FOOT WORK

DANCE

8 Mar

Recently landed: Foot Work

Gracia’s written response to Prue Lang’s CASTILLO, for Fjord Review.

The sole is stamped with the maker’s mark, the size, and the width of the shoe. The sole is attached to the last with a staple gun, then using the relevant sized upper, the shoe is pulled over the last, the toe is pinned, and the upper is stapled to the seat of the last. This is followed by a combination of paste, hessians and cards to build up the block, depending upon the dancer’s specifications. This is how Freed of London make their bespoke pointe shoes, and this behind-the-scenes process is how Prue Lang’s CASTILLO begins.

Projected on a screen in Sylvia Staehli Theatre of Dancehouse, the over-the-shoulder camera view of the process of pleating the shoe tightly around the last, tying it down, opening for the sole channel and removing any excess material before it can be stitched is not just the craft before the dance, but its own meticulous dance. On the factory floor, this work is precise, to ensure the shoe and the foot work as one. After being stitched, the staples are removed and the shoe is cut down ready for turning. The insole is pasted in and the shoe is turned, put back on the last, and the maker shapes the shoe, performing an initial ‘bang out’. To finalise the shape of the footwear, the shoe is shaped with a polished hammer, and the insole from earlier is inserted, and the reshaping process is repeated. It is physical work, as the shoe is put through its steps, which is not dissimilar to the steps it will be put through once used, either in class, rehearsal, or on stage.

The synergy between the maker and the dancer, in the opening eight-minute film[i], and the choreographer, Lang, and the performer Jana Castillo in CASTILLO is not dissimilar either. Lang is interested in exploring the “taxonomy of touch and texture through the lens of choreography and neurodiversity”[ii] and is doing so by inviting us to look at three different types of footwear: pointe shoes, socks, and sneakers..

[i] The Making of a Freed of London Classic Pointe Shoe video filmed by Freed’s in their London factory, uploaded 25th January, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zExmSmO35Q, accessed March 4, 2022.

[ii] Prue Lang, Choreographer’s Note, CASTILLO, Dancehouse, https://www.dancehouse.com.au/whats-on/castillo-prue-lang/, accessed March 4, 2022.