This modality was developed at the beginning of the 19th century, but it did not come to be recognized by the general public until 1832, when the Italian-Swedish dancer Maria Taglioni demonstrated her possibilities of poetic expression in the ballet La Silfide , where she had to interpret a creature evanescent , as if it were not subjected to the force of Earth’s gravity.
He did it on satin slippers, practically on bare feet. The current models of sneakers have reinforcements on the fingers. The tips are special slippers, which ballet practitioners acquire when they have the required strength in the foot and calf muscles. Its use is normally scheduled towards the end of the first year of ballet.
At the beginning of this process, the exercises performed by the dancers are very basic. They practically limit themselves to standing with their toes on both feet and always with the help of the bar. In these initial attempts, the hard-working debutantes suffer intense pain in the fingers and in the joints , but with the years they acquire more strength, technique and knowledge, and thus they make their feet suffer less and less.
It is then that they start to execute more complex steps, such as pirouettes and jumps on the toes. There are different types of pointe shoes, coming from different countries of the world. The Russians and the Americans are the most widespread.
Each shoe adapts to the needs, capacities and anatomical characteristics of the dancers. For example, the arch or the strength of the instep vary from one to the other. Toe work is almost exclusively the heritage of women , although men do it on some occasions.
