POINTE

Pointe ballet began in the court of French king Henry II, his wife the Italian Catherine de Madici introduced court ballet. At this time the men were the main dancers. As dance moved onto the stage and out of the ballrooms women were not allowed to perform on stage, besides women were constricted buy their large cumbersome skirts, corsets, and shoes.

In the 1730 dancers started to perform leaps and hops, the female performers rebelled against the large costumes. As females became more prominent, dancers such as Taglioni pioneered the technique of dancing by “falling off her toes”. The pointe ballet shoe developed as the female characters depicted supernatural creatures with their ability to defy gravity with the pointe shoe and the simple white billowing tutu. This is the beginning of the classical ballet costume of today. Today modern and jazz dance demands the use of the pointes.