatched toe lengths and such), I feel the new materials and designs are very practical and should be used. I was blessed and cursed with relatively unproblematic toes (fairly short, with the first three about the same length and the other two not far behind) on workmanlike feet (perfectly acceptable arch and line, but nothing to write home about, like Paloma Herrera’s or Sylvie Guillem’s). Some of the women I’ve danced with suffered problems that could easily dissuade one from a ballet career–the bleeding, the corns, the infections, the taping and its resultant problems could be gruesome and agonizing. I experienced enough of that myself to feel strongly on this.

One hotly debated point regards students very early in their pointe training. The question is, should they first be made to suffer, with no modern protection at all, as our generations and many before did? I understand the inclination to ‘toughen up’ dancers in various ways, and agree with that to a degree, but I’m inclined to answer no, as not using the new products doesn’t improve their training or the results thereof. When I was first doing pointe, most teachers (that I knew of, anyway) allowed and encouraged use of lamb’s wool from the first pointe lesson. It just happens that today’s dancers have better protection at their service, and I think it makes good sense to use it.