Pointe shoes
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Pointe shoes are special shoes worn by ballerinas. They are made with a wide flat front end so that the ballerina can stand on the tips of her toes. In normal flat ballet shoes, people can not do this because the shoe will not support their feet properly.
Pointe shoes are normally only worn by female ballet dancers but sometimes male dancers will wear them. This is very rare though.
Girls will usually start en pointe between the ages of 12 and 14. Some start a little earlier than this but starting too early may be bad for the feet of the dancer. Some girls will never go en pointe. This is usually because they are not strong enough, as going en pointe means one has to have enough strength.
[change] Construction
All pointe shoes are handmade. There are many different companies which make these shoes. Some of them include: Bloch, Capezio, Grishko, Gaynor Mindens, Sansha and Freed Of London.
There are many different parts to a pointe shoe:
- Platform
- Vamp
- Throat
- Binding
- Sockliner
- Quarter
- Drawstring
- Outer sole
[change] Proper fit and safety
Its important that pointe shoes fit correctly. If they do not, it can cause the dancers feet to become sore. It can also affect the way the dancer performs in them and may cause injury to the dancer. A dancer may need to try on many pairs of pointe shoes before they find ones that fit correctly. Also, when the pointe shoes are "dead" (too soft to dance in any more), the shoes will need to be replaced.
