What do they mean by"break into your pointe shoes?"?

Question:Pointe shoes are very hard when you first buy them and also very painful to dance in. The process of softening and moulding the shoe to fit the dancers individual foot is the breaking in process. How people break in their shoes depends on how long they have been dancing and what kind of material they are made out of. Generally some bending of the arch area and massaging of the toe box is used to soften the shoes. Then general warm ups at the barre help stretch and break in the shoes.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Pointe shoes are very hard when you first buy them and also very painful to dance in. The process of softening and moulding the shoe to fit the dancers individual foot is the breaking in process. How people break in their shoes depends on how long they have been dancing and what kind of material they are made out of. Generally some bending of the arch area and massaging of the toe box is used to soften the shoes. Then general warm ups at the barre help stretch and break in the shoes.

when you first use your shoes they are probably tight like any other shoe and will cause bruising and sometimes bleeding when your en pointe especially if you have fibre glass tips though even wood can hurt so with use it should become more comfortable and easier and the shoe becomes less stiff

A dancer breaks in their shoes by forming the shank to their foot. When you first take the pair of pointe shoes out of the box you can't dance on them. It is impossible to roll through demi. You can also smash the box and wet parts of the box to make them easier to dance on. Another way is putting the shoe in the door. Professionals barely break the box by hand and then dance in them for 2 hours and they are perfectly broken in. They then save those shoes for a performance. A beginner will need to break them in more by hand because their feet arnt nearly as strong. NEVER break them in by yourself if you arnt completely sure how to do it. Consult with a teacher first! You wouldn't want to waste $70 because you broke the shoe wrong!!

What they mean is yours shoes are sorta hard when you first get them so they want you to make the "broken in" to make it easier to dance.

when you break in pointe shoes, they basically form to your feet. there are many excersices to do to your pointe shoes such as bending them in all sorts of ways, bourree, hammering them, and slammming them in a door. when a pointe shoe is broken in, there are not soft but they are not hard. if they are hard u cannot dance in them as well so you have to break them in.

People are right in saying it means to soften the shoe, however, please don't slam them in doors or smash them around, or jump on them. You'll just end up ruining your shoe, snapping the shank, damaging the box, etc.
Here are some basic break in instructions for pointe shoes that give you a general idea of what it is and how it's done.
http://dancewearhouse.com/pointe_break_i...

I don't know why april p got a thumbs down because she's 100% right.

Same as breaking in any other kind of shoe.Pointe shoes are very stiff when you first get them, so sometimes, especially if the dancer has weak feet, she needs to do things to soften them up.
Tho goal is to VERY gently and minimally soften the shoe so it doesn't become so weak it isn't supportive. Some people squeeze the box, some people gently step on it, beat them on the floor, slam them in the door, beat them on railings, bite them...each dancer eventually comes up with her own method.