While I'm en my pointe shoe kick, who knew that pointe shoes actually used to be pointy? Yep, until Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova came along, pointe shoes used to be pointy and, if you can imagine, more painful than they are in today's dance world.
Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) had feet unfit for pointework, with extreme arches and thin ankles. She needed more support than the shoes of her time, which, at that point (pun intended) ballerinas were dancing en pointe in shoes that made a sharp point at the toe, providing little support for dancers. Ballerinas were expected to support their weight with their bodies, not the shoes.
Little to her knowledge, Pavlova introduced modern pointe shoes by adding a piece of hard wood on the soles and curving the box of the shoe to make a full releve more accessible (and less painful). It wasn't widely accepted at first, some people even labeled it cheating! But it would be the precursor to the modern pointe shoe.
Filed under: Russian Pointe
Tags: Anna Pavlov, Ballet, Chicago dance, Pointe Shoes
