Getting to Know Assistant Store Manager and Senior Pointe Shoe Fitter Anna Peters
Name pronunciation: Anna Pee-ters | Pronouns: she/her
By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor
From studying and teaching dance to fitting pointe shoes and helping customers as a Senior Pointe Shoe Fitter and Assistant Store Manager at Dancewear Center, dance consumes Anna Peters’ life. And she wouldn’t want it any other way! Read on to learn more about DWC Staff Member Anna Peters’ personal dance journey, goals for the future, and the changes she hopes to see made in the larger dance industry.
Anna was inspired to begin dancing around age seven when her father took her to see The Nutcracker at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She started taking ballet classes at Body Language Studio, formerly known as Cornerstone Studio. In middle school, she started to branch out and took on classes in contemporary, lyrical, and jazz styles. “But I’m definitely a bunhead at heart,” Anna laughs, speaking about her love of ballet. In high school, Anna danced on the performing arts team at her studio and also took part in its pre-professional program. Today, she teaches ballet to students ages three through eighteen. “I’m also currently a dance major at the University of Washington,” Anna shares.
Anna began working at Dancewear Center in February of 2019 as a retail associate and since then she’s been promoted to a senior pointe shoe fitter and an assistant manager. Most of Anna’s time at Dancewear Center is spent helping dancers find the best pointe shoes for them and helping them learn more about the pointe shoe fitting process so they can be more informed about what they’re doing. She also has experience working on inventory and managing customers’ orders and information. Anna also takes pride in participating in the continuing education programs DWC employees do, particularly those related to pointe shoe fitting.
Anna enjoys being able to help dancers on their journeys by helping them find the exact products they need. Especially when it comes to helping people with pointe shoes, Anna gets a lot of satisfaction from helping people find the best pair of shoes for them.
Another aspect of fitting pointe shoes that Anna loves is being able to work in a space that occupies the “intersection of art and science.” She likes seeing how the anatomical knowledge of pointe shoe fitting supports the poetic, artistic side of dance.
When Anna isn’t at work or school, she enjoys dancing herself, as well as creating other forms of visual art. She especially likes to draw, particularly in a comic book style, and enjoys creating fan art. Anna is also an avid reader and writer, she’s even written a novel that she’s looking into publishing!
In addition to majoring in dance at the University of Washington, Anna is also studying physiology and plans to attend PT school to become a physical therapist who specializes in working with dancers, dance educators, and pointe shoe fitters. “I really want to be able to work with other[s]...to create an environment that’s a little more friendly to dancers,” Anna shares, acknowledging that dancers have specific needs that cannot always be adequately met by meeting with a general physical therapist. “I think that it’s really important that a dancer gets what they actually need,” she says, also stressing the importance of dancers being educated on injury prevention. Anna is excited to be working with Velocity Physiotherapy this summer to learn more about physical therapy in the dance and performing arts industry.
A change that Anna hopes to see made in the dance world is dancewear companies offering a wider range of size options across leotard styles. Anna points out that the leotard sizes available to the public are reflective of the types of bodies that people have been conditioned to associate with dancers. She stresses that leotards need to have support for all body types. “What’s super important to me is that everyone feels comfortable dancing,” Anna says. “I think part of that is having clothes that they can actually feel comfortable dancing in.” She’s proud of the strides that have been made within many companies but shares that more work still needs to be done.
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