Principal Shoes — About Us

Principal by Chan Hon Goh™ Inc. was founded in 1996 by Chan Hon Goh, a celebrated principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, and her husband Chun Che, a master dance teacher and choreographer. The two used their own years of dance expertise, as well as input from friends and colleagues in the professional dance community, to design and create shoes aimed at easing both the physical and the financial pain of dancing.

"Too many dancers were complaining about getting inconsistent quality shoes, and shoes that weren't supporting them properly," Ms. Goh says. "I noticed it in the professional community, and Che noticed it in the student community. We decided to put our knowledge together to try to come up with a better product." The happy result was Principal Shoes. Today Principal offers four styles of pointe shoe and three types of ballet slipper, as well as making character shoes and boots.

Part of our uniqueness is that we custom-make shoes for the hard-to-fit foot,' says Ms. Goh. "You need a perfect fit or your foot won't be supported properly. We go to lengths to make sure that you get that perfect fit." That's something dancers say they appreciate. "Principal shoes are tailored to my specifications," says Jennifer Price, who dances with the Chicago Ballet. "When I put them on and perform, classical and contemporary dance feels effortless."

Principal by Chan Hon Goh™ Inc. is a Canadian company with a head office in Toronto and Vancouver. Chan Hon Goh and Chun Che established their company in 1996, at first distributing their products only to professional dancers. Soon, however, the news spread and they had inquiries from dance retailers. By the end of their first year in business, Principal Shoes were sold in four Canadian cities, offering two models of pointe shoes and split sole, full sole and satin slippers.

In 1998, Ms. Goh and Mr. Che consulted with officials at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, England to learn exactly what they were looking for, and came out with a better-looking, examination-oriented full sole ballet slipper and the low- and the high-heeled Principal character shoes. By the end of 1998, they were supplying retailers in New York and in every major city in Canada. The following year Principal Shoes were launched in Japan, with two styles of pointe shoe, and a split sole ballet slipper. For the world premiere of James Kudelka's Swan Lake in May, 1999, Principal by Chan Hon Goh™ Inc. was commissioned to custom-make all of the boots used in the National Ballet of Canada production. A year later, they were asked to provide all of the boots for the same company's production of Romeo and Juliet.

Other companies have also taken advantage of Principal's special adeptness in boot-making. "They are the best dance boots I have ever worn," says Bengt Jorgen, artistic director of Ballet Jorgen Canada.

In 2001, Principal added another style to the pointe shoe line, Style "J", which is a performance oriented shoe with a graduating ¾ shank and a wider platform to the existing originals, Style "D" and "F". Retailers have commented that it is a popular performance shoe because it molds easily to the dancer's foot but that it is also good for students starting pointe work because of the shoe's pliability.

Ms. Goh and Mr. Che spent a lot of time in 2003 consulting physical therapists, doctors and sports medicine professionals. They wanted to draw on these expert opinions in the design of a pointe shoe made to give better support to the alignment of the foot, in hopes of helping prevent some of the most common dance-related injuries. The Diamond Pointe shoe was launched in 2004 for advanced dancers and followed in 2006 with the Princess Pointe for beginner dancers.

Ms. Goh and Mr. Che both believe strongly in giving back to the dance community. Every year Principal by Chan Hon Goh™ Inc. donates a portion of its proceeds to dance competitions and festivals, to dance students through shoe scholarships, and to the National Ballet of Canada volunteer committee Build-A-Ballet Fund.

Link to Chan Hon Goh's web site.