Bloch Dance Europe
Performing Arts - London, England, United Kingdom
Bloch Dance Europe Employees
Bloch Dance Europe Details
A Brief History Bloch's philosophy of listening to dancers is still as strong today as it was when Jacob Bloch made his first pair of Ballet Pointe Shoes in 1932. Jacob arrived from Europe in 1931 at the height of the Great Depression and began making ballet pointe shoes by hand in the workshop where he lived. Jacob loved watching ballet and visited many dance studios. At one such studio, he noticed a young dancer who was having trouble staying on pointe. Jacob promised he would make her a better pair of shoes. And so he did. Jacob's reputation for making good dance shoes spread rapidly. In the late 1930's many overseas ballet companies toured Australia. Among these, was De Basil's Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, the original Ballet Russe. Jacob made shoes for Spessiva, Baranova, Riabouchinskaya, Toumanova, David Lichine and many others, all to their own specifications. Today Jacob's family is still listening to the needs of dancers. "We work with professionals" says David Wilkenfeld Bloch, Jacob's grandson, who is Managing Director of Bloch International. "The most important part of the design phase is combining both function and aesthetic to meet the dancers needs." In addition to shoes, Bloch makes a comprehensive range of dance apparel and accessories designed specifically for dancers. "Working with the dancers is an essential part of designing garments that will perform well, enhance movement and feel great. Our greatest pleasure is when dancers tell us they love our products." It Isn't Our Job, It's Our Life Our respect level for the artists we serve is infinite. If we can contribute to the dancers artistry in any small way, by making their life easier then we have achieved our goal. We confess to a secret jealousy in not being able to achieve the level of artistic integrity of many of our clients. Nevertheless we are at least artisans working in a beautiful field. We do not pollute, we are not deal makers, we are simply at our best when we can engineer the most suitable product to meet our dancers utilitarian desires. In our ranks there are ex-professional dancers, in our family there are professional dancers, in our team there are some of the worlds leading professional dancers and as our friends there are mostly dancers.
