The Secrets of New York City Ballet's Pointe Shoe Room
Deep in the basement of Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater is a small, windowless space that’s home to nearly 6,000 pairs of pointe shoes, neatly stacked on shelves that reach to the ceiling. It’s New York City Ballet’s shoe room, and for company members, it’s one of the most important places in the world. Dancers frequently stop by to search for the ideal pair for a special performance, or to tweak their custom pointe shoe orders, trying to get that elusive perfect fit. “If the shoe isn’t right, the dancer can’t do her job,” says shoe room supervisor and former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal Linnette Roe. We talked to Roe and NYCB soloist Emilie Gerrity about some of the most interesting—and surprising—secrets of the shoe room.
The NYCB dancers go through 9,000 to 11,000 pairs of shoes each year, including flat shoes, sneakers, jazz shoes, and character shoes. The company has an annual shoe budget of about $780,000.
