Pointe Ballet
How the Fascinating Journey Began

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Ballerinas are known for dancing on their toes. Dancing on pointe is a crucial element of a ballerina's career. Ballet would have a totally different look and feel without them.

Pointe ballet began to develop in the late 1700's. At this time, pointe shoes were not yet created.

The dancers balanced on their toes for a number of seconds wearing only their soft leather slippers.

It is considered that Marie Taglioni is responsible for being the first to dance on pointe.

People say it was in 1832 when she danced the whole of La Sylphide on pointe.

Taglioni was a very important female dancer. She changed how ballerinas danced.

It was her who progressed the technique and transformed dancing on pointe.

Her elegant and light style secured her a superb career and an idolizing audience.

Her fans in Russia adored her. They even cooked her slippers and ate them with a sauce!

Marie Taglioni

Pointe shoes were greatly developed in Italy in the late 1800's. Their shoes were much stronger and harder than those worn by other dancers. They could perform technically more challenging movements.

The Russians didn't have the same cutting-edge pointe shoes as the Italians. This meant the dancers in Russia fell behind.

This Russian ballerina, of the early 20th century, was one the most famous dancers of her time.

Anna Pavlova would place toughened leather soles into her shoes for additional support.

This was because she had especially high insteps which left her vulnerable to injury.

The padding made it easier for Pavlova but her peers considered it as cheating.

Anna Pavlova

Looking at how the ballerinas had to manage, we are very much at an advantage nowadays.

I'm sure they didn't have the luxury of such comfortable padding or lots of pointe shoes to choose from.

It is really amazing to see how pointe ballet has developed. It's only when you see how ballerinas used to cope, that you realize how lucky we are.

Don't leave it to your teacher!

You can watch this pre-pointe video yourself here (just wait for the page to load up then the video is on the top right of the page).

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