Here's the video of my pointes: http://youtu.be/9cHRPk9J1y4 I'm not sure is the shank is broken, but it appears the sides of the box are. My foot looks like its bursting out the sides of the shoes! I dance on them for 30-45 min. a week from September to mid June. I just got them in April of 2012, but I tend to wear shoes out fast. Don't mind the bad turn out, I put them on quick and was messing around just to see if they were/are dead.