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Chelsea Hilding (left) and Colleen McGlade (middle) of Danzar Corporation, St. Augustine, FL, getting their certificate from Aleksandra at the retailer seminar.

Courtney May fits a model during the Retail Seminar.

Mary Tarpley shows proper fitting of a pointe shoe during the Retailer Seminar.

On Aug. 18 and 19, six dancewear retailers from Florida, Maine and Puerto Rico flew to Chicago to attend the most recent Retailer Seminar at the Russian Pointe Dance Boutique.

The workshop kicked off on Saturday night, when I invited the retailers to one of my favorite restaurants — the same one where I celebrated my 35th birthday the week before with my closest friends.

On Sunday, I gave a presentation to the retailers at the Russian Pointe Dance Boutique as part of the all-day intensive seminar.

Casey Whitaker, business development manager for Russian Pointe, and Courtney May, manager of the Russian Pointe Dance Boutique, were both on hand to walk the retailers through the step-by-step process of assessing a dancer’s foot and determining the correct shoe for each dancer.

Two local dancers, ages 12 and 14, also acted as models during the seminar, letting the retailers see how shoes fit on actual dancers’ feet.

May says the Retailer Seminars are invaluable for retailers, many of whom do not have much experience dancing en pointe. “One of the ways Russian Pointe is ahead of everyone else is the knowledge we provide out retailers with,” May says. “It’s like learning a whole other language.”

Jenna Little, owner of Finer Pointes Dance Shop in Maine, has attended several Retailer Seminars, and says each one is helpful. “This visit was an invaluable experience and reinforces the fact that pointe shoe fitting is an art form to be learned,” she says. “As retailers of dance stores,
we can learn we are a specialty boutique and therefore can offer high-end products at a premium.”

May says retailers can feel more confident in their ability to properly fit pointe shoes after attending a seminar. “Just the fact that dancers know that they’ve been fitted by us allows them to give their customers a better customer experience,” May says.

For more information about attending future retailer seminars, please visit http://www.russianpointe.com/pages/retailer_seminars/477.php