While it may never characterize the dancer, it might give him or her a softer edge to plié. For burly Scottish ballet shoemakers, not unlike Patrick K, their own grace when making top-notch shoes for dancers has been documented in a new BBC Scotland film by Tali Yankelevich: The Perfect Fit.
In this nine-minute webisode, there is a certain connection between the dancer and the shoemaker. What this short film does with ease is juxtapose the maker's hands with the dancer's feet, showing the damage that both require for beauty and success.
There is even one point in the video where they tip the dancer's shoes with rosin, a practice closely equated to a violinist rosining a bow. And that is what this piece tries to connect: the dancer, the shoe and the music.
But as Patrick K wants his audience to know, this is not some kind of "sissy" job he says before he shows us the boils and rivets on his hands from years of shoemaking. As he says, he just has the hands of a maker.
Without ruining too much The Perfect Fit is a quick insight into a much larger industry behind the dancer. Like a Stradivarius to a violinist, a shoe is not worth downgrading.
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