Imagine you're in the middle of a performance, you come down off of pointe and realize that your heel just slipped off... (I've had that nightmare several times) During class I tend to wear pointe shoes with my transitional tights slightly rolled up, but naturally for rehearsals and performances I wear my tights back in my shoes. By having your tights inside your shoes this makes the heel much more likely to slip off.
A trick of the trade that many dancers use is to remove only the heel of the pointe shoe, rub rosin on the tights and when you pull the heel back up you'll notice a slight stickiness that holds on the heel.
There are three other tricks that I'm aware of. One, is to drip water on the outside of your heel with the heel of the shoe on your foot. For me, this isn't very effective but it will be different for everyone so I would suggest giving it a try.
One other trick is similar to the rosin one. Remove the heel of your shoe, take a piece of toe-tape and stick it to your tights. This is what I do and it has worked like a charm. I use Nexcare 3M Waterproof Tape
You have to be careful about where you put the tape on your heel or when you pull your pointe shoe up it may show. The last trick is to literally cut off the heel of your tights. Some skin may show but having the satin of the pointe shoe rub against your skin rather than tights gives it more of a grip.
Thanks for the comment Elizabeth! And thanks to everybody for reading :)If anyone has anymore questions/requests please post a comment below!
Ballerinablogger~
