Every little girl dream of the day they could dance on pointe or on toes. Almost every classical of romantic full length ballet is performed on pointe. Even The Nutcracker, one of the most popular ballet performed at Christmas time is performed on pointe. Little do they know, how painful it is and how much abuse it is to the feet (for some tips on how to protect your feet visit the feet page).
Also, there are lots of complicated assoceries involved in going en pointe. The picture at the top left of this page shows some of them (the picture has been posted on dance.net). Some of the most common are ribbons, elastics, and toe pads.
Even though most people think that pointe shoes are made out of concrete, wood, or some other weird materials, the real pointe shoes are actually made out of canva and glue. The hard box is just layers and layers of glue. When the feet sweats, it slowly melts down the glue and soften or break down the shoes.
There are many part to a pair of pointe shoes. The image below shows all the different part (the image is not made by me, I do not deserve credit for it).
BACK TO POINTE
BALLET PASSION