Pointe shoes

Pointe ballet shoes

A pointe shoe is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointework. Pointe shoes developed to make it seem as if dancers were weightless. The shoes have evolved to enable dancers to dance on the tips of their toes for extended periods of time.

Women began to dance in ballet in 1681. At that time womens' ballet shoes had heels. Marie Taglioni first danced La Sylphide ( one of the world's oldest ballets) en pointe. Her shoes were modified satin slippers with leather soles. The sides and toes were darned (sewn thickly) to help the shoes hold their shapes.

Marie Taglioni in 1832
image from Wikipedia Commons: English Wikipedia user Mrlopez2681

Mid-18th century dancer Marie Camargo of the Paris Opéra Ballet was the first to wear a non-heeled shoe, enabling her to perform leaps that would have been difficult in the more conventional ballet shoes of the time.

No one knows for sure who invented the first modern pointe shoes. Some people say it was Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.

If you use any of this information in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thomas, Ron & Sydenham, Shirley. Pointe ballet shoes [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2011)

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