Breaking in new pointe shoes!

I recently managed to get this pair of Mirella Academie pointe shoes from Bloch and was excited to break it in, so I spent about two hours today–in between some one-on-one meetings I held with members of the university accounting club I help lead–in my bedroom and makeshift dance studio practicing hopping from fifth position of the feet into relevé en pointe.

At this point I’m still waiting for my Harlequin practice dance mat to arrive, so I ended up using a piece of foam board that I had on hand to act as my temporary dance floor. (Plus, I totally wore socks over the pointe shoes to avoid getting them dirty. Can’t really advocate for that as a new fashion look, though.)

I actually found Il Volo’s song “Notte Stellata” through Yuzuru Hanyu’s figure skating exhibition at Pyeongchang. The exhibition itself represents a joining of utter masterpieces–Hanyu’s costume and overall performance are wonderful complements to the quiet but emotional opera-like song, which perfectly evokes its namesake starry night. For those of you who haven’t seen the performance nor heard the song, I encourage you to check it out!