Ambassadors

Pointe Shoe Summit Ambassadors

Erin Madsen - Canada

ARAD, RAD RTS, L3 PBT, PCT, Juon Pointe Pre-Pointe/Pointe Readiness Assessor

I am so excited to be an ambassador for the Pointe Shoe Summit! My journey with Esther Juon and Juon Pointe has been so amazing. The best thing we can do as teachers of dance, is to never stop learning and always look for evidence-based training to offer our students. This program has changed many aspects of my teaching. I am so honoured to be one of only a few Assessors in Canada. This knowledge influences how I teach my students from the very beginning. I am constantly working to improve their strength, alignment and technique through safe practice. Utilizing this information in my classes gives my students the best information and training I can.

I believe that through changing how we evaluate pointe readiness, how we prepare the dancers and how we work with other supports like the pointe shoe fitters, the osteopaths, physical therapists and medical experts, will ultimately bring safer practices for pointe work.

Thank you to Esther Juon and the whole team at the Pointe Shoe Summit for all you are doing to bring dance training and pointe training forward!

Sincerely, Erin Madsen.

Josef Brown - Australia

I’ve been professionally involved in dance for almost 40 years. I’m a former Soloist with The Australian Ballet, lead with Sydney Dance Company, Independent dance, and in Musical Theatre – both Nationally and Internationally – an actor and producer, and more recently as a teacher, adjudicator, writer, and Managing Director of the health and wellness platform The Library Aesthetic dance media.

I’m thrilled and honoured to be involved and supporting Esther Juon and the incredible team behind the Pointe Shoe Summit.

The Pointe Shoe Summit is a first-of-its-kind International event that brings together some of the world’s best to inform and inspire teachers, pointe fitters, and dancers ensuring our industry is better prepared to meet the technical and choreographic challenges of today and tomorrow.

The 2026 Pointe Shoe Summit is being held in Singapore in August, at Singapore Ballet and Sonata Dancewear and I look forward to meeting you all there!

Susie Butler - United States

Susie trained in ballet pre-professionally as a teenager and returned to the studio as an adult seven years after having two hip surgeries in her mid-twenties. Since coming back, she has documented her adult ballet journey, including her return-to-pointe progress through her social media platform, SusieTheBallerina on Instagram and YouTube. Her presence in the adult ballet community led to an ambassadorship with On Pointe Dancewear, which connected her with the Pointe Shoe Summit team. She served as photographer and videographer for the inaugural 2025 event, where she met Esther Juon. After her own return-to-pointe journey took another frustrating turn, she began working with Esther in her mentoring program toward a safer and more sustainable path back to pointe work. She is now honored to serve as an ambassador for the Pointe Shoe Summit and is passionate about promoting pointe readiness, injury prevention, and safer training practices within the ballet community.

Best, Susie

Sydney Rideout - United States

Hi I’m Sydney an (almost) 20-year-old queer disabled recreational dancer from Redmond, Washington! I’m currently attending Central Washington University, studying Child Development: Child Life Specialization. I have loved dancing and performing since I was little, having been inspired by my Aunt Virginia and countless Barbie movies. I have multiple dynamic disabilities including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) which have given me a unique perspective and experience with dance, as I learn more about my body and how to accommodate it. Within the dance world (and beyond) I am passionate about advocating for others, particularly regarding Mental Health, Disability, and LGBTQIA+ experiences.

My sophomore year of high school my disabilities got to a point that I genuinely didn’t think I’d ever be able to dance again. But I was incredibly lucky to have a dance teacher actually happened to have multiple of the same disabilities I do. Getting to talk with her, and learn how to adapt and modify dance for my body, gave me my world back. That’s one of the things that immediately stood out to me about the core ideas of the Pointe Shoe Summit: safety and artistry, focused on what is best for the individual dancer.

Re-Entering the dance world I have a newfound level of understanding about what it means to work with my body, instead of against it. Having these conversations between medical professionals, dancers, dance teachers, pointe shoe fitters, and everyone else creates a space where people are given the tools and encouraged to understand what their body is doing, why it’s doing that, And frame their goals around what is safe, sustainable, and obtainable for their body.

I’m incredibly thankful for the work of The Pointe Shoe Summit, and so excited to keep learning and growing along with them!

Fun fact: I am a huge Disney fan and beyond excited to be able to participate in the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World, starting in August!

–Sydney Rideout–

Laura Burity - Brazil

Founder of Nas Pontas and its entire ecosystem, Laura Burity is a researcher, multi-brand fitter, and pointe shoe specialist. She is the author of the book “Um caminho antraves do Fitting” and develops work that integrates science, practice, and attentive listening to dancers, highlighting fitting as an essential process in finding the ideal pointe shoe.

Her professional journey is marked by the intersection of different fields. She is currently an undergraduate Physiotherapy student, holds a postgraduate degree in Classical Ballet Teaching, and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Health Sciences, with research focused on feet, footwear, posture, and injury prevalence in dancers.

Laura is also a lawyer, specialized in Labor Law and International Labor Law, with an MBA in Strategic Business Management and a background in Communication and Public Relations, strengthening her entrepreneurial and educational work.

Throughout her career, she has analyzed more than 5,000 feet, studied over 130 pointe shoe brands, and accumulated more than 200 hours of specialized training in feet, pre-pointe, and ballet teaching methods such as Cuban, Vaganova, and Royal Academy of Dance.

She developed a technical fitting method based on anatomy, biomechanics, and professional practice, proposing fitting as a diagnostic process and contributing to a more conscious, safe, and evidence-based approach to dance. She also trains dance professionals as fitters through a pioneering program recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC).

Jane Byme - Ireland

My journey in dance started many many years ago as a small child. I continued throughout my childhood and eventually at the age of 23 I qualified as a Ballet and Modern Dance Teacher.

I taught for almost 20 years but in those years, I never taught Pointe work. I never felt qualified enough or knowledgeable in that area despite being a qualified teacher. The information wasn’t there for prospective teachers and once qualified it was and in many cases, still is, up to the newly qualified teacher to do separate courses on how to prepare, and teach pointe work, which baffles me as Pointe is the epitome of ballet!

Once I stopped teaching, I took some time out and then opened Studio Dancewear, a retail business selling all things dance….except Pointe shoes as I didn’t have the experience and I was not going to sell/fit pointe shoes if I didn’t have the knowledge. I searched and searched for a fitting course, (my suppliers were happy to sell me pointe shoes with no experience but I was not happy to purchase them). I eventually found a course in London, I did that course, it was approximately 5/6hrs and yes I learned from it but coming home, I did not feel in any way that I was ready to fit. I felt that there had to be something else out there, there had to be more. I repeated the course a year later and in the intervening time, I had also done my own research, so on my return, I decided to start fitting students. I am extremely lucky to work very closely with a local ballet school who are incredibly good at what they do and prepare their students impeccably for pointe work and they worked and helped me. I fitted their students together with the teacher and got invaluable experience.

However, I still felt I needed something more. Then, in 2020, I met Esther. Esther changed everything about my relationship with Pointe shoes and Pointe work. I was lucky to be mentored by Esther, sitting on the ground learning how to stretch my feet properly…but I’m a ballet teacher, I know how to stretch my feet! No, no I didn’t! And Esther taught me from the very start. She has given me new eyes when it comes to fitting Pointe shoes. From the minute I see a student walk in the door, I’m assessing. I look at each student, not just as a student looking for Pointe shoes, but how can I help to protect this student from injury, how can I help this student avoid pain, how can I help this student have a magical Pointe experience. And that is what Esther has given me and all of the students who come to me.

If you are a teacher, a retailer, a student, a medical professional who is truly interested in ensuring the safety of students before, during and after Pointe work, the Pointe Shoe Summit is for you.

I look forward to attending this year, as I did last year and I wish everyone involved the very best with Pointe Shoe Summit 2026.