All About Pointe - History of Pointe

For ballerinas today, pointe work is completely integrated with ballet technique. Even jazz and modern choreographers demand that women wear pointe shoes even though the steps are from a different idiom. Often the shoes needed to perform such choreography must be extremely supple and responsive and simultaneously supportive and durable. But the problem is that most pointe shoes are still made from the same materials that were used in Pavlova's day. Although pointe shoes have evolved in that they have become harder and boxier, their basic construction materials are still antiquated: Leather, burlap, paper, glue and nails. This creates an enormous problem for today's dancers. A new pointe shoe is overly stiff because the shanks and boxes are excessively hard. Once it is broken in enough to allow enough articulation of the foot for easy jumping and rolling through demi-pointe, it lasts a very short amount of time. It's more painful than it needs to be and it does nothing to minimize the trauma of dancing on hard floors. Non-profit dance companies, and dancers themselves can ill-afford non-durable shoes. This problem cannot be solved by medieval shoemaking methods and materials.

Furthermore, female ballet dancers suffer foot and ankle injuries that are not endured by male ballet dancers or by female modern dancers; they are clearly the result of pointe work. Most of the world's theaters were built not for dance but for opera or drama. Very few have sprung wooden floors. Instead they are often wood laid directly on concrete. Jumping on such stages is painful and traumatic. It can also be noisy. Traditional shoemaking materials have to be thick and hard to provide enough support, but loud clomping pointe shoes undermine the illusion of effortless grace for which the ballerina always strives. When a dancer performs one of the great ballerina roles, she is usually portraying a supernatural creature. Noisy pointe shoes make the dancer seem heavy and earthbound- undermining the ballerina's performance both dramatically and technically.

Why has it taken so long for modern materials to be used in pointe shoes? Because ballet is an art its athleticism is often overlooked. Our society glorifies the sweaty football player whose hard breathing is a sign of his prowess, but the ballerina must conceal her exertions under a serene and radiant smile. Unlike sports heros, ballerinas make it look easy. We forget that they are athletes and that like other athletes they use equipment. As with any athletic equipment, improvements in design and materials have raised technical standards. Pointe shoes need to be brought up to date.

The history of pointe technique shows us how, more than once, a singularly great ballerina would achieve new technical feats and thereby set a higher level of dancing. These great ballerinas wore whatever the shoes of the day were, with perhaps a small modification of her own. For example Taglioni added darning to her slippers, Legnani had her slippers made with a slightly stiffer box, Pavlova reinforced her shoes with a leather shank. But in order to equal whoever the great dancer was, her contemporaries would often modify their own shoes. So then everybody would be wearing the newest shoe in order to meet the new technical standard. With such improved shoes subsequent generations would in turn achieve even greater feats.

It is certain that the introduction of stiffer shoes made possible new technical achievements not previously known, and that further achievements were the result of still more enhanced footwear worn by supremely talented dancers. Improvements in the footwear improved the art. Pointe shoes and pointe technique have evolved together over the past century and a half; there is no reason for progress to stop.

Selected Sources

Clarke, Mary and Crisp, Clement. The Ballet Goer's Guide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981
Kirstein, Lincoln. Dance/A Short History. New York: Dance Horizons, Inc., 1935
Terry, Walter. On Pointe! New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1962
Sorine, Daniel S. and Stephanie. Dancershoes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979
The Simon and Schuster Book of the Ballet. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979 Arnoldo Mondadori, Ed.
Special thanks to Judith Fugate and Stephanie Foster for their insights and their help.
Photograph of Irina Chistyakova by Jack Vartoogian
Copyright (c) 1996, 1998 Gaynor Minden, Inc.

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