When you give a girl a pair of pointe shoes, she'll want to sew the ribbons and elastic on herself. She'll follow the directions carefully, not wanting to mess up her very first pair of pointe shoes, or her "babies." She might even wear them around the house to break them in. When she takes her first pointe class, she won't be able to stop looking at herself wearing her shoes in the mirror. She'll dream about being the next Alessandra Ferri.

Her feet will get stronger with every class. She'll use muscles in her feet that she never knew she had. She'll get blisters all the time, and her toes might even bleed, but she'll just stick on some moleskin and go back to class because her love for dance is greater than any pain she'll endure. She'll acquire quite the collection of old pointe shoes, which she'll display on her bookshelf. You might be surprised how fast she goes through pointe shoes as her feet get stronger.

When she performs in her first pointe piece, she'll spend hours before the dressing room mirror making sure her costume and makeup are perfect. She'll fluff her princess tutu or straighten her pancake tutu and of course make sure her pointe shoes are tied properly with the ends of the ribbons tucked in. She remembers the dancers that inspired her to pursue her dream, and she'll wait in the wings with butterflies in her stomach before making her entrance. She'll look like a princess, or a fairy, or an angel, and she'll feel like one too. As she dances, she hopes to inspire another little girl to dance the same way she was inspired when she was little.

When you give a girl a pair of pointe shoes, she becomes more determined and steadfast in her art, and develops a greater work ethic not only in the studio, but also in life. She becomes more sensitive to beauty because she appreciates the painstaking effort it takes to create something beautiful. She learns how to make something look effortless when it's in fact the opposite. Most importantly, when you give a girl a pair of pointe shoes, she learns that the road to success is far from easy, but every step of the way is worth it.