International students get fitting at Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive

Russian Pointe team members Tiffany Lawson and Molly Beck traveled to the Westover School in Middlebury, CT, on July 24 for a second round of pointe shoe fittings at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive.

Russian Pointe was the official shoe of the program this year, a rigorous summer intensive that trains dancers ages 9 to 18 in classical ballet, ballet history, Russian language and more.

After Tiffany and Molly attended the Bolshoi Ballet Academy earlier this summer, word had spread among the dancers about how much they loved dancing in their Russian Pointes, so the excitement was high when Molly and Tiffany returned for the second session. Some of the first session students even came back to hear the seminar again!

This time, however, five international students attended the seminar with a translator who explained the process in Japanese. As Molly and Tiffany quickly learned, many of the English words that are used in the fitting process do not easily translate to Japanese, so they had to communicate with the international students in a unique way. In the end, all five of the students ordered Russian Pointes ― a testament to how Molly and Tiffany embraced the opportunity to meet the challenge.

Next, Molly and Tiffany headed to the Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s second location in New York City on July 25 and 26 to do more rounds of pointe shoe fittings. In New York, nearly every student who had a fitting ordered pointe shoes. Many were already wearing Russian Pointes and were excited to try new Russian Pointe products. Several of the dancers couldn’t wait to take their new shoes out of the box and begin using them right away!

The fittings were such a positive and gratifying experience for both Molly and Tiffany. Both of them said the interest in Russian Pointe was evident from the moment they arrived in Connecticut until the last fitting was completed in New York.

Molly said she loved the opportunity to meet dancers at such an esteemed program and to help them have an even better experience by wearing properly fitting shoes.

“It was an experience neither one of us will ever forget!” Molly said.