The Pointe Shoe

At the beginning of our Winter session at Ballet Petite, we introduced our new pointe manual to parents and students who are interested in going onto pointe, or are already dancing on pointe.

Here is the history of the pointe shoe according to Gaynor Minden pointe shoe company, "A history of pointe shoes is also a history of pointe technique. They evolved together; they created each other. But the pointe shoe itself is seldom given recognition for its role in steering the development of technique. 
 
The Italian princess Catherine de Medici married the French Henri II and introduced ballet de cour, or "court ballet" to the Court of France in the sixteenth century. From these early productions featuring masked and costumed courtiers, dancing at court developed into lavish spectacles and extravaganzas, from which a codified vocabulary of steps eventually emerged-- the same steps and the same basic positions that you do every day in class. 
 
In the 1600's, King Louis XIV especially loved dancing and starring in court productions. When he grew too old and fat to perform he continued to be one of ballet's greatest patrons. He founded the Académie Royale de Danse, which would later become the Paris Opera Ballet. Ballet had a political advantage as well in that Louis surely used his ballets, in which the courtiers bowed and curtsied to him in a variety of elaborate and elegant ways, to celebrate and glorify himself, to associate himself with divinity, and to reinforce the power of the throne." www.dancer.com/hist.php 

As beautiful and elegant as pointe looks, it is honestly no joke. Dancers who are not yet ready for pointe shoes can sustain serious injury to their bodies. There are many criteria that dance schools follow before allowing students to dance en pointe because it requires a substantial amount of strength and training.

The first question that most people ask is, what age can someone go en pointe? There is no set age for when students can start, but the average age is about twelve. Young dancers have very soft bones, and muscles need to be sufficiently developed.

At Ballet Petite, we ask students to perform a series of tests in order to determine their strength and ability for pointe shoes. The tests may seem simple, but they demonstrate a lot to the ballet instructor:

1. Balancing on one foot while holding the other foot in retiré or sur le cou-de-pied: students must balance without wobbling and keeping all the toes flat on the floor. Try balancing with your eyes closed or tilting your head!

2. Turn-out: There are a lot of exercises and tests we do involving turn-out. In one of them, we have the student stand in first position and do several pliés. The instructor will be looking for toes to be kept on the floor and knees going out. 

3. Arch in foot: In order to go on pointe, dancers will need to have flexible feet and ankles. The instructor will ask the dancer to sit on the floor, then proceed to pointe their toes. 

Pointe can be hard and challenging, but it can be very rewarding. I remember performing in my first dance recital en pointe, I felt so accomplished. I felt like a real ballerina dancing around in my pointe shoes. However, I think the most important thing about going en pointe is having the can-do attitude. Some days, you really will not want to put on your pointe shoes, but you will anyway because at the end of the day, you love ballet. Just keep your chin up and push through! 

Miss Tess

tessc@balletpetite.com